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How to Build a Thriving Online Community by @AnnaMcAfee

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Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

by Anna McAfee | Featured Contributor

Online communities are all around us, and changing the way we work and live.  As humans we seek connection and often find ourselves participating in and contributing to online communities.  Not just for humans but for brands and businesses its an ever increasing need to create a following and engagement with your end user.  As online networking evolves these online communities become integral to that way in which we connect to one another in the digital world. 

In 2017 I intentionally created an offline community in my local area called #LinkedInLocal.  Shortly after I unintentionally co-founded a movement with the same hashtag created an online community of hosts.  We were and continue to be a tribe of LinkedIn users looking to follow the core idea and share the value and experiences among setting up local groups across the globe.  This has continued to grow to over 1000 host members globally, with 15-20 new hosts being added each week.  Along the way I learned some valuable lessons on what makes online communities thrive. 

Whatever you medium is for creating an online community, be it a Facebook group, Slack, or a LinkedIn group, here are some tips in order to get your community growing and thriving. 

Create a space for shared values where people can hang-out

When it comes to shared values private online groups can create a sense of belonging for users.  United by an idea or a cause, they are great opportunity for digital users to network.  Online communities should foster the sharing of ideas so in order to do this the community needs some shared values or themes.  It could be working moms, industry or location-based entrepreneurs, or hobby-based tribes, but this should be clear in both name and description. 

Say hello and value new members

New members help spread the message and continue the spread of ideas in a thriving online community.  They are integral to its success.  Its important to welcome new members to foster an environment where they feel valued.  We are all member of so many online groups, the ones in which we feel significantly more welcome will really help engagement.  This can happen in the form of a welcome message, and opportunity to introduce themselves, and communicated values around a welcoming environment. 

Facebook has a great tag within groups call New Member  for the first two weeks upon joining.  This helps identify those who are new and need more support, and well as context on their questions.  Slack also provides the ability to set up bots that welcome members as they join the community.  In the words of Maya Angelou, “its not about what you say, its how you make them feel”, so appreciation will go a long way.

Make the space safe

Privacy is an issue for everyone, so showing that your community values and respects that will help members feel safe.  Make the group rules on bullying and worrying discussions very clear and stick to them.  Protection from spammers is another matter you need to deal with.  Be strict on the pitching rules in the group and remove anyone who continues to not comply.  People often use closed online communities to open up and share thoughts on matters they don’t want those close to them to know about.  Ensure your online space has that in mind. 

Be consistent and show up

No one feels valued or engaged in a community that lacks consistent content, questions or the sharing of ideas.  Have certain days for types of content and schedule these, for example the

Ability to share instagram handles or offers in a Thursday thread.  Keep members up to date about what’s going on and create content that will either help add to their businesses or help them learn.  Use scheduling tools to make things easier but make sure the content is engaging, and not just external links or sales messages.  Content should be engaging and consistency related to the shared values and message of the group.

Its not just about creating content, but also answering questions. If necessary appoint some community ambassadors or champions to moderate and answer messages.  This will help ensure everyone is getting the information they need at the right time. 

Be organised

Within any community there are common questions that come up time and time again.  Seek to create resources that help answer these questions and add them as pinned posts, or even share as a mailer if you have a list to support your online community.   Use the files section in order to add regular documents.  Use learning features to put together modules or units from content in the group, such as previous live videos.  Online events are another way to foster community for connection, the sharing of ideas, and help facilitate connection.

Reward your best community members

Facebook now have some incredible tools to help you really make your community members and followers feel valued.  Slack and other providers do have recognition emojis, but LinkedIn groups have a lot to learn from Facebook’s badge system.  They’ve done their research and these badges are adding a lot of value to communities. These can be switched off but here are some of the great badges that help community moderators and members feel truly valued.

