007: Because 50 Is The Magic Number ??

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about being involved in community-building over the past 20 years has been getting to work with what seems like a never-ending stream of fans, advocates and super-engaged customers who want to play a deeper role in the businesses and projects they feel attached to.?

Whether it was event hosting, venue reviewing, moderation, guide building, user-generated content (case studies, videos etc), onboarding new users, partnership building, business development (or many other things) - people want to get involved in new and exciting things when they believe in something deeply or are passionate about an industry, product or brand!

A lot of the time, there’s a willing hidden army of fans ready to be activated in every business, but unfortunately, they’re not being utilised because the framework that’s needed to engage (and leverage) their enthusiasm just simply isn’t in place.

The good news though is that Founders, CMOs, marketers and business owners can start to build their own highly engaged set of fans TODAY, simply by getting into a mindset that rewards action!?

So this week, here are some of my top tips on how you can get your head into thinking about building a deeper relationship with your customers (all from yesterday’s 5X Growth Program Module!)

Hope you enjoy…

Step One ?? Be proactive in becoming a master of engagement. Set yourself a target of engaging with 50 quality users from your current customer/social base and work on building genuine relationships with these folks.?

Want to engage 50 people and reap the rewards later on? Simply work out who your top 20 customers are from your sales data, the top 20 engaged social users and the 10 biggest contributors in your customer service queues. Not got 50? Start at 25, 10, 5 people and go from there!?

Step Two ?? Don’t overcomplicate things at first - small steps win the day! When we say engage, let’s not scare people off...

By finding your ‘First 50’ you can handle this level of one-to-one email/social messaging, plus a few calls each week.

Your goal? To build deeper relationships and to understand the motivations of why they love your product and brand. This personal feedback will be invaluable as you scale this engagement with a more formalised community program in the near future.

Step Three ?? Let people know how they can get involved in your community program. Simply create a page on your website with a few details and a few benefits of what your program can offer and ask peeps to enrol once you’ve developed this early relationship. They’ll be red hot to get further involved with your brand once you have an idea of what you can offer and put it out to them.

Step Four ?? Develop systems and processes for customer enrolment and management. Nobody likes a shit show where the people running the program haven’t a clue what's going on… make sure you have a designated point of contact, a clear system of keeping this narrative going and that what you promise, is what you deliver.

Step Five ?? Understand how to build relationships internally/externally?- then scale it! Your next 50-50,000 amazing top customers and community members are waiting to be activated inside your current business. But the beauty of setting up a formal community program means you can then reach out externally to people to see if they’d like to get involved and collaborate with you too. It doesn’t always have to be one-way traffic!

Step Six ?? Understand your own goals and be clear about how your community can match these. Every community program action should have a clear company-level goal attached to it.

i.e - do you want more referrals or word-of-mouth marketing? Why not create an ambassador program and get these part-time advocates out and about building relationships and partnerships in the community for you?!

that's a wrap for this week, everyone...As always, I’d love to hear if you’re implementing these tips in your own business.?

Send me a DM and let’s keep the conversation going!

Jonny???

Whenever you're ready...there are 3 ways I can help you...

1. Consultancy - I can work with you in a number of ways to strategise and execute a growth plan that will help you transform the relationships you have with your customers and community. Book an?intro call today

2. Join our growth program and invest in the future success of your business. We've just released dates for Dec 23, Feb 24 and Mar 24!?

3. DM me what your biggest single customer/growth pain point is, I'll send you a quick community-led solution to help!?