As a business, brand or content creator, the next frontier for product marketing, feedback, interaction and resale is your community. But here’s the challenge – how do you build a community that can sustain itself just off the content you offer? What makes that community meaningful that users will want to keep coming back to share their insights and find a comfortable space?
In this informative article, we’re about to dive into building your first community and how you can make it impactful. You’ll learn a few tips about how to build a community that actually gives you value, and how to create a central repository for your hub content. Diving right in!
What Is Community?
Human connections have never been more vital, more-so in the era of the internet and smartphones where we seem to spend most of our time. As the internet becomes more intertwined with our daily lives, the truth is that people will naturally gravitate towards places they trust.
Take the example of a college student reading this article. Maybe you’re stuck with an assignment or a paper that’s just not moving. Writers block, fatigue, boredom…you name it. If you were looking for reliable writers online, you’d probably gravitate towards a well-known website, one with a community of users. If that sounds like you then choose essay writing service UK – royalwriter.co.uk as that’s one of the real ones out there.
We digress, but back to community. So, community gives your business or brand a form of social proof, a forum where people can interact and build trust with each other. From your community can come direct sales, product and marketing feedback, solutions and suggestions to problems, and even advice. You can also build a community to teach, share insights, or even just to interact with your followers.
You can build a community on social media networks such as YouTube, LinkedIn or Pinterest, or on a hosted community platform such as the Mighty Networks. What really matters are engagement and that the people get something from your community.
How to Build Community, Plus Key Considerations
Some communities build themselves naturally, while others are the result of well-thought out plans and processes. The first step is introspection. What kind of community do you envision? Is it a professional network for career development, a support group for a specific cause, or just a safe space for people to vent and let out?
Identifying what your community is all about will guide you in knowing where to build the community and in what steps. Identifying your community’s core purpose will guide your search for the ideal platform.
Content
Content is at the heart of your community. The variables change with the type of content which is tailored based on the type of community. For example, let’s say you run a Facebook group for new mums who are looking for baby daycare services in a certain area. Beyond simply looking at the physical location of these daycare services, the online community can also be useful to get new mum insights, product recommendations, business contacts, etc. The content aggregation for such a group can thus turn out to be massive depending on how the admin spins it.
Communication and Connection
The heart of any community lies in open communication and meaningful connections. If you’re looking to build your own community, you might want to achieve this in different ways including:
- Discussion Forums: Dedicated forums allow for in-depth discussions, brainstorming sessions, and sharing knowledge.
- Direct Messaging: With DMs, members can enquire of each other privately, make referrals, or even just random chat. Always careful with this one though.
- Live Events and Webinars: Live events create a sense of real-time connection and engagement. With interactive presentations, Q&A sessions, and workshops, webinars are usually more tailored towards a pro-environment, in other words those more willing to spend money.
Again, the type of feedback mechanism your community enjoys depends on the platform you are using. With a dedicated hosting platform such as the Mighty Networks, you are sure to get all types of channels that you need to build a solid community.
Building Sustainability in Your Community
Getting members to your community might just be easier than keeping them there. Content is the first step. If people find your community engaging and its content useful, they will always come back to it. Still, you need to make this feel like an actual human community. Several features can help, including:
- Member Recognition Systems: Badges, awards, or leaderboards that motivate members to actively participate or contribute to the community.
- Event Calendars and Reminders: Built-in calendars and reminder systems keep members informed about upcoming events, workshops, and webinars.
- Analytics and Reporting Tools: As a community manager, you need to track engagement, identify trends, and tailor content and events based on member interests.
Besides that, your community should feel warm and welcoming. No one should feel coerced to join your community and neither should anyone feel left out or targeted within the community. This you can only achieve by setting standards and guidelines that have to be followed by the entirety of your community.
Technical Details of Your Community Hub
Naturally, your community hub should have a friendly UI, and it should also allow members to navigate and find information and people easily.
If you have an onboarding process in place, ensure to clearly share with prospects and new members how seamless onboarding is achieved. At onboarding, the new member should be introduced to the community culture, key features and expectations.
Your chosen community hub should also be able to allow members to create profiles with names and avatars. This will help foster deeper connections and folks can also share their expertise and credentials.
A last note on the technical side of community building. Since data shows that more than 60% of internet users worldwide browse primarily with their smartphones, you should build a mobile-friendly community.
The Mighty Networks is a community building and hosting platform that ticks all the boxes in terms of excellent community building resources.
If you are a college student, maybe an influencer, who just happened to chance on this article, then you’re in luck. Head on to this royalwriter review to find out how expert writers can help you get more time in your schedule to build your community.
Conclusion
Now you have a solid idea about what it takes to build your first community. This includes things like your niche or target audience, your content objectives, your strategic business goals, and how that community will align with your purpose.
As a reminder, it is important to keep your community lively and engaged. However, you can only do this through a well-designed, thoroughly tested community hosting platform that will get you to your full potential. The Mighty Networks ticks all the boxes when it comes to choosing a platform that will deliver you to your destination. Onwards to building your first community!
