Growing a Social Media Community

Earlier, when discussing how to develop a social media program, I talked about starting your social media community in Step III of my eight step approach.

The obvious and best way to start a community and to develop it is to create great content.

Creating great content is the hardest part but it’s not the only part.

Growing a social media community is like gardening.

There’s more to gardening than just planting some seeds, leaving them unattended, and then coming back expecting to see beautiful flowers.

A successful, growing social media community requires care and watering just like a successful garden.

Let’s discuss how this is done.

The most important thing to remember is that growing a social media community is all about being proactive.

Merely following along is not enough.

Do you engage with others in social media?

Commenting on the posts of others, participating in their discussions, and really adding value when you do are examples of doing this well.  (Neither just “liking” a post nor merely repeating someone else’s comment is sufficient.)

Do you reply to comments left on your posts in a timely and professional manner? (I’m not a big fan of comments that begin, “What are you stupid?”)

I’ll admit that doing this is not easy.

Time for research, preparation, and waiting for others to rely is required.  (What?  Just because you reply in a timely manner do you think everyone else will?)

Patience is required as well.

Multiple comments and the time it takes for them to be posted and answered are necessary many times to develop relationships.

Can you turn your mere comments into conversations with your followers either on your or their posts?

Creativity, with a little humor, can help greatly here.  (Look these are the right things to do, I didn’t say I was good at them myself!)

My recommendations?

Start with one social media channel (i.e., LinkedIn) first and master it.  The lessons you’ll learn with one are easily transferable to other channels.

Establish reasonable goals for yourself and measure against periodically.

Schedule sufficient time to do all this.

Finally, don’t be afraid to engage!

Of all the items that I’ve discussed in this article, I find this last one is the biggest stumbling block that I encounter with existing and prospective clients.

Go for it!

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!