Best Ways to Build & Grow an Online Community: A Comprehensive Guide

Community is everything online. In fact, it's one of the key reasons people use the internet in the first place. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves and interact with others who share their interests. That's why online communities are so powerful – and why building one can be so lucrative for your business. In this comprehensive guide, we'll show you the best ways to build an online community that will help you achieve your business goals.

As you may know, an online community can spur your business growth in a number of ways:

• Helps with market research by providing valuable feedback
• Acts as a sounding board for new ideas
• Reduces customer churn
• Provides valuable user-generated content
• Serves as a sales channel for your products and services

There are many requirements to build and maintain a strong online community. It involved daily engagement, proper structure, safety management, open communication, and a genuine commitment to the people in your community. But if you can put in the work, an online community can be an invaluable asset to your business.

There are some tried and tested methods to take note of for brands looking at how to grow an online community. Use these tips to boost engagement and increase feelings of connectedness and cohesion in your community group.

How to Build Your Online Community

Choosing the Right Platform for your Community

The first thing you need to do is choose the right platform for your community. This will be where your members interact and engage with each other, so it's important to pick a platform that meets their needs. There are many different types of online communities, so take some time to research

Free vs. branded online community platforms

There’s a case for using both free and branded community platforms when you’re considering how to grow an online community.

Pros of Free Platforms

Free platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit are easily accessible to your community. They’re searchable, so potential members can find your community just by looking for it online. At the same time, existing community members can share community content with their friends and followers, essentially acting as free advertising for your group.

Cons of Free Platforms

The downside of free platforms is that you don’t have as much control over the look and feel of your community, and you can’t brand it with your company’s name or logo. Free platforms also tend to be less reliable than branded ones – for example, Facebook has been known to shut down groups without warning.

Pros of Branded Platforms

Branded online community platforms give you more control over the look and feel of your community, and they allow you to brand it with your company’s name and logo. These platforms are also generally more reliable than free ones, so you don’t have to worry about your group being shut down without warning.

Cons of Branded Platforms

The downside of branded online community platforms is that they can be more expensive than free ones. They also tend to be less accessible since potential members have to go to your website or download your app to find your community.

The platform you choose will depend on your budget, your brand, and the needs of your community. If you’re not sure which platform is right for you, try experimenting with different ones to see what works best.

Choosing the right community managers

Now that you've chosen your platform, it's time to start thinking about community managers. These are the people who will moderate your community and keep it running smoothly. They should be friendly and helpful, but they also need to be firm when it comes to enforcing the rules.

When choosing community managers, look for people who are already active in your online community. They should be familiar with the platform you're using, and they should be able to handle difficult situations. It's also a good idea to choose people who have experience managing other online communities.

Some important qualities to look for in a community manager include:

• Extensive experience with brand communications, forums, and social media
• Detailed understanding of your platform
• Passion for content creation and engagement
• Ability to set priorities
• Self-starter who works in a fast-paced environment
• Strong, open communication skills
• Experience with analytics and tracking KPIs

Once you've chosen your community managers, give them clear guidelines on what they can and can't do. They should also have a good understanding of your company's goals for the community.

Setting up a community engagement strategy

There are a few different ways to encourage engagement in your online community. You can host competitions, offer exclusive deals and discounts, run polls and surveys, or highlight members who are doing well.

Whatever strategy you choose, make sure it aligns with your company's goals for the community. And don't forget to measure your results so you can see what's working and what isn't.

Always look for new member opportunities

It's important to make sure every new member feels welcome in your online community. The best way to do this is to set up a system for onboarding new members. This can be as simple as sending them a welcome message or giving them a tour of the community.

You should also look for opportunities to connect new members with existing ones. For example, you can highlight members who live in the same area or have similar interests.

Make it easy for members to submit their content

One of the best ways to encourage engagement in your online community is to make it easy for members to submit their content. This could be anything from blog posts and photos to videos and infographics.

The key is to make sure the submission process is simple and straightforward. You should also give members clear guidelines on what kinds of content are appropriate for the community.

Never miss an opportunity to promote your community

How to Grow Your Online Community

Now that you've set up your online community, it's time to start thinking about how you're going to expand and measure its success. This is important because it will help you track your progress and make sure you're on track to reach your goals.

