Your company probably has a bunch of media, tools, content, etc. However, no matter how strong your communication power is: people ultimately decide for themselves whether they find what you do worthwhile.
Conversation, dialogue, sharing, co-creation, collaboration and participation are key elements in social media marketing and in building communities. A community is something you have to deserve. Share your experiences, thoughts, tips, etc. Provide value, and you'll get value back.
Community is an attitude that begins with customer-oriented thinking, involves a mindset of sharing and communicating and ends in real, personal, open and authentic relationships instead of anonymous connections.
Some tips to help you build a community, connect with your users, and create social media 'permission marketing' assets.
1. Bundle your best content with your community
It is hard to predict what will 'tip' and what won't in the online world. The best strategy for ensuring that community can gather around your best content is to always provide a platform for it to grow. That could mean a feed or other system for your most popular blog posts, a Twitter account feeding out your recent articles and presentations, or a community forum with a thread for every blog post.
2. Comments are a thin attachment, so find something thicker
Blog comments have often been considered a good indicator of connection and value. If you racked up a lot of comments, you were connecting with people and your blog was valuable. The problem is that blog comments are not a particularly deep connection. Instead of merely taking comments, link to your forum or community at the bottom of every post, and encourage readers to join the community.
3. Offer unique content to your community
Got a podcast? Take suggestions from your community members for episodes, and offer unique content and special features to them. A little goes a long way when it is exclusive, and you will find that your community really values being offered something that nobody else gets to see. Offering content like this is great for two reasons; you get ideas and inspiration from your community, and you tighten your bond with them by offering something unique.
4. Actively participate and keep in touch with your members
Some of the most impressive and important online communities were built by people or companies that truly interacted with their customers and fans. Even if they are not huge names in business or entertainment, they kept in touch with people, built their recognition and created a friendly relationship with their fan base. If you can actively communicate with your community, do it. If not, don’t start a community. Nobody is too big to keep in touch with customers and fans, and when you embrace your community you will see their word-of-mouth marketing efforts increase.
Jean-Paul De Clerck is a 360° interactive marketing consultant, founder of the Fusion Marketing Experience and owner of conversionation. You can connect with him via Twitter.
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