Building a community around your blog is so important for its future success. Personally, I credit these things for the success I’ve experienced with my blog. Developing community really made a difference to the speed at which my blog grew.
As I’m a psychology girl let’s start with the theory!
It’s so important to remember that community is built on values. Community is not just a group of people being in the same place at same time. Community is not what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it.
‘People come for the content but stay for the community’
This is so true especially when we’re talking about blogging. I experience this in my main Facebook group, The Mamapreneur Revolution, but especially in the Revolution Inner Circle. There’s no doubt that there’s awesome content associated with both of my groups, but the community aspect is what makes people want to stay. So, if your blog can develop this community; yes people will come initially for the content, but they will stay for the community that you have created.
So, what makes an awesome community. In the research for his book (*affiliate link) Expert Secrets, Russell Brunson studied many Mass movements (the positive and negative. For example, he looked at Hitler and the Nazis, Christianity and other religions.). He found that they all have three things in common. Now, you might be thinking ‘hang on Aby, I’m writing a blog not going to war’ and you’re right, but you can still use these theories to build a community around your blog. You might not be creating a mass movement, however taking on even a fraction of these ideas will make a difference to how easily you can build a community around your blog.
3 features present in all mass movements
Image from (*affiliate link) Expert Secrets
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Charismatic leader/Attractive character
They all had a strong, charismatic leader. Someone with an attractive, magnetic personality.
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Future based cause which is bigger than themselves
The cause they were striving for was a future goal that wasn’t directly related to their personal gain. It was a perceived collective good. For me, this future based cause for the mums I help would be the freedom that they all want and they gain from working from home.
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Offer their audience a new opportunity – vehicle of change
All these mass movements provided their followers with a vehicle of change. How they get from where they are now to this ‘ideal’ future position. The mass movements didn’t just focus on the future-based cause, but HOW the followers would get there.
Remember, we can distil parts of these theories to use in our blogs/communities. Think of the principles and keep them in mind when you start to grow your own community.
So why is community important?
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Community will bring you return readers. Meaning that you don’t have to attract a whole new audience each month.
- An army of advocates will develop. They will share your content, as they are invested in the community and want to spread its message. As other people are then promoting your content for you, it adds to social proof to make the content even more desirable than if you shared it yourself.
- Community is important for your own soul. For me, community is the best thing about blogging without a doubt. Having a community around your blog is amazing for your own good, for your sanity, and for your happiness.
- A thriving community around your blog will make it stand out to other readers and also to PRs/Brands.
- The interactivity of community encourages engagement. People see the shares and comments and take it as social proof. Your content must be valuable if it’s getting all of that engagement. So they then want to join in themselves.
- Community give a positive impression to the outside world.
13 ways to build community on your blog
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Be yourself, be helpful and be flawed.
People will connect with your voice. Your words will resonate with your ideal readers, who will, over time become super fans of yours. Remember, people buy from or remember people they know, like and trust. For me, even now I feel as if I’m still putting more of myself into my content than before. It wasn’t that I was intentionally holding back, but it can take time, and confidence plays a huge part too.
To attract your true fans, you’re going to repel others and that’s o.k. You’re not for everyone. No-one is! If you feel as if you don’t want to express an opinion in case you turn people off, then you’re not being true to yourself.
Being helpful will set you apart from the millions of other bloggers out there. I believe this is why I have achieved a degree of success, because I always give value. People know that they will get something from my posts/challenges/courses. So, go out of your way to help others, even if there’s nothing directly in it for you.
Be flawed. Showing you’re human is so important. We don’t live shiny perfect lives, and while I’m not suggesting you turn into ‘Negative Nelly’, people want to see the real you, to know how things ‘really’ are. If I’m having a bad day I will give myself time to wallow and feel what I’m feeling, then I’ll pick myself up and get on with it. Remember what we focus on is what we get. For example, I did Facebook live moments after I had left Ava crying at school. So, I said I was off kilter, explained why and said I would try to get energy back. People appreciate your honesty and that you share your real life with them.
