Every business is driven by ambitions to make it to the list of Fortune 500 companies one fine day. Having said that, it becomes essential for businesses to find ways to expand at a swift pace. As an entrepreneur, you ought to be glad that achieving that stature has become easier than ever before with the prowess of social media. After all, social media offers your business an incredible opportunity to target billions of active users and build your own community.

In fact, building your own social media community can be a perfect launchpad for your business to scale new heights. This explains why even the greatest brands in the world have one thing in common and that is: that they have huge social media communities they constantly engage. National Geographic, Spotify, GoPro, Nike, and Starbucks all of them enjoy enormous social media communities. Imagine, out of 4.62 billion social media users, if a brand just gets around 5k to 10k consistent followers or community members, how fast can it grow?

After all, customer retention and loyalty are more important than customer acquisition. In the words of Chip R. Bell, “Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you.” These words describe the power of loyal customers in the truest form.

If you also aspire to build a troop of loyal customers who support your brand’s growth in the long run, it is crucial for you to build your social media community. Besides customer loyalty, your social media community also helps you become familiar with the emerging needs of your customers and thus, gives you a chance to modify your products, and services or create new ones to meet them.

All in all, a social media community or tribe can help you establish a distinguished brand. If your brand is a big hit on social media, your brand is all set to flourish beyond expectations. Now that we have explored the power of a social media community, let’s discuss 5 actionable tactics to help you build your outstanding social media community.

5 actionable tactics to build your social community

1. Concentrate on user-generated content:

User-generated content is the most powerful form of social media content. Why so? It’s different when your customers say words of praise about you. When you mention the qualities of your products or services or how they can add ease and comfort to your customers’ lives, it is a form of pure marketing. Most people don’t trust what you say about your products and services. After all, you have to sell them and you can cook awesome, captivating stories for that.

But, when your customers sing praises of your products and services that’s when a majority of people begin to trust your brand, products, and services. Our psychology is that what the customers say is truer than what companies or brands say. After all, the customers get nothing by extending words of praise to a brand. Then, if they still do, there has to be something special about the particular brand, product, or service.

Having said that, user-generated content can set up a strong foundation for your social media community. Just try sharing user-generated content on your social media channels consistently and within days you’ll experience the magic it creates.

Now, you may ask, “How to get user-generated content?” Don’t worry, we have an answer to this question as well. The following are some effective ways to get authentic, captivating user-generated content:

Influencer marketing:

Social media influencers are so named because they possess the power to influence others. Teens, adults, and elders all want to use the products and services that popular social media influencers utilize. You might have seen a kid or someone in your family want to buy and eat the noodles they just saw one of their favorite influences eating. In fact, you might have noticed this tendency in yourself as well.

When you see an influencer using a product that helps their skin glow, you are tempted to buy it too. That’s the power of influencer marketing. Though it is not authentic user-generated content, still it has a wide reach and appeal. So, do try influencer marketing. Don’t worry if you have a small budget, you can still try nano and micro-influencers. But remember to track the key performance indicators of influencer marketing in a consistent manner.

Reward your customers for generating content for you:

This is one of the best strategies for getting user-generated content. Reward your customer for sharing their experiences on social media. There is none who doesn’t love getting rewards. So, use this mantra to your advantage.

Request your loyal customers to share their experiences with your products, services on social media:

Those who keep returning to buy your products and services certainly have an inclination towards your brand. If you request them to share their experiences with your products, services on social media, most of them will. Having said that, you should request your loyal customers to do just this much for you.

Conduct customer surveys and share the results on your social media:

This is an indirect yet effective way of gathering user experiences. Conduct customer surveys and share the results on your social media. But, the condition is obviously as you know, the results should be positive. Otherwise, there is no point in sharing them.

2. Focus on consistent follower engagement

In the words of Simon Sinek, “Love is not about intensity, it’s about consistency.” His words are true for all forms of love, not only romantic love. Even for the love between you and your followers, this stands true. If you want to get their love or keep the bond of love between you intact, consistency is the key.

Having said that, you should focus on consistent follower engagement. Create a regular social media presence. Your followers should have an idea about your social media schedule. They should know when to expect your posts, not exactly but approximately. Not only this, but your posts should also be exciting. If they don’t align with your followers’ likes and dislikes, how can you captivate their hearts? Now, let’s discuss some forms of social media content that people love.

Short-form video content:

Short-form video content is one of the most admired forms of content on social media. According to research, in 2020, 96% of consumers increased their video content consumption. In fact, 9 out of 10 consumers said that they wanted to see more video content coming from the brands they follow. These findings clearly indicate that consumers are fond of video content. But, it is important to note that our average attention span is just eight seconds. This implies that to engage your followers you should keep your video content short. Otherwise, your followers will get distracted even before you deliver your intended message through your video content.

Humorous content:

There is a lot of stress in our lives today and that’s why everyone is drawn to humorous content. If you can keep your social media posts full of humor, believe me, you’ll soon build a huge community. If you want to learn how to add humor to your posts, you can visit the social media accounts of brands such as Taco Bell, Oreo, Old Spice, and Arena Flowers.

Infographics and catchy images:

The text requires effort to read and interpret. Today, people don’t have time to do that. Everyone is busy. So, it’s crystal clear that you can’t use plain text to build your community. Then, what to do? Create infographics and catchy images. People love them. They are easy to understand, captivating, and attractive.

3. Inspire your followers to take action for causes that concern the world

Today, the world is suffering from multitudinous issues. Global warming, ozone layer depletion, discrimination, Covid-19 pandemic are some examples. A majority of people of all age groups are concerned about these issues. Also, most people prefer to interact and purchase from brands that take steadfast steps to resolve these issues in some way. Given that, you can captivate the hearts of your followers by inspiring them to take action for causes that concern the world. The best way to inspire them is to become an example yourself.

For instance, you can shoulder Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives that promote the good of the planet, people, and the environment and encourage your followers to follow in your footsteps. This way, you’ll emerge as one of those brands that people love from the bottom of their hearts not only for their products but also for their kindness and compassion.

4. Share content that motivates you

Did you know that motivational content is one of the most popular forms of content that people search on the internet? Why so? Because life is full of uncertainty, chaos, and stress for most grown-ups. Everyone needs the motivation to keep going. You too might have searched for motivational quotes, videos, stories, or other content many times in your life.

This implies that a certain way to connect with people is to share motivating content. So, it would be an incredible strategy to flood your social media accounts with inspirational content. Gradually, you’ll find that your community is growing at an amazing speed. Further, it is best if you can create unique motivational content for your followers. But, don’t worry, if you can’t. You can share third-party content with proper credits. Don’t forget to give due credit to the sources of the content.

5. Host giveaways

Freebies! People love them. It feels too good when you get something without even paying a penny. That’s why people are so drawn to getting free stuff. Given that, hosting giveaways is one of the best ways to bring people to your social media pages and stimulate them to join your community. For best results, you should run giveaways at regular intervals of time. Tag a friend, comment, and win and share your experience are some great giveaway ideas to try. However, it is important to remember that the success of your giveaway depends on the rewards you offer. So, choose rewards that are appealing to your audience. You can conduct surveys or use questionnaires to know the same.

Wrapping up!

Your social media community can help you climb the ladder of success in this highly competitive world. Brands like Nike, Spotify, and GoPro all accredit a majority of their success to their social media community. If you also aspire to become a part of the league of successful brands, you should start building your social media community today. The above-mentioned tactics will help you with the same.