Today, we are going to talk about the five steps you can take to build a successful online community, including how to define your ideal members, ask questions, create content they want, choose a platform and engage and grow your community.

Step 1: Define your ideal online community member

• Use social listening to hear what your ideal community member or customer is saying about their problems. Even if you don’t have a community of your own yet, join similar communities who have your ideal customer in them and observe what people in that community are saying about their challenges and desires.  
• Think of products that you can offer all along the growth path of your ideal customer by solving a current problem, then solve the next level problem, and so on. Create a ladder of products for your customers to climb to your higher level products.
• Ask yourself what your life’s purpose is and who it is you are here to serve. Don’t waste your time on things that fall outside of that purpose.

Step 2: Ask your online community lots of questions

• Ask questions within a group. Go all-in to find out exactly what your audience is looking for and then test your solutions to that problem to gauge interest.
• Talk to people one on one. Reach out via DM, email or phone. Don’t sell them anything, just ask them questions to learn how they describe their challenges and concerns as it pertains to the topic of your expertise. Take note of the language they use.
• Utilize polls and surveys. Use Twitter and Facebook to ask the community questions that help you gain a better understanding of them and know their wants and needs.

Step 3: Create content that answers your online community’s questions

• Create content that directly answers a single question. This is great for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and also lets you see which content strikes a note with your community before you build it out into something bigger.
• Create content that teaches instead of teases.

Step 4: Choose a platform where you will engage your online community most often

• Find out where your ideal online audience is hanging out the most: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat or somewhere else? (You can get some demographic statistics on this chart from Spredfast)
• Focus on that platform and build out an online community around the topic of your business, organization or expertise.

Step 5: Engage and grow your online community

• Create a plan for engagement. It doesn’t happen unless you plan for it.
• Have a private group or page to interact and engage with your community.
• Promote your group to grow your community.

Tools, apps and links mentioned:

• Episode 15: 7 Types of Content to Rock Your Community
• Episode 18: 5 Ways to Quickly Create Relevant Content
• Episode 24: How to Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose Your Content
• Episode 30: How to Build a Converting Community on Twitter with Adel de Meyer
• Episode 31: How to Build a Converting Community on Instagram with Sue B Zimmerman
• Episode 32: How to Build a Converting Community on Facebook with Zach Spuckler
• Episode 33: 6 Steps to Promote Your Business Without Being Spammy with Kirsten Oliphant
• Episode 34: How to Grow a Loyal Community Online and Offline
• Episode 35: How to Build a Converting Community Using Content with Gini Dietrich
• Episode 36: How to Build a Converting Community on YouTube with Sunny Lenarduzzi
• Episode 44: Surveys and Polls to Get Community Feedback
• Episode 46: Making Your Content Evergreen with Tim Fargo from Social Jukebox
• Episode 49: Madalyn Sklar’s Tips to Build a Twitter Community
• Episode 54: How to Define Your Ideal Community Member
• Episode 64: Overcoming Content Block
• Spredfast 2018 Social Audience Guide
• Pete Vargas Stages to Scale Program

How to reach Kami:

If you’d like to learn more about Kami Huyse, visit her website at www.zoeticamedia.com. You can contact her by email at kami@zoeticamedia.com or tweet to @kamichat.

How to reach Madalyn:

If you’d like to learn more about Madalyn Sklar, visit her website at www.madalynsklar.com. You can contact her by email at madalyn@madalynsklar.com or tweet to @MadalynSklar.

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