{"id":4852,"date":"2017-05-23T12:19:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3.14.248.234\/?p=4852"},"modified":"2020-06-26T15:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T22:30:35","slug":"online-community-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/online-community-building\/","title":{"rendered":"The Online Community Building For Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>4 Ways to Build A Community<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Meetups<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Facebook Groups<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Slack Communities<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Conferences<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong>What\u2019s up with Meetup?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h5><b>Benefits:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Quickly build your email list.<\/li>\n<li>Great organic search.<\/li>\n<li>Fast to market.<\/li>\n<li>Easy to set up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Cons:<\/b><b><\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Bad email marketing\u00a0-Stuck in a flood of Meetup emails; no data.<\/li>\n<li>Hard to create a great brand.<\/li>\n<li>People don\u2019t regularly check Meetup.<\/li>\n<li>Costs can quickly outweigh the benefits.<\/li>\n<li>Can quickly saturate your market when capturing emails.<\/li>\n<li>Need to find a venue, vet attendees, and provide refreshments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4854 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"526\" height=\"280\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-1.jpg\" \/><\/b><\/p>\n<h3><strong>How to Grow a Meetup<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Start with a big event.<\/li>\n<li>Scrape emails of people with relevant interests, then cold email them to join (not to attend).<\/li>\n<li>Poach people from similar Meetups\u00a0&#8211; Add them on Facebook, then send them the link to join.<\/li>\n<li>Use Eventbrite for bonus organic search\u00a0&#8211; Use a similar description as the Meetup (need eye-popping picture).<\/li>\n<li>Hold an event every week at the same time. No excuses.<\/li>\n<li>Send emails at the same time. No excuses.<\/li>\n<li>Change up the theme for each week\u00a0&#8211; New variables attract attendees looking for new experiences.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t promote, unless you have to. Define your brand early and make no exceptions for wavering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Example Email<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h5><b>How I construct my Meetup emails:<\/b><b><\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Short and concise.<\/li>\n<li>Quick intro of the speaker.<\/li>\n<li>Call-to-action.<\/li>\n<li>Topic.<\/li>\n<li>Personalization.<\/li>\n<li>Includes time &amp; date.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4855 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"503\" height=\"399\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Finding Speakers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h5><b>LinkedIn Sales Navigator:<\/b><b><\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Scrape relevant people using Email Hunter or Clearbit. Use MixMax or GMass for mass emailing ????<\/p>\n<h5><b>How I construct my influencer outreach emails:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Subject line: \u201cInterview you in front of 100 people?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Pull many triggers in the first sentence (job title, company, interests, city)<\/li>\n<li>The second sentence pulls credibility with the hyperlink.<\/li>\n<li>The third sentence reinforces credibility\u00a0with the hyperlink.<\/li>\n<li>Call-to-action is specific with time and date.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4856 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"436\" height=\"446\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-3.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>Why Facebook Groups?<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fastest platform to build your know, like, and trust factor.<\/li>\n<li>Similar to Meetup, you need to provide consistent value to make checking out your Group habit forming.<\/li>\n<li>Keep all content high value. No exceptions.<\/li>\n<li>Notifications work similar to an email inbox.<\/li>\n<li>Leverage other people\u2019s content.<\/li>\n<li>Post content 3 times\/day.<\/li>\n<li>Post at the same time every day.<\/li>\n<li>Low cost.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>How to Build a Hyper-Relevant Community<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>After you\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/122x8nMLbKHxvmiGW8pGloB1T8IrffqycS0Vd4eUiL1Q\/edit?usp=sharing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><b>read this guide<\/b><b>,<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0you should understand how to:<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Create\u00a0<\/b>a Facebook Friend List of 4000+ Potential Customers<\/li>\n<li><b>Grow\u00a0<\/b>a Facebook Group to 2000+ Potential Customers<\/li>\n<li><b>Nurture<\/b>\u00a0a Retargeting List of 7000+ People<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>You should feel like a high-level growth hacker after reading that guide. But wait&#8230;it gets even better.<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>You don\u2019t want to message every Facebook friend about your launch manually.<\/li>\n<li>You don\u2019t want to message every Facebook Group member about your launch manually.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>You\u2019re in luck. You don\u2019t have to do either ????<\/b>\u00a0By using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.massplanner.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><b>Mass Planner<\/b><\/a>, you can automate all of this. Every Facebook friend (potential customer) will know exactly when you launch. I\u2019ll get to this in a bit.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Benefits<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h6><b><i>Low cost, high value<\/i><\/b><\/h6>\n<p>Producing high-cost rewards can make your pocket feel light. It\u2019s important you find the balance that doesn\u2019t chip too much into your bank account.<\/p>\n<h6><b><i>When will they receive rewards?