Guidelines for Building Online Communities

The saying ‘Build it and they will come’ definitely does not apply to Social Media. Building online communities needs a well thought out strategy.

Building online communities is one of the hot topics in Social Media marketing but there are no hard and fast rules in developing social networks – every company and community is different. Here are some guidelines to create the foundation for your online strategy so you can start to build a strong Social Media presence and cultivate a group of brand enthusiasts eagerly promoting your products and services.

Provide interesting content

Providing rich content for your visitors is the cornerstone of any online community. You need to give people a reason to come back and encourage them to share your posts with other people. Remember everything you post on Social Media accounts needs to provide value for people and it’s not just a sales funnel for your online company. Content you can add to enrich your Social Media accounts include:

• broadcasting industry related conferences, events or webinars
• posting interesting article updates, videos or industry related links
• adding coupons or special deals
• announcing new staff members or company news eg awards won
• creating discussions – giving people the opportunity to ask questions about your company or industry
• uploading interesting case studies
• posting job opportunities
• adding competitions, promotions and polls

Update Social Media accounts regularly

Make updating your Social Media platforms a priority. Not only do you want to assign a dedicated person or team to manage your social presence but you also want to encourage other members of your team to comment on posts. Not only does this make it more interesting for your members but it shows that everyone in your company is passionate about your brand and helping to grow online communities.

Leverage the wisdom of your followers

You know you have a motivated community when they eagerly start answering questions that other members have posted. Allow them to do so instead of jumping in with a response straight away and reward them by acknowledging that they have provided the right information by responding to their comments, ‘liking’ their comments on Facebook or retweeting their response on Twitter.

Build brand ambassadors

Brand ambassadors are loyal customers who are passionate about your business and have access to and influence other groups of people. These people may work in public relations, journalism, events or just have access to a large social network. Once you have identified these key influencers, here some ways to cultivate these Social Media VIPS and empower them to shape your community:

• sharing blog articles, videos, tweets or other content they have posted
• sending them free gifts if they have mentioned your brand in their blog
• giving them exclusive discounts to share with a few of their friends
• advising them of sales a few days before everyone else
• offering them free delivery or a free gift with purchase
• inviting them to product launches or special VIP events

Respond in a timely manner

Social Media is very much a two-way channel and by responding to questions, comments or feedback in a timely manner, you are well on your way to creating online communities. Social media never stops so if you have an active or global audience, this may even involve hiring a casual staff member to man accounts around the clock and on weekends to ensure that your online community does not feel neglected.

Allow people to share content easily

Make it very easy for people visiting your Social Media networks to share information with their online network. Not only does this strengthen your social bond with them, it also allows you to benefit from their established online community and encourage new people to add themselves to your Social Media platforms. Some sites such as YouTube already have ‘share’ buttons but you can also add share buttons to your blog.

Encourage user content

By encouraging users to post content on your Social Media sites, this will help in fostering virtual communities. Every Social Media network presents different opportunities. With Facebook for example, you can invite people to post photos and videos of themselves using your product and add comments to your page. It is important to acknowledge people every time they add material to any of your sites.

Promote your online communities

You want to get the word out there that your community exists and increase your membership numbers. Promotion starts with you and the members of your company – if you are not the biggest ambassadors of your brand, your community will never realise its full potential. Social Media marketing ideally should also be integrated with your online and offline marketing campaigns including your website, advertising and so forth.

Monitor your online communities

Make your online community a nice place that people want to visit regularly by setting formal or informal guidelines for people who participate – most forums and blogs have terms of service that members must abide by and a zero tolerance policy. Try and defuse any discussions you think may potentially turn nasty and deal with problem members as soon and quickly as possible to stop the situation from escalating.

The most important part of Social Media networking is being committed to updating, monitoring and responding to people who have voluntarily added themselves to your accounts. Learn more about our Social Media Packages and contact us to find out how our Social Media consultants can help you in developing online communities that are passionate and enthusiastic about your brand.

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