First let's define community. Community simply means a
placeof like minded or interested people. The strength of
acommunity is sharing thoughts, ideas, conversations,
etc.This is what neighborhoods, clubs, churches, non profits
andthe like do, they form a community around what they
areinterested in.
So how does this translate into business and
marketingopportunities? Let me explain with an example.
You sell oysters and have two options to market yourself.
Thefirst is to display and sell your oysters at a
seafoodfestival with 5,000 visitors. The second is to
advertise in awell read local publication with 100,000
readers. They bothcost the same, so which one do you pick. I
would pick thefestival because each person at the festival
has the sameinterest as you - Seafood. You have a better
chance ofgaining new customers with this community of like
mindedpeople as opposed to a larger more diverse community
of100,000. Quality versus quantity.
But what if you could combine the two and benefit from
bothquality and quantity. How? Create your own online
communityof people with the same interest that your business
has. Withan online community you can have both the quality
ofrelationships and quantity of marketing to anyone. This
isonline marketing at its best.
An online community can help you reach and connect with
morepeople, more effectively. And the cool part is that you
don'thave to do all of the work, you simply need to be
thecatalyst and manager of the community. How?
1st - you need to provide the interest, and the place
forpeople to meet.
2nd - you need to provide the means for people tocommunicate,
share and keep informed
3rd - you need to manage the community so that it provides
areason for people to come back and to tell others
A good example is a blog about seafood where you can
sharewith your community your love, questions, ideas and
thoughtsabout Seafood. You simply need to start it, post
yourthoughts, invite people to participate, and keep the
momentummoving until the community does a lot of it for you.
Peoplewill in turn share their thoughts, ideas, etc with
thecommunity too. Your genuine efforts will be rewarded with
newand more loyal customers.
Creating a community around the interests of your business
isone of the most effective forms of online marketing.
So why doesn't everyone do this. Simple. It does not
produceinstantaneous results, it requires an investment of
time. Yetthe benefits are long lasting and much more
rewarding thanmultiple instantaneous gains. In fact the
return far exceedsthe investment. Start building today and
harvest soon thereafter.
