Locating and Building Your Community Online

Just like in the offline world, brand positioning is particularly important online. You have to identify the coordinates where your brand fits in best among so many other players on the internet. In the same vein, you have to customize your marketing message in a way that they make maximum impact. To make that possible, you cannot pitch for a one-size-fits-all message. That will dilute your initiative and get you nothing in return. A far wiser idea would be to identify an online community of customers and potential consumers who are more likely to be interested in your products/services.

How will you locate your online community? Find out what you have to offer and then look for people who are interested in taking those up. You can start by checking out social media networks and discussion forums. Create a page or start a discussion thread. Offer something of value to your contacts. Encourage them to participate in the discussions and come up with valuable inputs. Do not leave them to thrash out their points of view while you remain a fence-sitter. Engage in networking actively. When these online users find that you have a healthy discussion going, they will share your community with other like-minded users and you will steadily go viral.

A point of caution needs to be sounded here. When building up a community, try not to get carried away by numbers. Hundreds of followers on Twitter do not really mean anything to your online business unless they generate leads or spark off active discussions. Avoid adding people to your network randomly for the sake of pushing up the numbers. Go for quality adds rather than quantity. You need to have people on your team who can contribute positively and not those who sit frozen and never take part in any discussion or debate.

As an online brand, you have to realize that the social media networks are a means to an end. They are not the end points in themselves. You have to make use of the social media leverage to generate online sales. Keep your business goals clear while networking or building communities. Your goals may be varied like generating brand awareness or online leads or simply information dissemination. Track the progress daily and fine-tune your strategies accordingly. You will achieve much if you can stick to your own community and expand it rather than try every fancy gimmick in the book.