5 easy tips on growing your online community

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Growing Your Community

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Want to learn how to grow your online community? Here are five easy tips on how to grow your community. Joe and Andy, BigMarker's Community Heroes, want to help you grow your community, so that you can connect with even more people. You can watch their webinar here: https://www.bigmarker.com/BMCommunity/growing_your_community They will grow through the main ways to grow your community, from social media to email marketing to hosting webinars. Whether you are an organizer, member, or host, this webinar is for you!

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

Growing Your Community

Page 2: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

Andy

Joe

[email protected] Community Hero

[email protected] Community Hero

Page 3: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

Why grow?

•  Your community is a place to connect with other like-minded people

•  You want the perfect sized community to really establish this connection

•  For most online communities, that means you need more people

Page 4: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

The BigMarker home and find

•  This page lets you browse all of the public: – Active communities – Video conferences and Webinars – Recordings

Page 5: 5 easy tips on growing your online community
Page 6: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

•  You need to complete: –  Images – Description – About – Contact information – Personal profile – Community settings

Filling out your community

Page 7: 5 easy tips on growing your online community
Page 8: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

The Fabulous 5 Growth Tactics:

1.  Use your networks 2.  Use social media outlets 3.  Take advantage of blogging 4.  Encourage member activity 5.  Host webinars

Page 9: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

•  Right from the beginning you should invite: – Friends – Family – Colleagues

•  If you know someone who would love being part of your group, invite them.

1. Use Your Networks

Page 10: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

1. Use Your Networks (cont.)

•  Start off on the right foot •  Having members in your community will

help attract more members – No one wants to be the first to the party

•  This is why you invite those contacts you personally know – Get them in first, and it will be easier to get

others

Page 11: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

2. Use social networks

Page 12: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

2. Use social networks (cont.)

•  People that want to join your community are out there

•  You just need to find them •  Social networks are the easiest place to

look •  Start by posting updates about your

community and conferences

Page 13: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

2. Use social networks (cont.) •  Popular social networks to try out: –  Facebook –  Twitter –  LinkedIn – MySpace – Google+ –  Pinterest –  Stumbleupon – Reddit – Bebo (UK) – Hi5 (Non-US)

Page 14: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

•  Having an active blog is a valuable promotional tool

•  It becomes a funnel to your community •  For hosting webinars: – Refer to your events – Your Blog/website is the most effective

marketing tool – Embed your conference recordings

3. Taking advantage of blogging

Page 15: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

3. Taking advantage of blogging (cont.) •  Blogs need content •  Most bloggers don’t have time or the energy

to constantly come up with content •  This is where you and your community

enter! •  Reach out to bloggers that write about your

topic – A cooking community should reach out to

cooking bloggers •  Tell them your story

Page 16: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

“A community is like a ship, everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” -Henrik Ibsen

4. Encourage member activity

Page 17: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

4. Encourage member activity (cont.)

•  Without your members help, your community can become stagnant

•  Activity is what will drive you through the community stages:

Stage Incep*on Establishment Maturity Mitosis

Descrip(on

The  community  just  started.  You’re  pos(ng  most  of  the  content  and  invi(ng  most  of  the  people  to  join.  You’re  the  driving  force.  This  is  where  most  communi(es  fail.

The  community  is  on  a  good  pace.  It’s  growing  and  members  are  sharing  on  their  own.  You’re  no  longer  the  driving  force.  You’re  a  facilitator.

Take  a  vaca(on,  because  this  community  is  100%  its  own  en(ty.  If  it  was  garden,  you’re  just  trimming  here  and  there.  If  you  leD,  the  community  would  con(nue  to  grow.

The  community  has  grown  so  large  that  you  need  sub-­‐groups  to  facilitate  more  specific  and  in(mate  conversa(ons.  Each  sub-­‐group  will  go  back  to  the  incep(on  stage.

%  of  organizer  posted  content 50  to  100% <  50% <  10% 50  to  100%

Page 18: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

4. Encourage member activity (cont.)

•  We suggest to create a schedule for posting. For example:

1.  Monday - Opinion feature (stir debate) 2.  Tuesday - News article repost 3.  Wednesday - Host a video chat 4.  Thursday - Featured interview (can be with

outsiders or those in your group) 5.  Friday - Event for the weekend. 6.  Saturday - Welcome newcomers 7.  Sunday - Summary of the week and a look

forward to the next week 18  

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5. Host webinars

•  If content is king, then the webinar is the king of kings

•  They are a way for you to: – Share knowledge – Meet your members face-to-face –  Interact with your community – Promote your community to outsiders

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5. Host webinars (cont.)

•  On BigMarker, hosting a webinar is easy •  Click “Host a conference” and you are on

your way •  Then, you want to promote your webinar

with the same tools you used before –  Inviting relevant contacts – Working social media – Telling the blogging world

Page 21: 5 easy tips on growing your online community

Andy

Joe

[email protected] Community Hero

[email protected] Community Hero