<\/i><\/b><\/h6>\n<p>Your community members will lose excitement if you don\u2019t reward them on a consistent basis. Maybe the reward is a great in-person speaker every week or a free yoga lesson. Keep it relevant to your group\u2019s interests and ensure it has enough value to encourage engagement. This may also come in the medium of helpful\/inspirational\/funny\/genuine blog posts and videos posted on social media.<\/p>\n<h6><b><i>How can you change-up your reward?<\/i><\/b><\/h6>\n<p>We get bored with rewards that don\u2019t change. New things that provide value naturally attract us. So, if you can provide different valuable rewards on a consistent basis, you will keep your members&#8217; attention.<\/p>\n<h6><b><i>The more high-value touch points, the better<\/i><\/b><\/h6>\n<p>From Facebook live streaming to having members converse in-person and listen to great speakers, you want to provide value where they are willing to spend most of their time.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Ensure Conversion:<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Before you begin reaching out to people about the Facebook Group, it\u2019s vital that you learn to brand yourself. Being seen as a leader or an expert will result in a high response and conversion rate when reaching to people so they\u2019ll join your community.\u00a0Moreover, having a positive social perception around your social media profiles can make a huge difference in getting new members. Correspondingly, I suggest high-quality photos and, if needed, paying a professional photographer to take pictures of you to put on your personal social profiles.\u00a0Also, take off any content that appears contradicting to your community\u2019s mission statement. And those old photos of you partying in college should be removed, too.<\/p>\n<h6><b><i>Relevant social profiles result in the highest response rate<\/i><\/b><\/h6>\n<p>People in your community naturally want a leader who genuinely represents their interests. If you\u2019re promoting a group about yoga, then have some yoga pictures and regularly practice yoga. Doing that, you\u2019re more likely to appear as a leader in your niche.<\/p>\n<h6><b><i>If it exists, they will find it<\/i><\/b><\/h6>\n<p>If you have a large community, chances are people will look through your entire profile in search of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Prepare by deleting any content that doesn\u2019t help your brand.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Recruiting Core Members<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h6><b>Recruit Core Members<\/b><\/h6>\n<p>It\u2019s vital that you get a couple of core members who will help you establish the community\u2019s social validation.\u00a0Think of your community as an established organization \u2013 there is usually a president, vice president, and a chief marketing officer. Assign your core members job titles and responsibility, and it will spark their motivation to help grow the community.<\/p>\n<h6><b>Choose Wisely<\/b><\/h6>\n<p>It\u2019s vital that you choose, at least, several people who will help you establish the community\u2019s social validation.\u00a0Think of your community as an established organization \u2013 there is usually a president, vice president, and a chief marketing officer. Assign your core members job titles and responsibility, and it will spark their motivation to help grow the community.\u00a0In my community, we have Will Bunker, founder of Match.com; Kumar Thangudu, expert growth hacker; Justina Nguyen, advisor to Girls in Tech; and Dominick Malzone, one of my growth hacking student.<\/p>\n<h5><b>Checklist for constructing the perfect Facebook message to recruit new Facebook Group members:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Connection<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Start with a mutual demographic and interest.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b>Personalize<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>State another mutual interest.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b>Pain point<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to connect with people who have the same interests and bring a local community together around those interests.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><b>Solution<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Talk about how this group helps connect people with similar interests.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><b>Benefits<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Mention the excellent time everyone has engaging with other members and other key points of interest.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><b>Credibility<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Status symbols \u2013 featured in notable publications or having extensive, relevant work experience \u2013 will help convince potential members to trust and listen to you.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li><b>Features<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Here you want to mention your location or any other important features worth bringing up.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li><b>Reiterate benefits<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Reiterate solution<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Implement call-to-action<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong>Example: Initial Message<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Prepare an initial message to send out to your Facebook friends about joining the Facebook Group.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4857 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-4.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"954\" height=\"324\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-4.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Follow-Up Message<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>No Response Follow-Up:<\/b>\u00a0If a week passes without a reply, send a follow-up message. A follow-up message communicates that you care about them and the group prospering. Remember, sending the follow-up message is just as critical as sending the primary one.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4858 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-5.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"947\" height=\"303\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-5.jpg\" \/>\u00a0<i>After you have a solid group of core members<\/i>, you can ask them to apply the same recruiting method you used to find more new members. I recommend only asking your most passionate community members to help you with this; otherwise, you risk scaring off new members.