Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Alex de Carvalho, @AlexDC. Alex is IBM’s Social Business Manager, a public speaker, and business expert. He is currently named the Knight Innovator in Residence, serving at Florida International University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Alex teaches courses on social media marketing strategy, email marketing and communications, content creation and community development. He also runs Social Media Club South Florida and is the co-author of “Securing the Clicks: Network Security in the Age of Social Media.”
SmallBizLady: What is the difference between a follower and a community member?
Alex de Carvalho: The difference is in the level of interest and engagement. A follower wants to get updates, promotions and other news about the company. A community member, on the other hand, is more formally a part of the group, participates in the group’s activities and has a voice and reputation within the group. Members identify themselves with the group and will carry the community’s message.
SmallBizLady: Why should a small business think in terms of community?
Alex de Carvalho: People like to do business with companies they like.
Small businesses have the unique ability to create valuable customer experiences because they are not constrained by corporate policies. Because of their size, they know their customers so well and they are trusted for their integrity. These qualities create the opportunity for a small business to go well beyond a loyalty program and enable them to develop a group of like-minded customers and friends. This helps foster word-of-mouth recommendations, greater trust, repeat visits and regular opportunities for interaction with customers and prospects.
SmallBizLady: What are the different types of community?
Alex de Carvalho: There are many types of communities a small business could develop, most of which are based on shared interests. The interest could be based on geography, life stage, lifestyle, education, cause-based (politics, activism, or charity), profession or on the business itself and its products.
Depending on the type of business, one or a combination of these communities could be developed; for example, a regional group for youth.
The only type of community that’s not about shared interests is when people are forced into a circumstance. For example, a community could be formed of people who are suffering a life-threatening illness or even being on an airplane together for a period of time. Even in these situations, there are opportunities for certain businesses to create a community.
SmallBizLady: What are some examples of business communities?
Alex de Carvalho: A more famous example is The North Face, which runs and sponsors hundreds of local outdoor events with an underlying educational and environmental objective. These events create an active community of participants who identify with the brand’s values.
On a smaller scale, Naked Pizza grew in 18 months from a single store in New Orleans to over 450 locations across the US and abroad. They did it through a commitment to making the World’s Healthiest Pizza. The associated values were about being authentic, transparent, real and having fun, which translated well to social media. To a large extent, social media kept them true to their values and fueled their growth.
SmallBizLady: How does a small business develop its community?
Alex de Carvalho: A number of elements go into this. Much like painting a wall, you have to prepare it first by sanding and priming it. Likewise, the first step is to create the brand identity (and brand values) and to develop a voice that is unique and stands out. You can’t be mediocre about this; you need to activate peoples’ emotions. This happens when they love what you do (which also means that some will have what you do). You just can’t build a community by being middle of the road – you have to stand out in some way. Your products and services must deliver value and be reliable. Your customer service must be responsive. All of that is the preparation; you have to get these elements right first.
Even as you’re priming your business with the above, you can start creating community. You do this by sharing your stories, your challenges, your opportunities and your vision. You answer questions and engage online. You post tips and frequently asked questions. You take pictures and videos and show your progress as you’re building the business.
Once you’re ready, you start engaging at a new level by participating in local community events, charities and conferences, as well as hosting your own events and workshops. For example, a local South Florida small business is Schnebly Winery, which makes wine and craft beer out of tropical fruits like mangoes. They hold regular wine and beer tasting, host outdoor concerts and shows and host private events and weddings. All this provides great stories and material for amplification by themselves and by the participants on social media channels.
SmallBizLady: What are some online tools to develop a community?
Alex de Carvalho: The online conversation has shifted a lot to videos and photos. Facebook posts perform better with media while photo-sharing platforms like Instagram have taken off.
Your platform of choice would depend on where your customers are. Usually it’s Facebook, but it could also very well be Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest or even Snapchat.
It’s important to understand your objectives first, so you can develop some types of metrics to measure your performance and to understand what’s working and what’s not. Besides the platform and the analytics, there are a number of other tools like Hootsuite that help you manage your posts and follow your community. The main “tool,” however, is to post frequently and to vary the type of content you’re sharing.
SmallBizLady: How do I decide where to create my community?
Alex de Carvalho: This depends on two things:
First, figure out what type of media you’re most comfortable with. It could be that you like writing, or photography, or that you’re comfortable in front of video or producing audio.
Second, understand where your customer base spends their time. You can survey them to find out their favorite social networks. Based on the combination of your comfort and their preference, you’ll find that one or the other platforms will be better suited for your business.
SmallBizLady: What are the pitfalls of developing a community?
Alex de Carvalho: You should always prepare a social media crisis plan. In the case that something goes wrong, news can spread quickly and you want to develop a plan of action. Note that the news will spread quickly whether you participate in social media or not, however, being present on social media gives you a channel from which to respond immediately.
The benefit is that over time you will have built up a good reputation on social media, so that if a crisis should happen, people will remember and react more positively to you. A crisis could be anything, from inadvertently posting unintended stuff to social media, to a product defect, to a news story about the business.
The other pitfall is that community management is a daily practice so you must be present or, at least, reachable.
SmallBizLady: What are some overlooked ways to spark engagement?
Alex de Carvalho: E-mail marketing remains, by far, one of the most effective ways for a business to reach its customers and prospects, as well as to develop a community. Your customer and prospect list should be treated like gold. People who give you their contact details are interested in keeping in touch and learning more about your business.
SmallBizLady: How long will it take to build a community?
Alex de Carvalho: A community takes time to build because people need to understand many things. They need to trust the business and understand the values. They need to see the business in action. They must be given something to believe in. This only occurs through regular and consistent posts and stories.
The community also gets built when people interact with the company at events that take time to organize. However, like the Naked Pizza example above, online communities can also be built very quickly, depending on the uniqueness of the value proposition.
SmallBizLady: How can you accelerate the growth of your community?
Alex de Carvalho: One of the best ways to speed up the community-building process is to participate in, and sponsor, existing local communities.
Local technology and social media communities are especially valuable. Individuals in tech and social media communities are hyper-connected and will tweet and post about the business.
Another good way is to come up with creative contests, especially photo contests. By far, the best way is to share compelling stories about the business and its activities.
SmallBizLady: How will I know if I’ve successfully built a community?
Alex de Carvalho: The results will really speak for themselves.
For one thing, you’ll see increased engagement in your community’s social media hangouts. Your community members will be enthusiastically sharing, re-sharing and responding to your output.
The end result, of course, is going to be your sales. If you’ve successfully built an engaged and loyal community, you will see the results in your sales of members eager to support and patronize you.
If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz
For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.
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