Set KPIs including Short & Long-Term Goals

There are a few different metrics you can use to measure the success of your online community, including:

• Number of members: This is a good metric to track if you want to see how quickly your community is growing.
• Engagement: This metric measures how often people are interacting with each other and participating in the community.
• Satisfaction: This metric measures how happy members are with the community. You can measure this by sending out surveys or polls.
• Retention: This metric measures how long members stay active in the community. This is important because it shows how successful you are at keeping people engaged.

By setting up goals and monitoring KPIs, both your brand and your community managers  can identify what's working and what isn't. This will help you make necessary adjustments to keep your online community growing.

Using User Generated Content to Promote Your Community

User-generated content is a great way to promote your online community. It's basically any content that members of your community create, such as blog posts, videos, or reviews.

The benefits of using user-generated content to promote your community are that it's:

• Free: You don't have to spend any money to get it.
• Authentic: People are more likely to trust the content that comes from other members of the community.
• Engaging: UGC is often more engaging than traditional marketing content, which means it can help you get more people interested in your community.

If you want to use user-generated content to promote your online community, there are a few things you need to do:

• Make it easy for online community members to submit their content.
• Promote the best content on your social media channels and other marketing channels.
• Encourage members to share their content with their friends and followers.

Getting Feedback From Your Community Members

Another important way to keep your online community growing is to get feedback from its members.  This will help you understand what people like and don't like about the community, and it can also give you ideas for how to improve it.

There are a few different ways you can get feedback from your online community members, including:

• Asking questions in the community: This is a great way to start conversations and get people talking about what they like and don't like about the community
• Sending out surveys: You can use surveys to collect data from a large number of people. This is a good option if you want to get detailed feedback about specific topics.
• Talking to people one-on-one: This is a great way to get more personal feedback from members of your community.

By getting feedback from your community members, you can make sure that the community is always evolving and meeting the needs of its members.

Reach Out to Other Communities

One of the best ways to grow your online community is to reach out to other communities and collaborate with them.  There are a few different ways you can do this, including:

• Guest blogging: You can reach out to other community leaders and ask if you can write a guest blog post for their site. This is a great way to get your community in front of a new audience.
• Hosting events: You can collaborate with other communities to host events. This is a great way to get people interested in your community and build relationships with other community leaders.
• Cross-promoting: You can promote other communities that have a similar offering on your social media channels and vice versa. This is a great way to get exposure for both communities.

By collaborating with other online communities, you can reach new people and grow your community even faster.

Running Paid Advertisements

Another way to grow your online community is to run paid advertisements. This can be a great way to reach new people and get them interested in your community.
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There are a few different ways you can run paid ads, including:

• Social media ads: You can use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to run ads that target people who are interested in your community.
• Google ads: You can use Google Ads to reach people who are searching for terms related to your community.
• Display ads: You can use display advertising networks to show ads on websites that are visited by people who are interested in your community.
• Sponsoring popular newsletters or podcasts: You can reach a new audience by sponsoring popular newsletters or podcasts that are related to your community.

Paid advertising can be a great way to reach new people and grow your online community. However, it's important to make sure that you're targeting your ads correctly so that you don't waste money on ads that aren't reaching the right people.

Highly-Targeted Cold Email Marketing Using Social Media Data

The last form of outreach that is an incredible, new form of community building is using Growtoro's social media data collection tool to build highly-targeted cold email lists. Using this tool, you can find the people who are talking about your competitors or industry online or who are in your niche.

By building a list of these people and then emailing them at scale, you are able to reach out to them in a way that is highly targeted and personal. This is an incredible way to build relationships with potential community members.

It is an extremely cost-efficient opportunity to get in touch with potential online community members because you are using public data that is available online and is incredibly targeted to your online community's niche and offer.

Some tips to cold email properly are as follows:

• Write a compelling subject line that gets them to open the email
• Keep the email short and to the point
• Personalize the email as much as possible to their interests and needs
• Include a CTA at the end of the email
• Send follow-up emails if you don't hear back

By following these tips,  you will be able to reach out to potential online community members in a way that is highly targeted and personal. This is an incredible way to build your online community.

Now you know the ways to launch and grow your online community…

Building an online community takes time, effort, and dedication. However, if you follow the steps in this guide, you'll be well on your way to building a thriving online community.

If you are interested in learning more about Growtoro's social media data collection tool, our cold email services, and how it can help you build your online community, please visit growtoro.com or contact us today.

Thank you for reading! We hope this guide was helpful in learning the ways to launch and grow your online community. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about online communities, please feel free to reach out to us at support@growtoro.com