\u201cAlone we can do so little; together we can do so much.\u201d Helen Keller<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been very tuned in to how powerful TOGETHERNESS is since I was a kid. \u00a0I was raised in a family with six kids. \u00a0I was an avid athlete on just about every team sport you can imagine. \u00a0I was always a key leader in school organizations. \u00a0And as it relates to business, I spent the past 7 years of my life building an in-person entrepreneurial community with my husband. \u00a0So once the dust settled from the launch of this crazy idea I had called Biz Women Rock, I knew without a doubt that I wasn\u2019t simply producing a podcast or building a business that created products and services…I was building a <\/span>community<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Google defines community as\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.\u201d \u00a0Or \u201ca feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Basically, my <\/span>community<\/span><\/i> was getting created as I gathered my listeners, my supporters, my email readers, my coaching clients, my course students and anyone else who identified with the Biz Women Rock brand and brought them together for a larger purpose. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is what I\u2019ve been doing since I was a kid. \u00a0And this is what I love. \u00a0Because I believe that my purpose is to make a massive impact in the lives of women around the world. \u00a0And I\u2019ve seen over and over again how creating and leading a community allows me to do that exponentially.<\/span><\/p>\n In the past few years, the word \u201ccommunity\u201d has become a bit of a buzzword within the online business space. \u00a0Everyone is talking about their \u201ccommunity.\u201d \u00a0They\u2019ve exchanged the words \u201cfollowing\u201d or \u201ctribe\u201d or \u201cemail list\u201d or \u201clisteners\u201d or \u201creaders\u201d for <\/span>community<\/b>. \u00a0And while I love this shift to utilizing my favorite multi-dimensional term, my purpose in creating this series is to expose just how intricate this whole <\/span>building a community<\/span><\/i> thing really is. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve identified seven simple steps to follow in order to build a tremendous community. \u00a0And I\u2019ve even included some phenomenal advice from some of the most impactful and successful community builders I\u2019ve ever had the privilege of knowing!<\/span><\/p>\n This series is broken up into four parts that will be showcased over the next four weeks. \u00a0So, if you happen to be diving into part 3, make sure you go back and listen to all the previous ones in order to get the full impact of the lessons here. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Building a community is not for the faint of heart. \u00a0Nor is it for someone who wants an \u201ceasy\u201d business model. \u00a0Building a community and becoming a leader of one is for someone who wants to make an impact in a profound way on the lives of others, who wants to make ripples in the universe and do it through other people. \u00a0And as it pertains to business, it\u2019s for someone who believes in giving value to a group of people they truly LOVE (and I don\u2019t use that word lightly) before ever offering products or services for sale…because they understand the value and fragility of having an endless pool of loyal customers who believe in their brand. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, if you\u2019re listening to this because you want to \u201cbuild your following online,\u201d you will definitely get some great ideas here. \u00a0However, I highly recommend you listen with an open mind knowing that building a community is something that happens in an entirely different stratosphere…and maybe, just maybe…you\u2019ll feel called to lean into the possibilities it can open for you to live in your purpose. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So here were go\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Downloads, shares, likes, comments, hearts, re-tweets, email replies, link clicks, product purchases…these are all ways we know people are listening to what we\u2019re saying. \u00a0These are how we measure <\/span>engagement<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Engagement means active involvement. \u00a0It means that one of your members has taken the time to DO something because you\u2019ve asked them to or because they were compelled to because of something you said or did. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why is it so important to have engagement? \u00a0Because when someone shares your post, comments on a thread or shows up to your event, they\u2019ve given you their <\/span>time<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>their #1 asset.<\/span> \u00a0And every time they engage and give you more of their time, they get more and more invested in YOU and what you offer them. \u00a0And the more invested in you they are, the more loyal of a community member they will be!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is so important to have your thumb on the pulse of your community so you know them intimately and there\u2019s no better measure of this than their engagement. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But HOW do you get your community members to engage?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let me just say, it ain\u2019t as easy as it looks. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This section is called EXPERIMENTING with engagement because that\u2019s exactly what you\u2019re going to do…experiment. \u00a0Try things out. \u00a0Test, fail, test, succeed, test again. \u00a0And as a side-note, this experimentation never stops. \u00a0No matter how long you\u2019ve been in the game, no matter how much you <\/span>think<\/span><\/i> you know what works and what doesn\u2019t, you will <\/span>always<\/span><\/i> – SHOULD always – experiment. