STO26: 3 Steps to Building and Growing an Online Community

By John Dennis on May 7, 2014 in Podcast | 0 comments

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Communities are the lifeblood of society. When you get an engaged group of like-minded people together with a common interest, passion and purpose as part of a community – magic happens.

With my experience of creating, managing and participating in communities across many markets and niches, I’ve discovered a few things that make the good ones stand out from the less engaged ones. I’ve boiled it down to just 3 simple “big” steps and a few sub-steps that you can use to start or improve your own community.

In this episode of the Smart Time Online podcast, I reveal the 3 steps to building and growing an online community.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

The 3 Steps to Building and Growing an Online Community (duh).
The strategy that builds raving fans for you and your brand.
The one thing to start with when creating a new online community.
Why a community is only a community when people ________. (hint: this is an emotion, not an action.)
Why having an open community can benefit your brand (and why having a closed one can, too).
Why you MUST establish a ___________ around your community and how it can mean the difference between failure and success.
What Steps of Investment are and how to utilize this when growing your community.
How to best indoctrinate new members so they become active and engaged contributors.

ACTION STEPS:

Start a community! What are you waiting for?
Understand the word community. What does it mean to you? How does it make you feel when you actively participate in an engaged community that brings value to your life?
Establish a sense of identity by only accepting a certain type of person. There’s no sense is accepting a hair stylist into a community made for pizza restaurant owners.
Introduce a ritual to people who are new. This works very well.
Establish some sort of mantra and identity within your community. Slang and pseudonyms are actually welcome if they unify your group.
Establish shared influence among your community members. Actively promote members who are experts in their respective fields and look for opportunities where they can give value to others in your community.
Promote connects any time you can. Introduce people within your community and don’t hesitate to ask others to become active connectors as well.
Would you like some 1-on-1 help? Click here

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Podcasters’ Paradise – one of the most engaged closed “premium” communities I’m in
Thursday Night Boardroom – one of the most engaged “open” communities I’m in (requires application and approval)
Internet Marketing Superfriends – one of the most engaged “open” communities I’m in (no application required)