Someone asked me the other day what would you do if you had to build your community from scratch again...
As luck would have it my Twitter account that I had for over 10 years got suspended the other day for some unknown reason to me and even though I appealed to Twitter to get it back they told me wasn't going to happen.
So with one click of a button at the Twitter corporate office, my account was deactivated at I lost approximately 5000 followers and 10+ years of tweets.
So I figured since the question was asked of me from someone in my community and as you can see it is very timely for me as well I figured I'd give you my three best secrets to how I plan to start over and grow my community back from zero followers.
The First Secret - Engage, Engage, Engage.
What I mean by this is simply get on whatever platform you want to get on and start engaging with people.
Start reaching out to them.
Start leaving comments on their posts, pictures, stories, videos, etc...
And know what I say leave a comment... I don't mean like "Cool" or "Great!!" I mean a real freaking comment people. Something that you have to use more than two brain cells to come up with. Something thoughtful and if it can also be somewhat engaging even better.
Think about it... Do you like getting those comments on your pictures, posts, videos, etc... Probably not, so why would you leave that for someone else?
Now when I say that keep in mind if you already have a relationship with this person then you can probably get by with a "Cool" or "Great!!" comment from time to time it's kind of like sending them the message like "Hey, I'm still here and haven't forgotten about you." message but definitely don't do that with people you are just meeting.
Think about it this way as well... Would you ever walk up to a group of people in real life having a conversation and just stand there and say "Cool"? No, you probably wouldn't do that. It would be odd and very awkward. So why would you do that on social media?
Yes, I know right now there is someone who is reading this and they are thinking to themselves... "I do that all the time." What I would say to that is... Do you also wonder why you're sitting downstairs in the basement of your parent's house when you're 38 years old playing Fortnite on a Friday night eating leftover pizza by yourself?
Anyway, let's move on...
(Before someone loses their mind... It's okay if you are the person I just mentioned above as long as you are making a personal "choice" to be that person. That's all I'm going to say about that.)
Continuing on...
The Second Secret - Conversations
Start and join in on conversations with other people around topics and things you like to chat about.
I know this one is pretty obvious but I don't think a lot of people really do it.
It kind of goes back to what I just said about "Cool". You can't have a conversation around a one-word response. You are actually going to have to engage with another person or a group of people and contribute to a conversation.
That means you are going to have to ask questions, give your thoughts, and opinions on things, and maybe even answer some questions about your thoughts and opinions.
Do you think you're up to the task?
Some of you think you are but most of you don't want it. Most of you just enjoy small talk and well while that will be a good start, it's not really a conversation now is it.
So do some thinking and pondering and come up with some of your own thoughts on things and some of your own opinions on things and be ready and willing to share them with others when the time comes.
Keep in mind that when you engage in a conversation with someone else or a group there might be differing opinions on things or topics and so you might have to be willing to have an open discussion with others and back up why you think those things or have those opinions. Believe me, I know it's scary especially in today's world but you are going to be okay I promise you.
Also, be willing to "agree to disagree" with someone. Not everyone is going to see everything your way so you have to be willing to listen to others if they take the time to listen to you. That doesn't mean you have to agree with them and you can always agree to disagree about a topic or opinion but at least give them the common courtesy to listen to their point of view if they listen to yours.
The Third secret - Just Be Yourself
I know this one is hard for most people to do today.
That's why I saved it for last.
I mean come on people if you've even been on social media or even seen a social media account you've seen a meme or something about "Just Be You".
Let me help you a little bit with this one though because I know some people are thinking right now... "I am myself and nobody likes me."
Be yourself, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, just be yourself and I promise you that your community will find you.
Let's face it folks not everyone is everyone's cup of tea and if you are... then maybe there is something you should look at because believe me no one and I mean no one is everyone's cup of tea.
So don't even try to be everyone's cup of tea. Just be you and your community will find you.
So there you go, my three secrets to building your community from the scratch up.
What do you think?
Are there some things I missed?
Is there something you've done to help you build your community that you want to share with everyone?
If so please leave a comment below and let's have a conversation about it.
In case you haven't noticed I'm always willing to learn new things so share your thoughts and ideas with me and let's learn together.
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