5 Steps To Building
An Active Community
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Reply, reply, reply
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1
“When you’re commenting I’m commenting back. I want you to know I’m listening.”
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— Danielle Smith extraordinarymommy.com
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Jane Pratt and her community write about their personal experiences on XOJane.com. She makes the time to be a part of her community even with her busy schedule. !Responding individually to readers lets them know their thoughts matter, and your blog isn’t just a soapbox. It’s an active dialogue between many interested parties.
Know your community and its influencers
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2
“Knowing the people that come to your site… is a good way to keep them coming back.”
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— Fadra Nally allthingsfadra.com
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Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) is the XBOX guy. He showcases all the new XBOX game releases and news on his site majornelson.com. !Just like Jane, he’s very busy but makes the time to personally respond to his community.
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He dives deeper than most publishers and, though discovering its influences, gets to know his audience and community leaders. !Focusing on your most active community members helps you turn your most enthusiastic fans into evangelists. Someone who is just as passionate about your content as you are will engage time and again and encourage less active members to return to your site.
Show your community that you care
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3
“It’s about the connection, engagement — we’re just people doing this together.”
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— Lizz Porter amiafunnygirl.com
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One of my favorite movie blogs, slashfilm.com, does a great job of showing its community they care by authentically asking them to talk back. This often spawns the chain event of more thoughtful responses.
Know where your audience comes from
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4
“Once you get hold of that data, it gives insight to your readers, maybe the ones that never even wrote comments.”
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— Fadra Nally allthingsfadra.com
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Knowing if your visitors come from a specific geographical area or represent a certain brand can help you create content that is more relevant and interesting to them. !Utilizing tools that analyze your traffic, like Google Analytics, can give you deeper insight into your community.
Create great content
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5
“Create great content. Put your heart and soul into it and people will respond.”
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— Lindsay Ferrier suburbanturmoil.com
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Tofugu.com is one of my favorite Japanese culture blogs. They create great and compelling content that people want to read. This keeps people coming back. I mean, who knew people had beetles for pets? !It’s important to write from your unique perspective. Originality on the internet is a thing to be treasured, and readers will want to talk about it.
Michael G. Calvert twitter.com/rawrsoft linkedin.com/in/rawrsoft instagram.com/michaelgcalvert
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EinsteinThe Wonder Dog
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