Social Media: Online Community Development Tips
Social media has become an integral part of daily life for people all across the globe. People use social media to communicate with friends and family, distribute and source information, digest breaking news, keep up to date on current events, connect with job opportunities, and be entertained by funny cat videos.
The average American is spending over two hours a day on social media. That’s a lot of time swiping, scrolling, and commenting online!
Increases in online activity have resulted in decreases in other community-focused pastimes, such as group activities and in-person socializing. For some social media users, platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok have become a substitute for face-to-face communication and live entertainment.
Social Media’s Impacts on Degrees of Separation
Many social media users rely on popular social media platforms to connect with their communities - both locally and internationally. As a result, by 2016, the average degrees of separation between people was reduced from six degrees to three and a half degrees, meaning the average person is, on average, three and a half connections away from anyone else in the world. This technology-empowered development demonstrates the power of social media to restructure our networks, both online and offline. Organizations that are active on social media have an opportunity to build long-term connections with their target audiences through the delivery of high-quality social media content that enriches lives.
What online community does your organization support?
If your organization maintains a social media presence, it has the potential to foster a vibrant online community of organizational patrons, employees, and prospects. While people tend to define social media success along the lines of quantifiable metrics, such as follower counts, Likes, and other engagement-related statistics, true digital marketing success recognizes that such vanity metrics are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to an organization’s social media potential. The secret to long-term social media success is the cultivation of a robust online community - not just another online presence.
Here are a few tips for fostering an online community via social media:
A successful online community is all about people rather than clicks!
While engagement-driving strategies tend to get all the hype in social media marketing discussions, organizations must keep their online community focused on the people behind the screens. Think about the community members that make up your organization’s online community. What are they concerned about? Why do they log on social media? What unique role do online communities play in their daily lives? It’s good practice to start and end any technology-driven initiative with the people the tech is intended to support. Take time to research your target audience and identify actionable ways your organization’s social media can support an online community that improves the quality of the community members' lives.
Case Study - Yik Yak: When Online Communities Go Awry
Develop social media-specific goals that go beyond quantitative measures.
The second step in building an online community is determining the “why” behind the initiative. Try to go beyond the typical, run-of-the-mill quantitative measures such as “reach 10,000 Facebook followers”. Instead, look past the numbers and ask yourself why you’d want 10,000 Facebook followers. How would a successful social media strategy impact your organization? Would it distinguish your organization from the competition? Would it help advance the organization’s mission? Are you interested in learning more about social media strategy because you are looking for ways to help your organization be sustainable?
Many social media followers are often the byproduct of an organization that is effective on many fronts - the online content is relevant to the community, it has a clear idea of its purpose, and its communications resonate well with its identified target audience. Understanding the organization's short- and long-term goals helps with social media strategy development and implementation. Don’t just post for the clicks - have a purpose behind all online content.
Remember: Clicks just indicate online presence - true social media success fosters a positive online community.
Blog Post: How to Conduct a Social Media Performance Assessment
Identify potential organizational team members to foster community.
When organizations think about social media strategy implementations, they tend to focus on the employees that will be tasked with social media, or the agency that’s been hired to manage the social media; however, this is a very shortsighted approach to communications strategy. Silo-like social media management is pretty limited in its effectiveness, and involving multiple members of organizational leadership in social media, can really help take an organization's outreach to the next level.
In addition to the marketing team or agency, organization executives, board members, employees, and volunteers can all provide valuable insight into how effective social media is and what direction could improve future content. A relatively easy way to harness the collective power of social media is to create a social media-related advisory council or committee that includes multiple organizational representatives outside the marketing department that can provide additional perspective. Solicit their input for potential content and collect feedback on the organization’s social media initiatives.
Blog Post: 3 Ways User-Generated Content Impacts Organizations
Provide social media training to all employees to support the online community.
The development of a thriving online community (not just another company's Facebook page) requires the active participation and support of many people. Organizations often have a very accessible pool of potential online community developers right at their fingertips, as many organizational team members are enthusiastic about amplifying the organization’s content on social media. This peer-to-peer social media engagement can support community connections from within their own network.
Becker Digital provides a variety of organizational training services to corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations that really focus on equipping organizational leaders with essential social media-specific skills and knowledge. The nature of our interconnected world is that everyone is a representative of the organization they are employed by, volunteer with, and otherwise support. Therefore, training key organizational team members to represent the organization well online can help facilitate very positive community connections and return dividends in the long run.
Online Community Next Steps:
If your organization would like assistance developing a positive online community through social media strategy, Becker Digital is available to support your initiatives! Contact us to schedule a consultation and learn more about how digital strategy can enhance your organization’s mission.
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