Community building isn’t a snap … but close
Communities abound on all social media channels. They can be a handful if you’re active in several places, participating in many groups. Kristy Gillentine knows well the ins and outs of navigating among an assortment of groups, along with building a community.
Vice president of public engagement at Drive West Communications, she is also the founder and host of #ChatSnap — the first and only Twitter chat all about the Snapchat community.
“I have my Twitter chat, and I’m super committed to that, but my neighborhood’s Facebook group is a good example of a community,” Gillentine said. “That’s where I live, and it’s important to me because it’s a great place to learn more about my neighbors in real life and what’s happening in my local town.”
To have a customer base, you need to build a community. It’s a social group from which fans can spread the word about your brand.
“Community building is an excellent method for audience retention,” Gillentine said. “It’s relationship building taken a step further. When a brand can connect with people, that’s great. But when they can connect those people with one another, loyalty grows and awesome things can happen.”
Community building will be important as long as people want to be social and entrepreneurs want to do business. You get by with a little help from your friends.
“Building communities can only continue growing in importance,” Gillentine said. “There’s so much noise on and off of social media. When you build a strong community, you cut straight through that noise. You have a group of people who care about you, one another and what you have to say.”
Active groups
Within her industry and area of expertise, she sees many communities functioning well.
“In the social media, public relations and journalism areas, communities abound and serve to unite people with a shared interest in those topics — individually and as they intersect,” Gillentine said. “Everyone is trying to stay ahead of the curve. Communities help each of us do that.
“At Drive West Communications, we encourage clients to focus on building and engaging communities, and we guide them in doing so,” she said. “Communities allow us to help clients target their communications like never before.”
Sorting through types of groups, for friends and family, Facebook seems to have the strongest community link. For business, news and making social connections among previous strangers, the Twitter cocktail party rules.
“The best place to build a social media community is whichever platform you’re on,” Gillentine said. “A great goal: Cross-platform communities, or groups that engage across multiple platforms. For example, the #ChatSnap community is on Snap, Twitter and Facebook.
“Cross-platform connections ensure our relationships can outlive the platforms they’re on,” she said. “They also help forge deeper connections. Different networks tend to bring out different sides of us. Engaging on multiple platforms simply helps people get to know each other better. If I had to pick one platform right now, though, I’d say Facebook groups. There’s a major shift happening on Facebook.”
Crossover communities
Gillentine’s core social media groups are hybrids of each other with her Snapchat community meeting in a Twitter chat.
“I launched #ChatSnap, the Twitter chat all about Snapchat, almost two years ago, and I love it so much,” she said. “The community is amazing and supportive, and we learn an immense amount from one another. It’s still growing and evolving. Exciting new things are coming this year.”
Her Snapchat chat happens at 2 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday. The community also interacts in its Facebook group.
“Connecting and engaging with community members on Snapchat is really awesome,” Gillentine said.
For those setting out to build social media communities, remember to be active and engage. You will build a community based on how genuine you are. Gillentine said this is how to substantively know your existing and target audiences:
- Use social media to dive in — as in any relationship — engage and make a genuine effort to get to know people better.
- Identify and share your stories.
- Be OK with screwing up. Trust can grow as a result of imperfection and vulnerability.
“Also, be patient,” she said. “Communities allow us to target communications like never before, but they take time, effort and patience. Allow yourself time to nurture and grow your community. Success won’t happen overnight.
“Ask questions,” Gillentine said. “Study the communities you’re a part of or that you admire. Reach out to community leaders for their advice, and ask the people in those communities what they like and dislike. There’s no right or wrong. You just have to find what works for you.”
About The Author
Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and the federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
