Earlier this year, social media scheduling system Sendible shared a ‘top trends’ blog encouraging social media marketers to prioritise community over followers. This is something we’ve been saying to our clients for a while - are you putting it into practice?
Why should you focus on building a community, rather than followers?
So many businesses want more followers but aren’t focusing on what’s actually happening on their social media pages. Do you have hundreds of thousands of followers, but no likes and no comments? That needs fixing!
Let’s use an offline analogy to explain why you should be focusing on your community over your page followers…
Say you’re in a room with 100 people, but only three people are interested in your business. You’d focus on those three, wouldn’t you?
If those three people had a good experience with you, they may return to your business and will definitely recommend you to their connections.
You wouldn’t want to waste your time with the other 97 people in the room who have no interest in what you do. It’s the exact same on social media.
Your business page may have 10,000 followers, but if none of them want to buy from you your page isn’t doing its job.
How can you focus on community?
There are different ways to focus on your community online depending on your audience. They all relate back to one thing, though… engaging with your followers. The clue's in the name - ‘community management’!
Engaging with your audience will create a relationship between you and them, just like it would if there was a customer seeing you face to face. You wouldn't ignore them or speak to them like a robot, so don’t do it on social media!
It goes beyond replying to a comment, as you can make use of their testimonials and content (often known as ‘user-generated content’) on your own platforms. This shows that other people are loving your business, and will make your audience feel appreciated.
Make the most of Facebook groups
Facebook groups are an amazing way to generate engagement while creating a community for your business.
It’s common that a page’s Facebook group has more members than the page does followers. Why? Because people want that community feel!
Create a Facebook group for your business/industry and watch the members roll in. Need a hand? We can get your page set up and can brainstorm and create content with you in a Two Hour Takeover.
Community and followers go hand-in-hand
Once the community comes, the followers will follow!
Nurturing your online community and making your social platforms seem like great places to follow will entice others to be a part of it. In turn, your business will receive even more loyal, happy customers who feel seen and appreciated.
Can we help?
Whether you need advice on building a community, setting up a Facebook page, or you’d like someone to run it all for you, we’re here to help.
Book in for a one-to-one Two Hour Takeover training session and let us give you the skills to carry it out yourself, or leave your platforms in our experienced hands and watch your online community grow and improve! This is what happened to one client and their statistics after a Two-Hour takeover session.
Email kirsty@jandpr.com to see how we can help you.
