5 Ways to Build Your Community Online

Whether you're trying to build engagement in a Facebook Group or on a Facebook page or just on Twitter or Instagram, there are a few things that are important to keep in mind to build community: 

1. Set the tone

Lead by example! You are the leader of your community. The way that you behave in that community, from the kind of support you give, to the language you use, to the amount that you're present in the group, is key. If you're not willing to demonstrate through your own behaviour how you want the group to look and feel, you can't be surprised if things go off course. 

In my group there is always a distinct drop in participation if I'm away too much. I need to participate a lot if I want others to participate a lot. Also I find that people are really helpful, respectful and follow the "rules" without having to be policed because they see what the group is meant to be like. 

2. Ask simple questions

People have short attention spans, you need to ask questions (at least some of the time) that are so easy to answer people don't even have to think.

Where are you from?

How many kids do you have?

What's your favourite colour? 

Questions like that seem like fluff but what you need to remember is that your goal is to get people to participate, even just once. Once they've commented on something, they'll be more likely to comment again another time. They'll also be more likely to see your content if you're building your community on a tool that operates with an algorithm.  

Even if you're going for something more complex than the questions above, keep the questions pretty simple so they don't have to think too long. If a person is required to think too long they often decide it's not worth the effort and move on. 

3. Always go first

People hate going first. If you ask them a question they worry that what they want to say might not be what you're actually asking for or they don't know how to share the information they want to share. 

When you ask a question or if someone in your community asks a question, do your best to answer it. You're taking away a lot of the anxiety of being the first to post and you're essentially providing them with a template for their own answer.

4. Be relatable

Share you. Share your realness. Let people see that you're human and not that different from them.

The more you can do that, the less intimidated they feel, and people don't engage in places they feel intimidated. It's why the idea of sharing messy realities works so well.  

The time I accidentally uploaded a draft version of my podcast to iTunes I was horrified. I shared that in my community and it was one of the most popular posts I've ever shared. Why? Because people like to know everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Because they like to know that I'm not that different than them. 

5. Make people feel important

When someone posts anything, like it. Even better comment on it. It's a lot of work but you're rewarding people for their participation. When you give them answers and make them feel like they are truly in a place that is there to support them, they will keep posting and commenting, and that's what you want.  

Creating an active online community is a lot of work, but it also can be really rewarding, fun and help you reach your sales and business goals. 

I hope these 5 tips were useful - and that you'll join me in the Biz Studio if you haven't already! 

The Ultimate Digital Marketing Bundle

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As an entrepreneur or business owner you probably know that you need to be online, but getting online with a consistent plan is sometimes easier said then done. Or maybe you don’t have all the necessary tools needed to fully implement your digital marketing plan? When you don’t have the tools and plans in place for social media and digital marketing, you can begin to doubt the importance of even being online.

Three big reasons you need a digital marketing plan:

1. Reach potential customers easier: For example, if someone is looking to purchase shoes they are more than likely going to Google shoe stores. If your shoe store does not have a website or online presence, then they may be overlooked by a shoe store who does have an online presence. Being online is your best chance to be discovered by a new client!

2. Showcase your products and services to a wider audience: Social media makes showcasing your products and services easier than ever before! With visual social platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest as well as the visual additions of Facebook and Twitter, posting pictures and even videos of new and featured products has never been so engaging and exciting!
    
3. Engage and build relationships with clients: Whether it is through exclusive offers to just your newsletter subscribers or contests only for your Facebook fans, digital marketing not only makes it easier to engage with your clients, but the ability to quickly respond to queries and ask questions directly to your audience also makes building relationships easier.

All of the benefits of digital marketing make it very appealing, but for some, it can appear too time consuming. It is for this reason that I created the ultimate digital marketing bundle to get you started. It contains a wide array of tools an entrepreneur or business owners needs to create engaging content on a consistent basis – on their website, through their social media channels, and in a regular newsletter.

What's included in the Digital Marketing Bundle:

• 7-day Business Planning Challenge – This eBook will help make sure that you’re ready to tackle 2016 with the right business plans in place.
• Simple Start Basic – This eBook is a step-by-step process for figuring out what kind of content you should be sharing online on channels like Facebook and Twitter.
• Monthly planner – Use this worksheet to plan your online content on a monthly basis.
• Blog planning worksheet – Do you have a blog or are you planning on starting one? What is its purpose and what kind of content will you be sharing? This worksheet will get you thinking about that.
• Email marketing worksheet – Are you planning to send email to your audience? This worksheet will help make sure you’re thinking through the kind of content and what platform makes the most sense.
• Editorial calendar template – Plan out your content ahead of time in this excel spreadsheet so you know what you’re going to say and when.
• Analytics template – Keep track of your numbers on a monthly basis to see what’s working and what needs tweaking.
• Daily social media checklist - when you're online, what are some of the things you can be doing to make the most of your time?

