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Blogging - How To Build Your Community

Maybe it’s obvious. Maybe it’s not. But here’s the bottom line: every community seems to function differently. On the surface, they may seem pretty similar. Underneath? Not so much. That’s why, to successfully manage one, you need to start with the bigger picture of what web communities do have in common.

Each community does have common practices. To fit in, you have to choose a specific function that contributes to community growth and/or well-being. Key points:

  • What is the purpose of the community?
  • What actions can you do to help the community grow at a grass roots level?
  • Make sure others know exactly what you’re doing, so they can see that you care.
  • Talk with different community members, online & offline, to find out what’s important to them.
  • Frame what you say & do so that everyone you talk to gets the sense that they are critical to the community’s success. Online polls and/or surveys help.
  • Once people start to really participate, it’s important to leverage their efforts. Respond quickly to all communications. Your intention is always to draw people in deeper. The more involved they become, the greater commitment they make, the stronger the whole community gets. Your goal is to go from person to person to person, getting a specific agreement on how they will increase their commitment to the community.
  • Every time you respond, end it with a question. You have a much better chance to keep the dialogue going this way.
  • Create online events & meet-ups to get members interacting. Do conference calls. Encourage community members to bring friends to these events.
  • Every community member has the potential to be an evangelist for the community. Everytime you interact with a community member, keep that picture of them in your mind.
  • This communication must be consistent, or people’s attention will drift and you will lost momentum.
  • Give members the chance to volunteer & feel they are contributing more.
  • Make sure your online community has as many sticky features as possible: surveys, polls, events, and so forth.
  • Think through what rewards you can give to encourage each member to particpate more. Choose something that you could give to every individual, if they qualify - not just one person. Of course, you want it to be as valuable as possible.

These actions will give you a good start in building a strong blog community.

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Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Build Your Community . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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