A word on growing your community

Build it, and they probably won’t come. Build it bigger and they probably still won’t come. Build roads that lead directly to it and signpost why someone might want to go there and you may just be lucky enough to get some visitors. This is the key to building a successful online community around your product and is a lesson many seem to forget.

I’ve lost count of the amount of Facebook pages or Twitter profiles I’ve seen, that have one or two updates and have since been left to bite the dust. When you’re growing your brand online it can often seem like you’re shouting into an empty room with only the echo for company. Communities aren’t going to grow overnight and perserverance is essential here. No matter how fantastic your product, people aren’t going to join your community unless they can see a real reason to and can see that you might actually talk to them back. This takes time for any brand to do and it’s easy to see why many give up so easily.

Don’t build a Facebook page ‘just because’. You have to be sure you have the time to make it work, and the content to actually bring something of value to the space. Even if you only have one or two people in your community at the start, don’t give up and brand your efforts a failure. Recognise the value in this handful of followers. Engage with them regularly early on and, if you do it right, you’ll find that your community will begin to grow more organically.

If you’re lucky enough to have an existing following around your brand – remember to use this to get the word out. Add your Twitter/Facebook profile onto your website, email newsletter, staff LinkedIn profiles, company email signatures. You have to work to build paths that lead people to your social profiles.

I can’t guarantee it’s going to be easy – social media isn’t meant to be easy, but that’s only because the rewards are so great.