Hey there, my fabulous listener; welcome to episode 206 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re enjoying this podcast – I’d love you to take a screenshot and share it on your socials and tag me in it.  How cool would that be!

Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/206

Before I get started on today’s episode – how did you go with last week’s episode? Episode 205? If you didn’t listen into that one – then once you are finished here – slip back there for even more small business made simple GOLD! I talked about the POEM marketing strategy method in that episode.  A good one to listen into if a strategy is what you need!

Anyway, on to today’s episode.

Today is all about one of my favourite subjects – Community!

Building communities as a marketing strategy – a longevity marketing strategy and, frankly, not something you can ignore any longer as a small business owner.

If most of your content you share on social media and via email marketing is “buy this” content to create sales, then you think more community building and fewer sales.

Yes, absolutely, as a small business owner, you need sales, but what you need more is a community of people who know, like and trust you, who come for the content but stay for the community and who buy from you over and over and refer business consistently to you.

Also, hunting the next buyer rather than taking care of the buyer you already have is the biggest mistake I see in business.

We need to stop focussing on the number of likes or the number of followers we have and build a community.

Wouldn’t business is easier, and simpler if you had a community of buyers, referers, and people who loved what you did and what you do?

Of course, it would!

So how do you build a community?

Firstly, you have to SHOW UP!  Every community needs a leader so you need to ensure you are leading yours.

You need to have a platform for the community to grow and hang out with you and other like-minded people.  The most obvious one that comes to mind is a Facebook group, but it could be a group via Mighty Networks or via, a messenger chat group or an Instagram group.  Or it could be face-to-face or via zoom. 

And, of course, importantly, the community must be customer-centric!  This isn’t a fan club group for you – it’s about them!  The content is focused on them, the marketing is focused on them – everything is customer-centric.  Because you want these people to feel heard, loved, and important.

Communities also need a purpose.  A higher purpose than just buying something from you.

What is the purpose of your business – other than to make money?  What’s the higher purpose?

If you don’t know the answer to this question right now, write it down and come back to it – sit with it – you have one – 2000% you do!  Remember, the obvious sits in plain sight sometimes!

I have built many communities – my biggest being my online Facebook group called Buy From a Bush Business which has over 370,000 members, but I have smaller ones that are just as fabulous – including the one I promote here, often the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group.

All my communities are customer focussed and built on a collective purpose – Buy From a Bush Business has the purpose of obviously supporting small rural and regional businesses through the sale of products – Like Minded Business Owners is more about hanging out with like minded people than selling things – although there are definitely opportunities to sell things.

But there are lessons I’d love to share with you about building communities.

So, here’s some lessons I’ve learnt

• The journey hasn’t been easy or smooth!
• I’ve seen the best and worst of humanity.
• I’ve learnt so much about myself – for example, I am too nice, too trusting, and don’t speak up for myself enough.
• I’ve learnt to trust my gut – if it doesn’t feel right, it’s not right
• No is an ok response – use it more!
• I’ve learnt that the more you give, the more (some) will expect
• No one knows your journey like you – nor should you expect them too
• Marketing involves being generous and kind and also involves marketing the brand, the community and YOU

Things that make a successful community:

• A leader – and a leader willing to grow/learn
• A common purpose/common values
• Strict community rules – strict as in, everyone has to comply – if they see a crack, they’ll make it a river!
• (sometimes) a team to help the leader
• Super fans (they’ll come 100%)
• Easy and convenient access to the community
• That the members of the community feel some ownership over the community – they feel like they belong.
• A safe place – build on mutual trust.

And finally, let’s chat about the benefits of actually having a community.  I’ve already listed some, but here are some ideas for you to mull over.

• You can become the “go-to” person/business as you are being seen as a leader in that space
• You create brand ambassadors – people who know, like and trust you and are willing to tell others about you – raving fans/referrers
• You can get direct lines of feedback on your business – new product soft launches to a trusted community and so forth – this is almost invaluable
• As your community builds, you will see a direct correlation to your increase in revenue
• You can respond to market shifts quicker – because you see the trends in your community, you know what they are after, what they are sourcing or looking for that you can tailor make too, and
• Website traffic increased. With a community, you can drive more traffic to the places you want – like your website!

These are just a few benefits.  Some of the biggest benefits will come from within you.  Personal growth, the personal leadership growth, for example, can be huge.

With community building and embracing building a community, remember 2 things.

• Remember to SHOW UP!
• And remember to lead with value first always.

If you sit and think about your business model, you probably already have a community; you just aren’t thinking about it that way or recognising that you have one!

So, my hope with this podcast episode is that you will start thinking community over sales, especially when it comes to your content, and embracing community as a strategy for your business.

Let’s chat more about community in my community – the Like Minded Business Owners Group.  Let me know your thoughts.

But that’s it for another week, and another episode of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.  Thanks again for listening.

I’d love you to come into my Facebook Community and continue the chat there.  If you aren’t a member of the Like Minded Business Owners Group – head there and join up!

See you next week on the podcast for episode 207!

But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!