Facebook Group Badges

  • Group Anniversary: Celebrates the time a member has invested in your group, appearing on their anniversary day of becoming a group member
  • Conversation Starter: Recognizes members who start meaningful group discussions. This badge will appear for members whose posts receive the most likes and comments in the past month.
  • Founding Member: Acknowledges early members who have helped grow your group.
  • Conversation Booster: Recognizes people who frequently generate meaningful discussions can encourage other group members to contribute more
  • Visual Storyteller: Recognizes members for unique contributions to the community can help spark conversation within the community. It will appear for members who share photos or videos that group members find valuable.
  • Greeter: Provides new members with information and support upon joining can help them feel welcomed. The greeter badge will appear for members who frequently respond to new members’ posts and comments.
  • Link Curator: Recognizing members who help bring topic-relevant news to the group, the link curator badge will appear to members who share quality, external content with their group that receives good engagement
  • Rising Star: Recognizing new members within their first month with the group that contribute to the community


Facebook groups also offer a section of members with things in common, such as common friends or liked pages.  This provides a great conversation starter and a way to connect.  Facebook Pages offer the ability to add Top Fan badges and Valued Commenter.  The “Valued Commenter” badge is awarded when someone comments frequently on a Page, and the “Top Fan” badge is acquired when a fan is one of the most active.

How To be More Human on LinkedIn by @annamcafee

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by Anna McAfee | Featured Contributor

You read that right, LinkedIn is growing in both users and massive engagement numbers in engagement.  Its community content is creating an online platform with a more human approach.  The once “forgotten” social media platform is gaining attention among millenials, business owners, and leaders who are online not for recruitment but to grow professionally.  A recent announcement confirmed the release of Live Video this year, which will add to the “human touch” created by native video 18 months ago.  Here are 5 steps to take to get more out of LinkedIn.  

Your LinkedIn profile is not your resume, and its not just for recruitment

LinkedIn has long-held a reputation as a recruitment-focussed platform, and its the reason many of its 610 million users join.  Whilst LinkedIn is still a place for recruiters and job seekers, it is fast becoming THE marketplace for B2B and a great place to build your personal brand. 

Its important to have the right focus on LinkedIn your profile.  If its to grow your business, network with potential customers, or build your online reputation, its important to ensure your profile is buyer focussed, and not the standard resume template you set up when you first created your account.  It should not focus on the job you were once looking for, but focus on attracting a new connection or lead.  A great LinkedIn profile should clearly explain WHAT you help WHO with, your background, your WHY, your values, your key drivers and what unique value you can add.  It should a representation of who you are, not just what you do and represent your personal brand.  It should be visually appealing with a engaging profile image, background image and rich media, such as image and video.

Expand your connection base to further reach new customers

LinkedIn can open many doors when used effectively and with the right mindset.  Its fair to say that there are many potential customers and collaborators out there that you don’t yet know.  LinkedIn is one large virtual networking room with opportunities to meet new collaborators, mentors, clients and service providers.  In order to gain real opportunities you must be open to new connections, but still remain focussed.  For example, if its unlikely that you’re going to do business outside of a specific region then keep your network focussed on people in that area but broaden it to include new connections you have not yet met in person. 

Its important to always approach new connections with a personalised connection request, or a friendly note when you accept theirs.  Never sell in the first instance when connecting.  Build relationships first and get to know your potential buyer and understand their needs.  Be more human in the connections you build.

Photo by Adam Solomon on Unsplash

All you need is 15 minutes a day to get started

15 minutes a day is all it takes to start building engagement and find new customers online. 

We are all busy and spend an increasing amount of time online but LinkedIn needn’t eat into your day.  Engaging for just 15 minutes a day will boost your industry knowledge, help you understand your competitors better, and you’ll meet and build relationships with more connections to help you in your career and life.

Spend 5 minutes in the newsfeed reading content, engaging with content and reach out to people to expand your network.  Engagement means commenting as well as liking, comments help boost the algorithm and build better relationships.  You can add a lot of value to other posts and your own network through intentional comments.  Spend another 5 minutes sending, checking and responding to received connection requests and messages.  Spend the remaining 5 minutes checking your notifications, with updates on recent posts and flags for anyone who has started a new job, has a work anniversary or birthday.  Reach out to these people to engage with them. 

Produce engaging content and participate in hashtag campaigns to expand your reach

Your LinkedIn content should be focussed on engagement as its comments that are most favoured by the algorithm.  Ask questions in your content, raise a different opinion on a topic, and be empathetic to your clients problems and viewpoints.  In all of the forms of content, both posts and pulse articles, storytelling is significantly engaging users.  Telling stories will deepen your audiences’ understanding of what you do, and why.  Video is king right now and live video will only enhance this.