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3 Critical Pieces to Ensure Engagement<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<h6><b>Participate first<\/b><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Encourage people to introduce themselves to the community. They should mention their passions and professional interests. To ease the process, give them a direct personal message of encouragement.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>\n<h6><b>Small win<\/b><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I recommend giving something of value away from that new members can immediately use. A good example is an REI discount for a local hiking group. Also, posting pictures from community get-togethers on social media does wonder for future engagement and recruiting new members.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>\n<h6><b>Get personal<\/b><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>A community has higher participation if people get to know each other on a more personal level. It helps them develop a strong emotional tie to the community. To facilitate this, you need to take the first step in opening up to give others the courage to step out of their comfort zone, too.\u00a0If you don\u2019t lead the conversation in your community, then no one will. It\u2019s up to you to get the momentum going. Don\u2019t expect people to post regularly and interact with each other if the individual who started the community doesn\u2019t bother to show up.\u00a0As the founder of a community, you will have to interact with the group more than anyone else. So, lead by example and your community will rapidly start flowing with engagement.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Valuable Content<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>What works well?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Giveaways with a CTA to get people to engage.<\/li>\n<li>Facebook Live Video Fireside Chats. The audience can interact live.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4859 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-6.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-6.jpg\" \/><\/h3>\n<h5><strong>Facebook Group Analytics<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><b>To gain an excellent understanding of your Facebook Group activity, I suggest using this software:\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/grytics.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><b>Grytics<\/b><\/a>\u00a0Here\u2019s one of the many visual displays it gives you:\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4860 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-7.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"921\" height=\"297\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-7.jpg\" \/>\u00a0This software also allows you to export members based on how active they are ????<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Here\u2019s another screenshot from their platform:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4861 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-8.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"763\" height=\"319\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-8.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Prime Your Facebook Group Members<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you went through the networking guide, you should understand how to mass message members in Facebook Groups. In case you forgot, here\u2019s how to do it:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>First you plug-in the Facebook Group URL.<\/li>\n<li><b>Extract<\/b>\u00a0<b>Members.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4862 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-9.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"467\" height=\"371\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-9.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b><\/b>Create a message to send them asking for feedback. The goal is to send them to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/blog\/new-feature-feedback-on-project-preview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><b>preview page<\/b><\/a>\u00a0before the landing page\/campaign\/website is live. Make sure your Facebook remarketing pixel is already on the page!<\/li>\n<li><b><\/b>Next, click\u00a0<b>Send<\/b>. This won\u2019t send the message to all of them since Facebook would readily flag that action. It will simply send them to another tab.<\/li>\n<li><b><\/b>Ensure to create several templated versions with the spin syntax.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h5><b>WAIT ONE SECOND!<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>You must be friends with, at least, two-thousand people in your Facebook Group. If you\u2019re not friends with them, then the message won\u2019t make it to their primary inbox.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4863 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-10.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"459\" height=\"475\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-10.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><b><\/b>Copy the settings I have on the right side. Next, click\u00a0<b>Start Sending Messages.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Note:<\/b>\u00a0Feel free to bump up the daily number of sent messages from 20 to 40 if you have around six version of the message.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4864 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-11.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"693\" height=\"392\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-11.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Create a Warm Facebook Retargeting Audience<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>1.You need to drive people to your personal site<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Place a Facebook Pixel on your site (Working with WordPress?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/facebook-conversion-pixel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Use this plugin<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Find out if the pixel is active using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/detail\/facebook-pixel-helper\/fdgfkebogiimcoedlicjlajpkdmockpc?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook Pixel Helper.