How to Build an Online Community for Your Business

By on October 11, 2014

There are lots of benefits to building a community around your company, but if Mackenzie Fogelson had to choose a few, these are her top five:

  1. It will help you weather Google’s algorithms
 Building an online community is one of the best ways to weather Google’s algorithms. If you’re continually chasing the algorithm, you’re putting all of your power in what Google’s going to do next. If you’re building a community around your business, you’re putting the focus where it belongs: on your business. Building a strong company and brand isn’t something that Google can take away.

  2. It will add equity and value to your business
 When you build online community, you have to do a bunch of stuff to better serve your customers like creating quality content and resources, enhancing your product or services, and improving your systems and processes. Doing these things adds equity and value to your business and attracts the right customers to your community.

  3. It will help you have purpose
 There’s a lot of effort involved in building a community around your brand, and it’s not just about creating content or being on social media just because everyone else is doing it. When you’re strategic about community building, it forces you to identify goals and put a solid purpose behind your efforts.

  4. It will help you stand out
 If you’re committed to the process of building a community, you are going to be doing a great deal of self-discovery (which often times can be pretty uncomfortable). During this process you’ll determine what you’re all about, what you love to do, and what it’s going to take to help you stand out among the competition.

  5. It will put the focus on goals, not tools 
Building an online community isn’t a bunch of fluffy stuff. It’s the seamless integration of tools like SEO, social media, content marketing, email marketing, and all kinds of other important stuff (like hard work and passion). But in order for the tools to be effective, they’ve got to be driven by a strategy that is rooted in the goals of your whole business.

Get the exact “how to” at the following link. This is an excellent article and worth your time to read all of it. Source: moz.com