The 4 P's of Creating Community on Social Media

Posted by Somedia on in Community & Reputation

An audience listening to speakers at a community talk
An audience listening to speakers at a community talk. Photo: Brahmavadini, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Building a community on social media lets you form relationships that go beyond a single sale. Done well, those relationships turn into loyal customers who come back and bring friends. But just as in our personal lives, relationships have to be looked after. Follow these four P's and watch your community grow.

1. Be personable

Think of your business as a person. Introduce your team, share what is happening locally and use a friendly, conversational tone. When followers can relate to you, they connect on an emotional level and keep listening.

2. Use pictures (and video)

A picture really is worth a thousand words, and on most networks it is also worth far more engagement than text on its own. People respond to visuals emotionally, so good photos and short videos do two jobs at once: they stop the scroll and they make people feel something about your brand.

3. Participate

Social media is a conversation, and conversations go both ways. The more active you are, the more activity you get back. Answer questions, respond to concerns, thank people for kind words and join conversations on other pages where your audience already spends time.

4. Don't over-promote

This is the big one. If social media is a conversation, constant promotion is the person at the party who only talks about themselves. Treat promotional posts like salt: a little in the right place improves the whole meal, too much ruins it. Many community managers follow a rough rule of mostly useful or entertaining posts, some shared content and only a small share of direct promotion.

Gaming communities show how powerful this can be. Poker rooms, fantasy leagues and esports teams with active groups often have members who welcome newcomers, explain the rules and organise their own meetups, which is community doing the marketing for you. Our guide to community management for online poker rooms looks at how they keep those spaces friendly.