Here it is! My presentation from Blissdom Canada 2012 about building an organic and engaged community online.
What’s that? You find it completely confusing? Unfortunately, that may be the case. The slides were meant to be speaking launch points for me so a lot of it may not make sense.
But, don’t fret – the slides alone are still enjoyable and I’ll give you a summary:
- Influence is more than your reach by numbers. Numbers don’t always tell the full story.
- Why are you building an engaged audience? There is a benefit to you and your readers to have mutual engagement. This community is more likely to share your content or be your support group.
- It takes time to grow your community online. Your blog readership, twitter account, Facebook fan page – these things rarely grow exponentially overnight. Do it well and your community will be the better for it.
- provide people a reason to want to be a part of your community. Sometimes it’s great content/information, sometimes it’s humour, other times it may just be that people want to chat with you. Whatever the case, give them a reason to come back (and find a way to be unique!)
- Give more than you get – give back in some way. RT more than you post. Share on Facebook. Do more for others. It will be returned.
- Be kind.
- Collaborate – find new ways to work with other bloggers or form partnerships. Be creative.
- Have fun! If you lose the enjoyment of the ‘social’ part in social media, it will become a chore and be very difficult.
One note I wanted to get across is that there’s more to influence, more to community, more to your online presence than numbers. That’s not to say ignore them. I think it’s important to try and grow your reach, grow your numbers (but try to make them quality readers and followers!).
Numbers tell a story, but they won’t dictate the ending. You are the narrator.
Find a way to become an influencer, an expert in your niche or in your community.
Remember, when possible, community is built both online and off.
The last page is a worksheet – a guide with ways that I have actually used myself to build my community (and continue to use!).
I’ve included a PDF here:
Thank you to everyone who came to my table at Blissdom!
Feel free to ask questions in the comments below and hopefully I can help a little!
