How to Build Connections with Your Online Community – Ep 89
You have something to say, but do you know how to build connections with your online audience so they listen to you and take action?
When you build a community, it can sometimes be pretty quiet at first. People aren’t really sure where to start connecting and need easy ways to hook into the community. In this episode, we will share ten tried and true ways to turn your ghost town into a bustling square.
10 Ways to Build Connections with Your Online Community
1. Niche down
- When you narrow down who are reaching to people who have the same challenges and interests, people start connecting faster.
- Niching down makes it easier for you when creating marketing messages.
2. Monthly hot seats
- Provide 1-1 coaching and let others tune in to watch.
- The coach (you) should address the audience and invite them to think of ways they can use what they are hearing in their own business.
3. Have a live stream session inside your community
- Having a Q&A is helpful because it makes it easy for people to jump in and breaks the ice.
- Answer every question people have. This is a powerful way for your audience to ask their question, learn and feel heard.
4. Use email intelligently
- Send your audience to a specific Facebook or Instagram post using email.
- Use the email list you’ve built to your advantage by making your messages more personal.
5. Encourage accountability partners
- You can encourage anyone who wants an accountability partner to connect in the group.
- You can use the Mentoring function in Facebook Groups. Go to Edit Group Settings > Sections > Mentorship. People can sign up as mentors or mentees and the admin can pair them.
6. Hire or enlist a community manager
- Hiring someone to help you is a great way to make sure everyone gets a timely answer and to stir up the conversation when things get quiet.
- If you have a paid community, set money aside to pay someone to help. Otherwise, you can find someone who will volunteer. Either way, take time to be involved with the community yourself.
7. Conduct regular polls in your group
- Polls are an easy way to get feedback and allow your community to interact with you in a low-risk way.
- In addition to polls, Instagram recently added a new feature called quizzes that allows you to quickly and easily connect with your audience.
8. Create a member spotlight post
- On a monthly or weekly basis recognize and feature someone.
- If you do it in a way that is instructive, the whole community can benefit by learning how someone has succeeded.
9. Surprise and delight
- Bring on special guests, or offer free gifts for participation in the group
- Call someone directly or draft handwritten notes to express appreciation.
10. Meet up
- Encourage your community to meet in real life, you can meet at an industry conference or encourage them to meet each other without you in their local community.
- Think about ways to bring the online and offline environment together in interesting ways. People are looking for ways to connect with each other and you can facilitate that.
To win at the community game, just be consistent. You don’t have to be perfect at this!
Tools, apps and links mentioned:
Take Action
Share three ways that you plan to connect with your community this month tell us about it in our Facebook group.
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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