Tip 44: Create a community

There’s strength in numbers. And whether they are joining a movement, in need of support, or working to get better at something, your customers can benefit from engaging with others. You can be the one to help them connect. You can help them organize and have a sense of belonging that’s also connected to your business. People like feeling like they are a part of something. By creating a place for them to come together, you are doing a great thing.

Examples

  1. Lot’s of internet marketers are building a community for their businesses. Be it through Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn groups, or even communities and forums housed on their own websites, many business owners are learning to capitalize on their audiences’ need and desire to connect with other like-minded people.
  2. Weight Watchers knows the importance community has on helping their members lose weight. So they have meetings all over the place, to provide their members with support, inspiration, and other tools they need to continue along their journey to getting healthy and losing weight.

Suggestions

  1. Communities take a lot of work. So before you begin to create one, be sure to set aside some resources to focus on making the community a place that adds so much value that your customers want to come back to it again and again.
  2. Think long and hard about the objectives of your community before you launch it. That will help you to create an environment that fosters the kind of results you are looking to achieve for your customers. The more you plan out how to make your community look like what you envision for it, the greater your chances of having your community shape up to be what you want.

Application for your business

  1. Write down what a community for your business would look like. What would be the objective for a community for your customers? What would be the top two reasons why they would come back to it on a regular basis.
  2. What resources do you need to have in place to build an effective community for your customers? Do you need someone to moderate it for you? Is there community specific content you need to create? Where would your community live?

Previous tips

1-22. Build a relationship with your customers (series)

23. Solve your customers’ problem

24. Know your stuff

25. Add value

26. Do what you say you’re going to do

27. Exceed your customers’ expectations

28. Be a purple cow

29. Be consistent

30. Be accessible

31. Always be one or two steps ahead

32. Give your customers what they didn’t even know they needed or wanted

33. Give your customers an easy button

34. Make common inconveniences more convenient

35. Respect your customers’ time

36. Be simple and intuitive

37. Automate

38. Educate

39. Teach your customers something new

40. Share helpful information

41. Be relevant (evolve with the times)

42. Let your customers customize their experience

43. Give your customers something one-of-a-kind