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Populate it with a logo strip and relevant testimonials (<a href=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">example<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>2. Create a video ad to retarget those who visit your website<\/b>\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketer.com\/facebook-video-ads\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">video ad directions<\/a>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The video should be inspirational, entertaining, or informative.<\/li>\n<li>You\u2019re not directly selling with a call-to-action. You\u2019re just staying relevant.<\/li>\n<li>Why video? It\u2019s the least expensive way to put content in front of people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>3. Alternate among four videos.<\/b>\u00a0I average 3 &#8211; 4 cents per a view when showing a video to an audience who has visited my website. Here\u2019s an example of a high-level professional video:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wh02X-4bhC0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wh02X-4bhC0<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wh02X-4bhC0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4866 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"941\" height=\"105\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4867 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/1_Online-Community-Building-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/1_Online-Community-Building-1-1.jpg\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Slack<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>Why Slack Groups?<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A fast platform to build your know, like, and trust factor.<\/li>\n<li>You need to provide consistent value to make checking out your Slack community habit forming.<\/li>\n<li>Segments content without annoying people.<\/li>\n<li>Keep all content high value. No exceptions.<\/li>\n<li>Notifications work similar to an email inbox.<\/li>\n<li>Leverage other people\u2019s content.<\/li>\n<li>Low cost.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>The Basics<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Channels represent the different rooms in your Slack chat community. To start out you are automatically set up with a\u00a0<i>#general<\/i>\u00a0channel and a\u00a0<i>#random\u00a0<\/i>channel.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Rename\u00a0<i>#general<\/i>\u00a0to\u00a0<i>#announcements<\/i>\u00a0and set it so that only admins can post in it (Check \u201cStep 3: Customize Your Slack Settings\u201d for instructions on how to do this). Everyone who joins your Slack chat will automatically be put in this channel, providing you with an excellent way to keep your community in the loop.<\/li>\n<li>Add a few channels that you think your community would like to post things in.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong>Slack<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>If it\u2019s a music community, you might want to add a #new-music channel for people to share new music in.<\/li>\n<li>If it\u2019s a community of professionals, create a channel called #smallwins where people can post there recent accomplishments. This also goes for job posting, referrals, industry news, and more.<\/li>\n<li>If it\u2019s a startup community, create a #feedback channel where people can post their recent projects and get feedback from the community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Support<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Jesse Pollak at Clef started a Slack community for 2 reasons:\u00a0First, many of their customers are integrating with Clef and they want to make sure their engineers have easy access to resources for them. Having a community where someone on the team is always hanging out means that anyone who\u2019s working through an integration can pop in and get help.\u00a0Great piece:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/levels.io\/slack-typeform-auto-invite-sign-ups\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><b>How I hacked Slack into a community platform with Typeform<\/b><\/a>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/levels.io\/slack-typeform-auto-invite-sign-ups\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/levels.io\/slack-typeform-auto-invite-sign-ups\/<\/a>\u00a0<i>Why?<\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Capture member data.<\/li>\n<li>Create a barrier to entry to ensure only quality members join.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Welcome Email for Facebook Groups &amp; Slack Communities<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4868 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/1_Online-Community-Building-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"925\" height=\"468\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/1_Online-Community-Building-1-2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Conferences<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>Pros:<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can be very profitable.<\/li>\n<li>Great branding (fan-to-fan conversation)<\/li>\n<li>Helps give your company momentum moving forward.<\/li>\n<li>Creates a lasting impression.<\/li>\n<li>Provides your community a place to interact in person rather than just online.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Cons:<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Takes a lot of work\u00a0&#8211; Many moving pieces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Lots and lots of preparation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4869 lazyloaded\" src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/1_Online-Community-Building-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"BAMF The Online Community Building For Growth Article Image\" width=\"540\" height=\"358\" data-src=\"http:\/\/bamf.lovelacecreative.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/1_Online-Community-Building-1-3.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h5>Conferences (content &amp; traffic advice from Sam Parr, GrowthX Academy mentor)<\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Writing\/finding blog posts:\u00a0<\/b>I wanted to publish around 12 blogs posts\u2026one for each speaker. I wrote a few on my own, while the others were posts each speaker had already written that were applicable to Hustle Con. I found these posts on their blogs and asked for permission to repost.