How to Foster Better Community Online (for FREE!)

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My online community is a huge part of what drives my business, but it’s so much more than that to me. The people that follow my journey via Instagram stories and Facebook posts and emails and podcast episodes have become such a massive, special, important part of my life. They help me channel my purpose, they drive the content we create, and they help me stay connected to the impact I want to make.

Plus, I have a secret for you… the grand majority of that community building and connection making has been 100 percent free. No receipts, no huge marketing budget, and no buying followers over here, okay? For me, it’s all been about finding simple ways to grow, serve and foster a community online based solely on relationship-building and heart-centered strategies. 

That method has helped me reach tens of thousands of people in our Facebook Goal Digger podcast insiders community, hundreds of thousands of email subscribers, and close to a million followers on Instagram, but it’s way deeper than follower numbers and social media clicks. I promise you, it works.

We’re going to dive into my go-to methods for building a genuine, trusting audience that becomes your community… all for free. Trust me here, because these are the same steps I’ve taken to build a community online that I turn to when I need feedback on new resources to create, what people need help on, and where they are getting stuck and that acts as a sounding board for so much of my life, work or not. 

FOCUS ON THE PEOPLE

To be honest, there’s just no community to build if you’re not focusing on who you want surrounding you. One of my favorite ways to attract people with similar goals and like-minded visions is actually suuuper easy — join groups where you know the people you’d love to interact with are interacting! 

Facebook groups are a great place to do this… and these groups make Facebook way better than it usually is, am I right? 

There are tons of Facebook groups geared toward hyper specific interests, but also broader groups of people too. From groups of people who live near each other all the way to groups of people who, hint hint, love a specific podcast, there are so many places that you can make friends on the internet. 

Seriously, jump onto Facebook and type in a keyword of something you love: barbecue, the state you live in, a hobby — there are likely hundreds if not thousands of communities around a topic you’re passionate about. Join a few of those groups, spend some time simply engaging and adding value, and then take the time to introduce yourself and what you do or why you’re there! 

When you start joining and interacting in spaces that your people are likely hanging out in, the internet just becomes more fun… and starts to help you build a community in itself. Make sure to engage in posts, ask questions, share wins, and offer encouragement in those groups to begin building a sort of presence people come to rely on.

If you’re feeling up for it, create your own group around a topic that you’re passionate about and invite others into it! Creating and hosting a community is an incredible way to add massive value and to serve others!

The biggest way to start, foster, or grow a community is by being an active leader or member and staying focused on being a giver, not a taker. Be sure you’re utilizing your own accounts on channels like Instagram to be a cheerleader and to speak and connect with your following, no matter how large or little it might be. 

One of my favorite things to do is to occasionally hop on my Instagram feed and invite everyone who’s following along to pop in the comments, to shamelessly plug themselves and tell everyone a little more about themselves, the goal is that they find a connection point with someone else! I can’t tell you how many times someone has messaged me to tell me that they found a new friend or a new client just from opting into that little slice of interaction! Create opportunities for others and make sure you share about yourself when you see them! 

Another great strategy for community building on Instagram is to be intentional about which accounts you follow. Following like-minded individuals with a vision of life and business parallel to your own is great, and I’d say about 10% of who you follow on Instagram should be in that category.

But you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you only followed and engaged with accounts on any platform that think, act, and look just like you! Don’t trap yourself into an echo chamber of the same ideas on repeat ad nauseum. Fill that other 90% up with creators, dreamers, doers, and leaders that intersect with maybe ONE area you’re interested in, but who show up in completely different ways. 

Now, following other accounts is JUST the first step. One challenge I have for you is to find 10 accounts that you just love. Their followings are likely aligned with yours, their content inspires you, you feel like you’re apart of their community and turn on post notifications for those 10 accounts. Every time they post, take a few minutes to leave a meaningful, heartfelt comment on their posts. The odds are that it might catch their eye if you stay consistent and that their community might click to see what you’ll all about after reading your comments. It’s a great way to connect with more like-minded people, to cheer on someone who inspires you, and to build your own community. 

PROVIDE VALUE FOR YOUR PEOPLE

I think the most important thing I can tell people, whether they’re working to scale their business or to build their online communities, is to focus LESS on the metrics and numbers and the like, and more on how to genuinely add value to others every step of the way. How can you offer support? How can you give encouragement? How can you ask questions that people want to answer? How can you serve the people in your audience… or in others?

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For the full episode show notes, click here to head on over to the blog!