What’s up with Community?

mario-kart-wii

Your community defines you – and you don’t define your community. You can shout all day about different topics, but at the end of the day, if you’re truly about community, you’re listening, evaluating, building and evolving.

A couple months back I wrote about how PR professionals have to put the brand first. It’s never about you. In the social space, it’s still not about you. It’s about the people listening, lurking and engaging. Community isn’t a band-aid solution. You have to make it unique to your situation and analyze constantly. On top of it all, write with passion.

So, what’s up with community?

Listen

I get DMs and e-mails all the time from people asking me to write about certain topics. Do I? Yes. I gain as much value teaching and listening as I do by bringing a new topic to head. What is your community commenting on? What type of topics do they gravitate to? It’s not up to you to dictate your audience. You never know where they will come from.

Evaluate

Evaluating and Analyzing go hand and hand. What do you like to write about? Is it in line with your community? Are you going out there and commenting on topics that interest you, which can draw others to your blog? These are all questions you should be asking yourself about your community. Go to Twitter and see what others are talking about. Your ideas can cultivate from a current conversation.

Build

Once you find your niche, build on it. Interact with them on other platforms and spaces. Pick up the phone every once and a while if you’re comfortable with it. E-mail works too, depending on the person. Can your niche change? Sure. However, you have to be prepared to re-build after losing some of your audience.

Ever Evolving

Your community WILL change. You’ll either get more prominent or more obscure. Don’t be afraid of change, whether it’s by topic or by the numbers/quantity of your community. Every member has quality – you just have to find it. That’s what community is about. Make it specific to yourself and not to what is deemed a *hot trend.* Those that only blog about hot topics, current events or just personally complain all the time need the spotlight – but you’ll prosper in it.

So, answer me this: How can we continue evolving community? What different things do you do to evaluate yourself and community? Is it worth it?

*Photo copyright of wiimedia.com.

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Matt Cheuvront

Thanks for the shout L!

Community is all that matters. Let me repeat, community is all that matters. All this talk about the numbers, traffic, comments - this stuff really doesn't mean a thing. Blogging should be about a passion for writing, a sharing of ideas, a yearning to learn and a desire to communicate with other people. If you aren't paying attention to your community, if you don't value them, appreciate them, make them feel welcome and important (and mean it) - you are going to miss out. From day one over on my blog, this has been my mantra - and because of my focus on community though and through, I have seen amazing "results" in a very short period of time - and most importantly, I've made some great friends along the way.

Isn't that what it's really all about?
laurenfernandez

I think somewhere along the way, many of us lost that vision - which is why my blog is going to focus on talking about PR and community, as I now work for a very integrated agency and I'm getting a different viewpoint.

You have to make people feel welcome - otherwise, why would they come back?
Matt Cheuvront

Agreed - that has been lost in translation by MANY people - and to those so focused on the numbers game, I urge them to stop and think about why they really got started and if, whatever they ARE doing, is personally fulfilling - because if it isn't - you're wasting your time (the same can be said for doing anything you aren't passionate about). You get it - I think I get it - it's up to us to "stay true" to ourselves and offer the best of ourselves on our blogs.

P.S. I think we can REALLY be best friends if you are always up this early. I've yet to meet my match when it comes to early rising.
laurenfernandez

I used to wake up at 4:30 every morning to go jump in a cold pool for practice #1. I can't shake it - nor do I sleep much. :)

I think some people find it validating to win awards and get a ton of comments. That's ok. Like Jackie said, it's all about YOUR goals, YOUR community, what YOU/THEY want. You just have to define it. Me? Mine has definitely changed over the year - so weird to think LAF will be 1 on Jan. 1, 2010.
Matt Cheuvront

I hear ya - I'm a pretty light sleeper myself. My internal alarm clock is all out of whack. But I can't complain - early mornings are usually my most productive. My blog has evolved a ton over the past (almost year) - I can't believe that this time last year, Life Without Pants wasn't even a thought in my head. Pretty amazing how far we've come in such a short time.
Jackie Adkins

The simple fact that you have a picture of Mario Kart makes me happy. It's an interesting dilemma for bloggers when you think about whether you should cater your content to what your audience seems to flock to the most or whether you should just write what you're interested in and say whoever wants to read and interact, I'm here. I think it sort of all depends on what your goals are. If you're going for the maximum number of page views possible, yeah you need to cater to them. If you care about building a community with people a lot like yourself, write about whatever you want.

Great thoughts, though, Lauren!
laurenfernandez

Haha, I love me some Mario Kart. Don't you think it can be a balance of both? Really what I tried to push. You evaluate what you like, but also have to consider what the community likes. Is it possible?
Jackie Adkins

Yea I agree, I do think it can be a balance (which is what I try and do), I guess I was just going for the two options at the end of the spectrum. Some are like Mashable and give the people what will get the most views (so their advertisers will be happy). Some, like The Lost Jacket, talk about very niche topics in social media and PR (so they can display their expertise for potential clients). Then, there's plenty who are happy to be in between. It's all in what your goals are trying to achieve.
laurenfernandez

True. I think my goals have changed over the past year though - this blog will turn a year old on Jan. 1. Crazy! I think you have to constantly evaluate what you want to achieve, because I know mine have changed. Maybe others aren't like that, but I know I am.

I think you're also right that there are different blogs, ones that reach different audiences and have different goals.
Jackie Adkins

Whew, one year! I'm with ya, my goals for my blog have DEFINITELY changed over the past year.
Kelli

I think the best way to get involved and change with communities is to learn the difference between hearing and listening. I think too many people are content with just hearing. Yes, they subscribe to RSS feeds and newsletters and follow community members on Twitter, but are they actually listening to the conversation? Listen to what your community members are talking about; take note in what others are saying. Talking without paying attention is white noise. It’s hard to evaluate, build, and evolve if you aren’t listening first. Monitoring the community will give you more ideas of what to write about and you might be surprised to find out what community members find interesting.
laurenfernandez

What a great distinction, Kelli. I think you're right - Hearing is different from listening. So many people let it go in one ear, and out the other. It's not productive, nor does it make you interesting. It just makes you a self promoter. Monitoring the community is a sure fire way to get a lot of content - and give your readers value.
startabuzz

How you interact with your community is what it's all about. I think that people who are the most effective in social networking are those who are themselves; if you're trying to portray an image that you think is what others want, you're being untrue to yourself. My belief is that you should talk about what you know. If you speak well & authoritatively on a subject, your community will build. I listen to those in my community and do, in fact, write about things that seem to be on the minds of its members, but I don't write about things "just because". Listen to your community. Learn from them. Be true to yourself.
Nicole VanScoten

I definitely agree that it's really important to be yourself online. There are a lot of people out there who do things and act a certain way solely because they think that's what people want and that it will make them "internet famous". However, there's going to come a time when you meet people IRL, and if you're not who everyone thought you were, then you're going to loose their trust (and thus your community). It's important to be 100% you, and the community that builds around you will be the right one for you.
laurenfernandez

Those people drive me crazy. Be yourself - its who you put out there on a daily basis. I think you will lose their trust and your community if you aren't real.
laurenfernandez

Exactly. If I'm not listening, I'm not learning. I don't know it all - and I never will. If you think that you can't learn, then what are you doing? Niches are great for stuff like this. I think that's a great philosophy to have - don't write things just because, but truly listen.

Rockin' comment M.