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Engage with your audience.
Make sure you ask questions at the end of your blog posts and in your social media statuses. Chat to people directly in Facebook groups. It is so important to just make connections without the constant need for promotion. Ask easy questions and then interact with people who comment. Remember, it’s good to have some some native (no link and uploaded directly in Facebook) content anyway. Use Facebook groups to engage and be helpful. Make sure you have your blog added in your personal profile and if people want to, they will find you. If what you say resonates with them, they will want to join your community. It’s about building proper connections and being of service to other people. Trust that they will value your expertise and find you (if you have your profile set up correctly!).
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Get them on your email list
It’s so important to grow your email list. If people feel part of the community they will want to take a step further and join your list. You can then develop a relationship with them via your emails. Getting people’s email list is like getting into their inner sanctum. You can communicate with them when you want and that communication isn’t prey to changing algorithms. Picture the scene… You go to a party (like meeting people on Instagram or Facebook). You make a connection with them, but then you try to take them home (sell them a product or ask them to be a super fan). Woah there! It’s WAY too soon! You need to court them first and build the relationship. That’s done by getting them on your email list. That way you can nurture the relationship and give value beyond what they see on social media. Then you will be in a better position to sell your products or for them to become a raving fan of yours.
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Be their number 1 source of information
Produce awesome content. It should go without saying, but I’m sure somewhere along the line we have all published something that wasn’t our best work. Why not focus on making sure that the content you post is epic? Add videos, downloads – create a post that makes people want to follow you everywhere, as they know they will get value. Be consistent with your content creation. If you can only produce one awesome post a week, then do that, but deliver what you say you will EVERY WEEK.
Learn what your audience need and give it to them. Spend time in groups listening to people’s issues and problems. Make notes of exactly how they articulate these worries/problems. This means you will use their exact words in your blog posts. Interview some audience members so you get a better understanding of how your content could help them. Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income has a multi-million pound business and an email list of 200k people, yet he still takes the time to interview 10 people from his list each month to find out their current issues, problems and concerns. This will then help him shape his content to match their need.
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Respond to comments
When you first start out it’s so important to respond to blog comments, social media comments and emails. As your blog grows this will not sustainable, but do it while you can. Responding to people helps you to develop a much stronger connection. I think this is one of the main reasons why my blog and my profile grew quickly in the early years, because I responded to EVERYTHING. People knew I was accessible, helpful and nice! Now that my blog has grown and the number of messages/comments has grown too, I don’t have enough time to get round everything. But when your blog is smaller and you can, you definitely should do it. Not everyone will go back to see your comment, BUT the next reader will and they will be more likely to comment if they see you respond. So thank people for stopping by, for retweeting, respond to questions and emails. It will make the difference.
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Host a linky
Linkys are a great way to immerse yourself in the community and also develop your own community. You can either host it alone or co-host, I’ve done both and there are positives and negatives with each. Don’t make the topic too specific or tricky, people haven’t got the time for that. I run ‘The List Linky’- you can link up any post with a list in it. It’s easy to join in with, so it becomes a no-brainer. Although the linky badge links are nofollow they are still links and beside the link side of it, you’re still working to build a community around your blog. Other people will then find you through the posts that people are linking up.
It takes time to run a linky, but remember you either pay with your money or your time. There’s no other way. You can use money to pay for ads, or hire help or pay for schedulers, or you pay with your time and do it all yourself. For example, if you want a free social media scheduler, you will end up paying with your time, as these won’t be as efficient as the paid for services. Nothing’s ever free.
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Feature other bloggers
There are so many ways you can do this. You could write a round up post (for example, 10 Instagram feeds I love). You could do a crowdsourced post and ask the community for their answers/thoughts on a topic, including them with links to the blogs. This means you are giving away links and also the other bloggers will feel included and will share the post as they are in it, further widening your community. Posts like this are also super quick to write.