So, what are you waiting for? Get started with digital marketing with this value packed digital marketing bundle - it's only $27! To get started – click here.

How easily can people find you online?

You spend a lot of time online, but do people know where to find you? Connecting the dots between where people can find information about you and where they can connect with you is a key component to successful online marketing.

For example, if you're spending time networking in Facebook Groups - sharing insight, giving advice, asking questions, and building relationships - if people want to take your relationship a step further from those groups, how easily can they do that? 

If someone clicks on your name what will they see in the About section of your Facebook profile? It's important to make sure that you link to somewhere people can find you in your personal About section on your profile. 

How to link your Facebook Profile to your Facebook Business Page

From your Facebook profile's About section go to 'Work and Education' and make sure you're linking to a Facebook Page where people can find out more information about you and change your title to describe what you do i.e., my about section reads Digital Marketing Strategist at Lara Wellman Digital Marketing. Most people have "owner"  or "self-employed," which doesn't explain a lot to a new connection.

You also want to make sure you're connecting to your actual page - make sure it comes up in the dropdown menu and not that you're just typing in the name of your page because that won't work.)

Once someone arrives at your business' Facebook page, do you have a call to action? Make sure you have a cover image that invites people to do something and that you have a link to that action in the description of that image. You should also activate the Facebook call to action (CTA) button so that if someone clicks on it they are directed to another online location where they can learn more about you. For example, my CTA button directs visitors to my Facebook Community, The Biz Studio.

Because I do the majority of my online networking in Facebook Groups, people can click on my name, see that I am a Digital Marketing Strategist, click on my business' name to be directed to my page and see that I have a free online community I'd love for them to join and find the link in the description or click the Sign Up button.

Step by step, people looking to connect with me have a path to take and it's the path *I* want them to take.

You need to make your path clear and easy for people too.

The value of Facebook Groups

People can easily find me networking in Facebook Groups. I love meeting new people through these online communities, as well as engaging and learning from them. I recently chatted with Facebook Group Strategist, Jordana Jaffe, about how networking in Facebook Groups can grow your business. You can find out more about my interview with Jordana Jaffe by clicking here.

Last year 90-95% of Jordana’s clients came from Facebook Groups and she had a six-figure income with 60% profit! Jordana is proof that if you are excited about something and commit to it, success can come from it.

The key to Facebook Groups is to be consistently active and to not spam people with business promotions, but rather offer them friendly advice, resources and partake in casual conversations as they come up. You never know where a conversation will take you!

So, what does your path look like? How can people connect and find you online? Leave a comment and let me know.

Are you ready for a great 2016?

Planning has never been one of my fortes. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants, figure it out as I go... "instructions?! No way!" kind of person.

I've owned quite a few businesses over the last 8 + years and over each year it has become increasingly clear that regardless of whether or not I like to plan for a new year, doing it makes my business better, stronger, and (this is the best part) it makes more money!!

I thought I would share a few of my favourite strategies and tools for getting ready for a new year.

1) Three words

Every year I like to choose three words to theme my year on (thanks to a trend started by Chris Brogan quite a few years ago!). These words help guide me in figuring out what I want to do, how I want to be of service and who I want to be in my business.

In previous years I've chosen:  Create, Teach, Help and Focus, Organize, Produce

I like to spend a bit of time every year thinking about what words I want to have guide me and I encourage you to do the same. This year my words are Grow, Inspire, Support - and I look forward to showing you how those are going to be actualized in my business!  Leave your three words in the comments below!

2) Planners and workbooks

There are a lot of great planners out there. Every year I buy Leonie Dawson's Life and Business workbooks because they help me think through all the important pieces of the previous year and the year that's to come. That gets me to the place where I can start to put my new year out on paper as well and into my planner. My favourite planner is the Planner Pad because I love the funnel down system of managing tasks but there are many wonderful planners out there (including one from Leonie Dawson).

I encourage you to pick something and start getting it ready for the new year. It's taken me many years to find systems that work for me, but trying out different ones and experimenting with them was key. If you use a different planner you love, leave a comment and let me know what it is!!

