The Right and Wrong of Communities

First, let's revise what a community is and is not about, okay?🙄

1. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 (𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭)- People do not opt into communities as they do for Email Newsletters.

It's about them Not You!

So do not do childish activities that piss everyone off in your community.

𝟐. 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬- Most people plan to do Community Marketing the way they do Traditional Marketing Funnels.

People are talking about Community Qualified Leads and everything without the context of how a community works.

Cause of this uneducated thought, people start putting off their communities as promotional channels for their Content Marketing Campaigns or their Lead Gen Campaigns.

Oh, I know the 'How will I convince my Boss Argument'!

In One Sentence, Would you like to be in such communities?

Also,
Attribution of Revenue Comes when people enter Community in the How did you hear about us field on your Demo/Pricing Requests forms.

Community-Led Growth is not about hitting new users, it's about hitting new areas of conversations and relationships.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, people who don't particularly recommend your product (so to say) but do refer to whatever your business stands for and share it with their colleagues, bosses, and social media friends.

Let's move forward.

𝟑. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲- It is very natural to think that you own a community, but that's certainly not how people behave. You have to become a loyal member of your community like others.

Hence consistently engage in other conversations and spark new ones too.

You can never Own a Community, you can just influence it.
(Start with observing your behavior in the communities you are in currently).

𝟒. 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠- This ties to another point that communities are not about numbers, they are about relevant conversations.

Hence do everything it takes to make the community Relevant & Specific.

Now,
A community can be a cool little channel that everyone wants to get the most out of today, but you have to understand the Pros and Cons of every channel to make an informed decision for your marketing strategy this quarter.

Otherwise, you'll mess up the whole thing.

Disagree with what I think, or wanna add something?🤔
I'm happy to be enlightened, Ready...Are We!