March 18, 2024

Social media is virtually unrivaled as a tool for online community building around a brand or business. However, with so many people and organizations attempting to do the same thing, communications professionals must refine their approach in order to build a loyal community of followers.

Below are 10 inspiring tips for you, as a leader, to help you build a strong community group in these modern times.

  1. Be Willing to respond

While posting engaging content on social media is important, responding to comments can help elevate your social communities. When you respond to your commenters with a comment or a like, your community will appreciate your promptness and be motivated to engage with your posts on a regular basis. You’ll also help to amplify and organically boost your content.

  1. Encourage followers to take action for a good cause.

Giving back to the communities that brands serve is an excellent way to put values into action. When used to invite audiences to participate in an effort, social media can be a powerful tool for engaging with followers and fans. Allowing followers to take cause-related actions on social media empowers them to make a difference while also validating their shared connection with the brand.

  1. Interact With the Content of Your Followers

While eye-catching, retweet-baiting, gimmicky sensationalism is quickly becoming the norm among communicators of all stripes, you can swim against the current and try social listening. Rather than posting your own content, motivate your followers by listening to and engaging with theirs. This will be appreciated by them and will help to strengthen the foundation of your relationship.

  1. Collect and Share Third-Party Content That Motivates You

If something inspires you, it is likely to inspire others! Share quotes, art, stories, or anything else that inspires you, even if you did not create it. Remember to give credit to the content creators and use your platform to promote a diverse range of creators.

  1. Draw Attention to Followers and Convert Them Into Active Participants

If you truly believe that social media is a community, then treat it as such from the perspective of your followers. You should share your followers’ stories, even if it takes more time. Inquire with them. Please share their videos. Invite them to collaborate with your organization to create content about why they love your brand and how it is an important part of their lives.

  1. Be Relatable While Staying On-Brand

Traditional communities in society are built on shared interests, and online communities are no exception. People seek you out and follow you because you share stories, lessons, and ideas that they can learn from and apply in their own lives. Furthermore, the content you share should be consistent with how you describe yourself in your profile, so followers know what to expect.

  1. Be on Time

Timeliness is essential. Your message must be relevant to what happened in the market today. Consider not only what you’re sharing and why, but also “why now?” Your content must immediately connect with your followers. What is happening in their world right now? If you want to motivate people to act, they must be able to connect the thought to the action and then act on it.

  1. Increase Engagement Through Fun Content

Social media is all about interaction. While many of us in the B2B space is all about spreading thought leadership via these channels, true engagement occurs when you make it fun. People want to see each other. They want to support their friends. They are drawn to human stories. You want to incorporate all of this into your mix.

  1. Highlight ‘ordinary’ people doing extraordinary things.

Everyone loves the phrase β€œFrom Zero to Hero”. One of the most important things we learned in 2020 was how many “ordinary” people are heroes. It’s the most inspiring thing I’ve ever heard. So, my one piece of advice for inspiring social media followers is to highlight how “normal” people (both employees and customers) are accomplishing incredible thingsβ€”and how your product can help them do so.

  1. Create A Secure Online Environment

For brand equity, trust is the new currency. Before you can inspire your followers, you must first provide them with a trustworthy and safe environment. Understanding toxic channel behaviors, recognizing harmful activity, prioritizing human moderation, responding to threats, and refining detection through AI are the first steps. This requires hard work, but with trust and safety, people can achieve their goals (and yours).