3) My new 2016 Free Planning Challenge

I've been putting together so many resources for my clients on getting ready for 2016 that I decided to put together a free challenge for everyone. Sign up by clicking here and starting December 1 you'll get an email a day for 7 days setting you up for the best year ever. I would really love to have you take part so I look forward to seeing you in the Challenge update posts in the Biz Studio!

On Being Social

This past year I joined Toastmasters and it's been an amazing experience. I never expected to love it as much as I do. Last night I gave my third speech and because the topic was social media I thought I would share it with you here.

Keep in mind that it is written as a speech, so just imagine you are in a room listening to me give it as you read it :)

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Social media and technology get a bad rap.

“It’s a waste of time”

“People don’t have real conversations any more”

“In my day this…."   

"In my day that…”

Have you ever heard any of those things? Have you ever SAID any of those things?

Today, fellow Toastmasters, I’m going to talk to you about why social media is more than just taking Buzzfeed quizzes and sharing pictures of your lunch. It can actually be incredibly connecting and instead of people no longer being social and forming “genuine” relationships, they’re actually just doing what we’ve always done in a new and often more effective way. After this speech I hope you will have a new appreciation for all the amazing opportunities to find friendships and community online.

Let me start with a story. As I’m sure many of you in this room know, becoming a mother can be really lonely. You’re never alone… but you’re always alone.

Depending on your baby…. or babies…. You may feel like it’s really difficult to leave the house, or maybe you’re just too tired to leave the house after being up all night with a baby…. or babies…

When I was pregnant with my twins I discovered the beauty of Twitter. When I was at home stuck under a baby… (or babies…) I could still find someone to talk to.

I could find someone to talk to in the middle of the day when everyone else I knew was at work, and I could find someone to talk to in the middle of the night when everyone else I knew was asleep. Did you know there is actually a hashtag for moms who are looking to find other moms who are tired and sleep deprived and looking for someone to talk to? #zombiemoms

Not only do new moms have a place to go to escape the loneliness of new motherhood, they have a place to go to to ask questions when they’re nervous or insecure, to share funny stories with people who will understand what they’re going through, and complain to people they know have been there too.

While this is an example of being a new mom, the examples of people who are otherwise isolated who can find a community are endless. People who feel too bullied to leave home, people who are sick and can’t get out of the house, people who just have a hard time in social situations.

Social media helps people who feel isolated find community.

What about those who aren’t isolated by situation, but by discomfort? I’m sure you’ve all seen people who are on their mobile devices at parties or at a restaurant.

I’m in no way suggesting that that’s a great thing to do, but I do want you to consider that a lot of the people who are doing that are doing it as a crutch. They’re uncomfortable in social situations and for lack of knowing what to say or how to interact. They’re using their technology to escape. They would have been the same people reading a book in the corner during a Christmas party or hiding in the basement watching TV 20 or 30 years ago.

Access to technology and social media provide safe places for people who are uncomfortable in big groups to still have social interactions. 

There are articles that I see going round fairly frequently that intrigue me. They’re all called something along the lines of Why is it so hard to make friends after 30?”

It's harder to make friends once you’ve left school, but we all still need to be able to make new friends. The thing is, we’re also pickier about who we’re friends with the older we get – aren’t we? We want to feel like we have something in common with people other than their locker is next to yours.

You can find your community online. You can find the people who like to talk about what you like to talk about.

I have a friend whose daughter was born with a very rare disease. She’s found a group of parents online who also have kids with the same disease online where she can talk openly and honestly with people who understand what she’s going through. The disease is so rare that there are only dozens in this group from all around the world - before social media she wouldn't have been able to have these kinds of discussions.

My husband loves online poker. He’s found a community of people who like to talk about poker and who take it as seriously as he does and we’ve even been on vacations with people he’s met through that community.

I have met other female business owners who not only understand what it means to run a business from home while raising a family, but who also live in Ottawa. Not only are they in my city, they're in my suburb. I met almost all of them online. There are three of them in the room right now.

Social media can help you find your tribe. 

There is no doubt that people spend more time on their technology wasting time than they probably should – many of us are guilty of that.

But when it comes to technology making people less social while they hide behind screens all the time? I can’t disagree more.

Next time you see someone with their face in their phone – consider that they might be having a conversation with someone in a space that feels safer and more comfortable to them than the one that they’re actually physically in.

Next time someone talks to you about Facebook, don’t just think about it as a place that people go to waste time and play pretend farming games but as a place they’ve found safe places to talk about the things that are meaningful to them.

Because of social media I have the biggest group of friends that I see in person on a regular basis than I’ve ever had it my life.

Because of social media I never need to feel alone and I know I can always find someone to help me when I need it.

Social media could help you be more social too.