The importance of building an Online Community around your business

Why building an online community is an essential step to the success of any business.

While personal selling and offline networking can still be effective, sourcing and maintaining an online community can give you global reach and is usually more time and cost-effective for young businesses on a budget.

They offer an effective way for engaging with potential customers, investors, and brand advocates. They also create a direct line of engagement and are an essential tool for retaining interest.

We’ll go over why leveraging online communities is important and how you can get started today.

WHY THEY’RE IMPORTANT You’ve got an idea for a business, or maybe you’ve already got the ball rolling, but how do you get people interested and engaged?

You could invest in advertising, but prospects will be less likely to trust in even the best ad campaign than in an online community that they feel a part of. Social proof is important here.

Recommendations are valuable when they’re completed naturally by the customer, and reviews are great for showcasing credibility. It’s easy for prospects to identify a genuine review next to one solicited by a promotion or a giveaway and communicating this organic social value is essential.

If you can create and foster a community around your business or convince an existing community to take notice then this will take care of most of the heavy lifting for you.

STRUCTURES OF A COMMUNITY

While communities can come in many different forms – social media groups, forums, or even cross-platform communities- most communities are structured the same way.

INFLUENCERS

At the center of every community are thought-leaders and influencers - usually a few or sometimes a single person who drives and shapes community discussions and interactions. These are the knowledgeable members who provide “official” answers and engagement.

ENGAGED MEMBERS

Below them are the engaged or active members. These individuals may have less influence but they “influence the influencers.” If the members of this larger group are heading in a certain direction it can be hard for even the influencers to drive the conversation in the opposite direction. They will try to solve problems and will offer insight on how the product can be improved.

FOLLOWERS

Then there are the followers, who are less active and usually go along with the rest of the community. If the community is trending in a certain direction, they are less likely to shift the discussion or try to influence opinion. They are the ones asking for help, either by asking questions or searching through previous discussions for answers.

ENGAGING WITH A COMMUNITY

If you are attempting to interact with any type of community, you should be aiming to enter as an “engaged” member. You will have the opportunity to rise to influencer in the future, but unless you’ve already built yourself as an authoritative figure it will be difficult to obtain this position immediately.

If you are starting your own community then you will by default enter as an influencer. This has some advantages over joining an existing community because it allows you to direct the conversation.

Starting your own community allows you to create a tribe around your product and will allow you to promote and support your business through its development. There are many ways to do so but a lot of it gets down to how much time and effort you put into reaching your goals. Creating a passionate community around your brand will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. If you can do so, you will have laid the foundations for your success.