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n That being said, I want to share some of the strategies that have worked very well for me to encourage engagement in the Biz Women Rock community. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a post Natalie Eckdahl made in her Facebook Group. \u00a0Her community members are business women and her question has nothing to do with business. \u00a0BUT, everyone was so excited to answer it, including myself, that it had more than a dozen comments in no time!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Something as simple as, <\/span>what are you up to today?<\/span><\/i> like I asked in the post below, can get a great response because people <\/span>want<\/span><\/i> to tell you what they\u2019re doing!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hint: you\u2019ll noticed that I added my own answer to this question, as well as a photo of me doing what I said I was doing. \u00a0Sharing your own answer to your question is a great way for your members to get to know you better and adding a photo adds another visual dimension to the question that forces their eyes to notice!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Secret survey hack: I sent a private message to the top 100 most active members of my community (these were the folks who emailed me a lot and were active in my Facebook Group). \u00a0Although it was a templated message, I customized it for each individual. \u00a0I let them know how grateful I was for the important, active role they played in the community and that I was specifically interested in hearing more about what they really needed so I could continue building a community that was valuable for them. \u00a0Forty seven ladies filled out the not-so-quick survey! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The best part about engaging your community through a successful survey campaign is not necessarily that you get a lot of people to do it, although that\u2019s awesome. \u00a0It\u2019s that you get <\/span>so much insight<\/span><\/i> into who your avatar is, what she\/he need and wants and how you might be able to serve them better!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHey Kelly, congratulations on such a great win! \u00a0I would love to feature you on an upcoming episode of the show! \u00a0Please leave a voicemail at 813-489-9630 saying something to the effect of, \u201cHey, it\u2019s Kelly McRae of Kelly McRae.com. \u00a0My big win is XXX.\u201d \u00a0I literally give them a template. \u00a0This makes it clear to Lynn exactly how I want to feature her and it completely eliminates a need for me to edit her voicemail for the show!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And yes, I write this just about every time I invite someone to share on the show! \u00a0It makes them feel special! (and they are!)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Proactively asking your community members to engage with you in a very specific way is incredibly powerful in that YOU are guiding their interaction with you (so you can then re-purpose their interaction for the benefit of the community) and making each of your community members feel so special by doing it individually.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For over 2 years, the format of my podcast was the same. \u00a0A 30-40 minute interview with an awesome business woman about her business journey. \u00a0The shows were awesome and full of great stories and business strategies. \u00a0But…I got bored. \u00a0And if <\/span>I <\/span><\/i>was bored, I\u2019m sure many of my listeners were bored! \u00a0So, I changed up the format (thanks to some major butt-kicking by my friend Glenn the Geek of the Horse Radio Network). \u00a0The format that you\u2019re now hearing – different segments, incorporating my community into the show, transitional sounds, etc. \u00a0All of it is a new experiment. \u00a0Not only does it invigorate <\/span>me<\/span><\/i> as the leader and dial me into the roots of the show, but it\u2019s created an electric shock in my community, delivering a pattern interrupt that\u2019s grabbed their attention once again. \u00a0And the impact has been MASSIVE! \u00a0I am constantly hearing from my ladies how much they love the new show. \u00a0They\u2019re posting within the group about a segment they loved. \u00a0They\u2019re referring to a book I spoke about within a thread of a post. \u00a0Experimenting with this<\/span> one<\/span><\/i> platform has enlivened all the other platforms of communication for my community! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you have a video blog or Youtube channel, change up the look, feel and even the duration of your show! \u00a0If you\u2019re a blogger and your articles typically look the same, start incorporating more commentary within your posts from your community members. \u00a0Maybe throw in an audio clip within the post so your readers can listen to that commentary. \u00a0It\u2019s makes your media delivery multi-dimensional and interesting. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I think I\u2019m pretty damn good at asking questions people want to answer within my Facebook Group, but every once in awhile I put something out there that is a total guess and <\/span>no one<\/span><\/i> comments. \u00a0Not one person out of 4,000 people! \u00a0And I\u2019m not gonna lie, it doesn\u2019t feel great. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In June of 2016, I decided I would officially meet some of my community members in person and launched the Biz Women Rock Summer Tour. \u00a0This was definitely an experiment for me…just because a community is engaged <\/span>online<\/span><\/i> doesn\u2019t mean they will choose to show up <\/span>offline<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0You still need to make it worth their while and do the appropriate marketing. \u00a0The Tour started in Tampa, went to New York, Arizona and finally in Chicago. \u00a0Tampa was phenomenal. \u00a0Almost 30 women showed up to hang out and get to know each other! \u00a0It was a huge success! \u00a0But when I showed up to the New York and Arizona locations at the times I had posted, no one was there. \u00a0And no one ever came. \u00a0To either of these meetups. \u00a0I had failed to do the appropriate marketing push that would have guaranteed people in the room. \u00a0And I knew it. \u00a0Rather than get down about it, I chose to look at it as a sobering reminder that even though I have tens of thousands of folks who follow my brand around the world, I still can\u2019t lose sight of the basics of business and events. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Never stop experimenting. \u00a0Because experimentation breeds innovation. \u00a0Experimenting helps you chisel away at the stone and expose your core gifts and value to your community. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I consider community building the antithesis to the traditional business model. \u00a0A traditional business model has us believe that you first create the PRODUCT or SERVICE (something you think people will want to buy), then look for the AUDIENCE to get it in front of and hope they buy it. \u00a0Billions of dollars are spent in advertising in this way. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But community building is an altogether different model. \u00a0First you build the AUDIENCE. \u00a0You do so by giving them value. \u00a0By being someone who actually cares about them. \u00a0By giving them a space to connect with others who are like them. \u00a0By being a resource for them. \u00a0By making them laugh or providing them with information they seek. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And then, before you spend the time or money building something to sell to them, you shut up and listen. \u00a0What are their pain points? \u00a0Where are they struggling? \u00a0What questions do you see come up again and again? \u00a0What do they keep asking for?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019ve never seen anyone as good at this as John Lee Dumas and Kate Erickson of <\/span>EOFire<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0They have created a multi-milion dollar business by simply listening to what their community members are asking for and then creating it for them. \u00a0They started with a daily podcast, <\/span>Entrepreneur on Fire<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0They grew their audience of listeners. \u00a0They attracted sponsors. \u00a0They attracted some big names to be on the show. \u00a0And over and over again, they would have people asking them, <\/span>how did you do that? \u00a0How can I start a podcast too? \u00a0How can I get sponsors? \u00a0How can I get people to come onto my podcast? <\/span><\/i>\u00a0So, they created Podcaster\u2019s Paradise, an online course and community of seasoned, beginning and about-to-begin podcasters who want to learn how to start, grow and monetize their podcasts. \u00a0As their community grew through their weekly webinars educating folks about podcasting and the benefits of Podcaster\u2019s Paradise, more people came to them asking for webinar help. \u00a0How should I put my webinar together? \u00a0What webinar platform are you using? \u00a0How can I increase my conversion rate? \u00a0So, they created <\/span>Webinar on Fire<\/span><\/i>, an online course that teaches folks how to create and present a webinar that converts. \u00a0As the years continued and more and more people became part of their community, they got more and more questions about how they actually accomplished their goals. \u00a0They noticed their members struggling between their desire to do great things and actually <\/span>doing<\/span><\/i> them. \u00a0So, they created The Freedom Journal, a beautifully bound journal that helps you accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looking from the outside, anyone might say these two are lucky, that everything they do is simply brilliant. \u00a0But, it\u2019s not luck and it\u2019s not brilliance. \u00a0It\u2019s being plugged into the needs of their community. \u00a0It\u2019s listening. \u00a0It\u2019s asking. \u00a0It\u2019s creating what <\/span>their members<\/span><\/i> want and then giving it to them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The absolute BEST part of this reverse business model is that the possibilities for revenue generation is endless. \u00a0As long as you continue to put love and energy into your community members, they will continue to tell you what they need. \u00a0And all you have to do is continue creating those things, one after another after another. \u00a0You\u2019re bringing in revenue because you\u2019re creating products and services that fulfill the needs of people that you love. \u00a0Does life get any better?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Listen to Part 1 HERE<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-26-at-11.36.44-AM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOne final note…<\/span><\/h3>\n
HOW TO BUILD A COMMUNITY<\/b><\/h2>\n
PART 3<\/b><\/h2>\n
Step 4: Experiment with ENGAGING your community<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Step 5: Give Your Community What THEY Want (Not What YOU Want)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
This concludes Part 3 of our series on How to Build Community!<\/h3>\n