Introduction
In this day and age, there are several online communities like Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and Telegram. The pandemic has made it essential for individuals to be on such platforms to feel connected to the rest of the world.
Online communities open up opportunities for people to connect to like-minded people and share their experiences and thoughts.
What makes a great community/online community?
There are many aspects to look at when it comes to online communities and these are some of them.
Choosing your purpose
You need to brainstorm what community you want to build and identify the purpose of your community.
The purpose of a community is – the reason any individual would want to join your community.
Other things you should also consider when brainstorming is, what value will people get from your community, how will you support them and what kind of conversations you will have in your community.
Select the medium
After the purpose is determined, look into different social media platforms you could use to build the community. Be sure to pick a platform that individuals can easily access and download, ensure it is free and has various features and tools to help you grow your community.
Invite your first community members
Once you have decided on the platform, you need to invite people to your community.
A few ways in which you can do it are by talking about it on your social media platforms, sending them personal invites via direct messages and emails.
You can also think about setting up personalised messages and welcome notifications for your initial members (if features like this are available on the platform you choose).
Define the goal of your online community
It takes patience and consistency to build a great community. You need to plan your engagement and try to interact with your first few members to make them feel a sense of belongingness to your community.
As your community grows, you can create champions within your community to help you run the community and help you grow it to its fullest potential.
It’s essential to understand that there is great value in building an online community. As the creator of the community, you will get to meet new people, empower people of your community, build a great personal and professional network and also earn through the community.