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Connect people
If you can’t help, be the connector. Take time to learn about people in your community so you can suggest who else in the community they should chat to or connect with. For example, if someone asks about blogger in my community, then I hold my hands up as I know nothing about Blogger However, I do that that Morgan is on Blogger and that she’s super helpful, so I tag her. I might not be able to directly help, but I listen, learn and know who can help them. Maybe it’s just realising two community members have things in common and shouting out that they should have a chat. So even if you can’t help personally, you can still build a community around your blog by being the connector.
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Start a hashtag/or a monthly challenge
You could start a hashtag community. Amy and I started #LittleFierceOnes and it now has over 267k images in the gallery. We used to feature contributors on our blogs and on our Instagram feeds, which was a great way build a community around your blog, especially in the early days. You could host a challenge. I’ve done a few 5 day challenges – Project Productivity, The Wrap Party, Let’s Get Visible, Ignite Your Audience and they are fabulous for building connection and community. Or maybe you could consider an ongoing project, such as Project365.
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Reward loyalty.
You could reward community members by shouting them out on social media or feature them in groups. For example, for ‘The List Linky’ I shout out 6 people each week. They get a backlink from a 51 DA blog. I also retweet their posts when they join AND share directly on Twitter as well. In my Facebook group I shoutout the top engaged 2-4 people, they then get shoutout in group and I’ll tweet something out for them to highlight their blog. I have a big audience that they can tap into as a reward for being valuable member of my community. You could give your community special perks or promote them on your platform.
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Build your blog on a single powerful idea.
This idea might change and evolve over the months and years as you progress in your blogging journey. It’s important to get to the core desire of the people you’re trying to help. One way to do this is to ask ‘so that’. For example, I teach mums to turn their blog into a biz. [so that] they can give up their job [so that] they can have more freedom [so that] they can be with their kids. Therefore, the core desire is not having a business or even making money, it’s gaining the freedom to be with their kids. If you help people to become Vegetarian, what are those people’s core desire. They want to stop easting meat [so that] they can be healthier [so that] they feel better within themselves (for example).
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Let readers decide on the content plan
Encourage your audience to have an input into your content plan. You can survey them or poll in a group. Often what you think is their biggest issue isn’t. So, it’s great practice to check and make sure you can write content to help their immediate needs. If you have a couple of ideas, ask them to choose which they want next. For example, You want to write a post about Vegan menu planning, why not ask your audience which they struggle with more, vegan breakfasts or lunches. Then this can shape your content.
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Clarity as a leader
You need clarity on what you do and what you can offer. If you aren’t clear people will not follow you and you will not be able to develop a strong community. If you think, ‘well I’ll do a bit of everything’ and you project that jack of all trades, master of none, people aren’t going to be convinced of the value you offer. It’s so important to have clarity and know where your superpowers lie. For me, I’m good at motivating, figuring out what people should be doing and have first hand experience of turning a blog to biz (even with PND and a kid hanging off me most of the time). You will have superpowers too. Ask your friends what your superpower is. It is likely to be something you find easy, but other people don’t seem to. Often we are ‘too British’ and hide our light under a bushel, but you can’t build a community around your blog until you know what you’re about and where your strengths lie.
If you don’t have this clarity, then you might have to wait until you do. Remember where we started, every Mass Movement has a charismatic leader, a future driven cause and offers their followers a vehicle of change. You can’t offer any of this without clarity. Your potential followers want to be as clear in their lives, as you are in yours. So get clear.
There you have it, 13 ways you can build a community around your blog. Community is EVERYTHING. Do you have any favourite ways to build a community around your blog? What has worked for you? Will you be trying any of these ideas?
*Affiliate link – If you buy this product via this link I will make a small commission. I only recommend products I genuinely love. Thanks for your support. My affiliate income helps me to continue to produce free content on my blog.
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