Growing your Community Authentically

15 Jun

The quest for new likes/followers/fans/groupies seems never ending.

I see it everyday and am asked often,

  • “How do I get more followers”  

Show up. Participate. Interact. Provide value. Basically, you have to ‘do the work’. But you have to also decide why you are doing it.

and then there’s the :

  • I need 1000 fans by tomorrow”

If you like bots and zombie followers, then by all means go right ahead. And please fill the rest of us in on your methods! (kidding).

The more followers the better, right?

Well, not necessarily. You want people to join your community who will benefit from and also provide value to your community. Numbers are just that, numbers. You want real people behind the numbers.  Less can be more especially if those smaller numbers are more engaged.

Then there is the:

  • “I don’t want to follow more people than are following me”

Because? I don’t get that one either, especially from coming from the mouth of a newbie. Who cares!! Forget the ‘rules’ and start participating! It’s not a popularity contest.

And this one takes the cake-

  • “Klout says that I should tweet 3x a day to extend my reach and influence my audience”

A quick glance at this person’s account shows they’ve only tweeted maybe 50 odd times and joined Twitter a month ago.

Perhaps, it’s better to focus on actual participation and worry about your Klout later (if ever). (And what will a high Klout score get you, anyways? Besides adding more to the ‘high-school/popularity contest’  mindset of social networking.)

Growing Your Community Authentically

..takes time

Starting a Facebook page or opening a Twitter account is easy. The real work comes after.

If you don’t know yet what you’re going to do with your page (besides shameless promotion), or what happens ‘after the like‘, take the time to develop a content strategy as well as look at other pages that have an engaged community.

And, ask yourself-Would you join your community?

3 Responses to “Growing your Community Authentically”