20 Tips to Help You Build A Dynamic Online Community

Breaking news! One group (NYEBN) that I founded in mid-2009 has just hit 3,000 group members. I have used social media as a main tool to grow our community in the past.  For each month, we would put on different events, mostly business-oriented.  Here, I decided to write a tutorial and share the 20 lessons I’ve learned in building this community so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  If you are interested in building an online community that allows you to develop real relationships offline, read on.

Setting Up The Group

Positioning yourself right for the game is important. Make sure you leverage the power of different social networks. Here was what I did when I first started out building the group (NY Entrepreneurs Business Network).

1. Set up a Meetup Group (click here and there to learn more about Meetup).

2. Set up a Facebook Fan Page.

3. Set up a Twitter group account (read Twitter 101 tutorial).

4. Set up your own Twitter group list (how to use Twitter lists).

5. Set up a LinkedIn Group profile (optional).

Promoting The Group

Marketing is the most critical element that sets the superstars apart from the mediocre ones.  Here are some of the techniques I have implemented that worked well for me in the past.

6. Post the event on your Meetup group, and set up the “reminders” so Meetup can automatically send out reminders to your members.

7. Post the event on Facebook.  Post it on both your Facebook profile and group walls.

8. Offer opportunities for other groups to partner up with you so they can post your events on their sites and co-promote the event with you. This technique will work well if your group has a large amount of people.

9. Offer monthly contests to motivate your members for spreading the word for your group.

10. Offer free event opportunities to increase the popularity of your group.

11. Contact different event directories to list your events on their sites.

12. Tweet your events regularly and direct your followers to your Meetup sites and sign up.

13. Print your group website URL on your business cards and give them out at your events to people who are interested in joining your group

14. Add your group website URL to your email signature

15. have a well-designed logo for your group.

Building Relationships

User experience is the key for success.  In my case, my users are NYEBN members.  Becoming a trust agent among all your group members will earn your group a good reputation in the long run.  Here are my approaches when it comes to building relationships.

16. Be a good listener.  Pay attention to your members’ event reviews and improve your event quality where it applies.

17. Try to answer emails, tweets, or Facebook messages addressed to you by your members. I try to answer them all unless it’s a sales pitch.  If you couldn’t handle it, maybe that indicates that your group has grown to a size so big that it’s time to hire an assistant.

18. I usually ask for a microphone at our large scale events.  Then I would announce something about our group mission, and how we are driven to help each member succeed.  This is something that event organizers usually overlook but it really helps build rapport especially between you and new group members.

19. Just because you have a mailing list, doesn’t mean you can send out emails to your members whenever you want.  Too many emails annoy the hell out of your members.  Be mindful of this.

20. If your group is business-related, set up educational seminars to promote personal development.  Having a right mix and balance of events is really important for any successful networking groups.

Bonus Tip: Practice the above five techniques on a consistent basis and true relationships will begin to take shape.

If you want to read another article on “How to Run a Successful Business/Entrepreneur Meetup Group,” click here.  Let us know if you have other tips to add.

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