<\/li>\n<li><b>Creating a drip campaign:\u00a0<\/b>After outlining each blog post, I wrote 12 emails that told a funny\/interesting story about the speaker that then made the reader want to click and head to my site to read the entire post in hopes that they\u2019d share it with their friends. I then set the emails up as an autoresponder using Mailchimp so new users would get an email every day for 12 days at 10 AM after signing up. This step is KEY and if you have no idea what you\u2019re doing, then I suggest taking Neville\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kopywritingkourse.com\/login\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Autoresponder Kourse<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Here\u2019s nearly every email I sent:<\/b>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive2.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=b20a6f2c5f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive1.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=c19e77071a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive2.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=4ad27c40ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive2.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=687c6f6b14\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">4<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive1.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=ae1528eecb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive2.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=dc88b652b5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">6<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive2.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=b2c66b32c0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">7<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive1.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=3186f44a78\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">8<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive1.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=8f74b6da04\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">9<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/us7.campaign-archive2.com\/?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&amp;id=7a64d62c54\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">10<\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b>Give away tickets to influencers:\u00a0<\/b>To gain some extra traffic, I gave away 50 free tickets to popular friends of mine. This wasn\u2019t a special process\u2026I just found people with tons of Facebook followers and sent them a message inviting them to come for free in return for sharing our page on as their status.Yeah\u2026as in a bribe. I didn\u2019t even bother with asking them to share on Twitter, or as I like to call it, Shitter, because Twitter users rarely ever buy (in my experience).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><b>Partner with other lists:\u00a0<\/b>Besides the obvious places like StartupDigest, WebWallflower, and Fetch, I made a list of dozens of Meetup groups and bloggers who I knew had huge lists and offered them 35% discounts. Pretty simple.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h5><b>The process of contacting potential sponsors went something like this:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Prospecting:<\/b>\u00a0I made a list of 120 companies I liked who sponsored 2 or more conferences in the past along with their head of marketing\u2019s email<\/li>\n<li><b>Email:\u00a0<\/b>I emailed each company to set up a call.<\/li>\n<li><b>The call:<\/b>\u00a0I\u2019ve never had a \u201cnormal\u201d sales job so I\u2019m not sure how a typical sales call looks like, but I created my own process that worked really well.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>My goal with the call wasn\u2019t actually to get sponsorship money but to get them EXCITED about Hustle Con. This way their company would send 3 to 5 employees regardless if they sponsored the event because they saw how fun and valuable the experience would be. I had around 20 calls with potential sponsors. 7 or so actually bought a sponsorship package and nearly all of them sent at least one employee.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Conferences &#8211; Getting Help<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Most of the volunteers were folks who emailed me directly through the contact form on HustleCon.com and asked if I needed any help. The other volunteers came to me after seeing my Facebook post asking for help.\u00a0Organizing the volunteers was a HUGE task. My roommate\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nathanjamesfelton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nathan<\/a>, who has led teams as big as 200 volunteers, was in charge of all of the volunteers. He and I worked together to create teams of 4 and assigned each team a leader and a job. Then, we did a rehearsal the day before, which made everything run smooth as a baby\u2019s ass.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Think of hitting up VC associates. They love this shit, have great expense accounts and can promote to the companies they have in their portfolio.<\/li>\n<li><b>Enable tracking links in Eventbrite<\/b>, https:\/\/noahsevent-<b>FACEBOOKTRACKING<\/b>.eventbrite.com so you can see where your sales are coming from.<\/li>\n<li><b>Leverage people who already bought<\/b>. Give them 1\/2 off for 1 friend. Always ask people how they hear about your event and why they are.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><i>A great tip is to email every attendee before the event to find out what would make the even invaluable for them.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Conferences &#8211; IMPORTANT<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>Your SUCCESS METRIC of your event is NOT profit but retention for future events<\/b>.\u00a0Simple things to improve this: connect people during your events, spend more to have drinks for free all day long and don\u2019t have sponsors that don\u2019t add value or do cool stuff at your event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 Ways to Build A Community<\/p>\n<p>Meetups<br \/>\nFacebook Groups<br \/>\nSlack Communities<br \/>\nConferences<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[539,326,3254,112,114,3258,3385,3253],"tags":[236,144],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Online-Community-Building-1-1-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Houston Golden","author_link":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/author\/bamfmedia\/"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}