There are endless options to expand and grow your business. Leveraging community can be a fun way to grow your business. A community is a group with common interests and culture. According to a 2017 Michigan University article, incremental revenue increased 19% when customers joined an online community. There are a few different avenues to consider when building your community. Today, most experts go directly to online communities; however there are other types of communities. Here are three:
1. Online Community is built with blogs, your website, social media including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked-In and others.
2. Associations build community of similar businesses in a particular industry.
3. Networking can build community through in person events and activities, typically in a specific geographical area.
Select the type of community or perhaps you choose two avenues to build your community. Next you must magnetize members to the community. Be consistent and deliberate in how you connect with potential clients, and partners.
These are the keys to build your community:
Magnetize
Authenticity – be authentic
Give first – always give value
Network – network both online and in person
Engage – engage others
Timely – ensure you provide timely information
Integrity – operate with integrity and transparency
Zillion – the number of new members you will attract
Enjoy – always have fun and enjoy building your community
Develop a program and process to consistently communicate and engage with your community. Remember you are looking to engage members with common interests and culture. What do your customers have in common? This leads to your niche. Your niche leads to ideas of how to magnetize members to your community. When you consider where other like-minded people hang out, you will have input to determine the avenues to use to find community members. Soon you will have a growing community.
Laurie Zerga
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