The hashtag campaigns by both LinkedIn and its users have encouraged support among others and sharing within the community.  Examples include #InItTogether by LinkedIn, and #letsgethonest, in which 26 million people shared their failures, weaknesses, and losses via content, on the basis that what we share as humans aren’t perfections, but universal flaws.   Participating in hashtag campaigns will widen your reach, help give you some engaging content ideas, and deepen your relationships.  What works on other social media platforms is necessarily what will work on LinkedIn, so its always good to experiment, and spend some time ‘listening’ to others in the newsfeed and see what else is engaging other users on the platform.

You don’t need to pay for LinkedIn,  a lot can be achieved with a free account

LinkedIn offers some incredible premium products such as Sales Navigator with a bespoke newsfeed, and access to LinkedIn Learning.  Paying for LinkedIn though isn’t necessary to building trust and an engaged following online.  Share text-only posts, native video, combined image/text posts, and upload document to posts for greater engagement.   External links are ok but won’t be favoured by the algorithm so stick to original engaging content for the best reach. 

Traditional Company pages went through a re-brand in 2018 to LinkedIn Pages. 2019 will see more features coming to these pages that will focus on small to medium sized businesses.  Additionally live video will enhance pages and we will see the release of a LinkedIn Events area.  Add buttons for your website or sign up pages, and create showcase pages under the main company page to showcase events, products or areas of your business, and build a following for these specific areas for greater engagement. 

Why Community Matters Now, More Than Ever by @annamcafee

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by Anna McAfee | Featured Contributor

“What tribes are, is a very simple concept that goes back 50 million years. It’s about leading and connecting people and ideas. And it’s something that people have wanted forever” says Seth Godin.

You’d have to be living under a rock to not have recently heard the words ‘community’ and ‘tribe’. But why does it matter so much, and why does it matters now?  We need to take a look at the world, where we are as individuals, and where we are as a collective.

But what is a community?  As individuals we are members of multiple groups of people, which are defined by geography, work, study, interests, online social networks, and online group participation.

The lack of real community

As humans we have a basic need for community but modern lifestyles are squeezing this out.  Community is more and more absent from the way we live our lives.  We have evolved in tribes, always lived and hunted as groups, but we are living more isolated lives online and not interacting with individuals and groups around us.  Social change has meant that many of us have moved away from where we grew up, and we don’t have a support network around us. Its alarming that for many its becoming the norm to go for days without seeing another human face to face.   

The internet and social media have created unprecedented opportunities for connection across the globe.  A hyper-connected world, always online, has provided considerable advantages, with greater opportunities for remote work and flexibility, in particular for women.  We have information at our fingertips and the ability to find customers and build business relationships remotely. 

At what cost though? 

Where there is an upside, there is also a downside.  Social media is eating humans. Estimates show that 2.95B people on earth (one third of humanity) will use social media by 2020. It connects us in ways we’ve never before seen or imagined. It disconnects us in ways we take for granted. In a time when social media shapes our world view and drives our daily interactions, we need to define a new balance between online and offline, between global and local, between virtual and reality.  Modern life is creating a human connection gap, there is lack of social cohesion around us, and less of a sense of belonging.

What we can and are doing about it

Photo by Slava Bowman on Unsplash

In recent years there has been a shift towards authentic connection in what has become a fast, technologically advanced world. Social media has added so much to our world and our businesses but we have lost something in the process. We have become accustomed to define ourselves by the job we do, who we know, how many likes we get.  Yet we are so much more than the superficiality of all those things.

As a result of change we are seeing a shift in consumer demands, a craving for a more human experience.  In our DNA there is a desire to be a part of a community, or multiple communities, that support us and help us grow.

Brands and companies are being expected to deliver a more human experience to its customers and followers.  We now have #O2O movements (online to offline) and #H2H (human to human) delivery of content, products and services. 

Another example of this change is the #letsgethonest campaign in late 2017 and re-run again in 2018.  26 million people shared their failures and weaknesses via content, on the basis that what we share as humans aren’t perfections and successes, but universal flaws and failures.

Online brands such as Fiverr and Asana are now delivering a community experience to customers and contributors.  #LinkedInLocal, a campaign to take online connections offline and come together to meet in groups face-to face, has spread to over 85 countries in less than two years.  We continually see the rise and growth of Facebook communities for like-minded people, anything from mothers groups to soul-centred entrepreneurs, there is a Facebook group for literally everything.

Bridging the Human Connection Gap 

Even in a digital world it is so important to build our own “villages” to support us. Social isolation is damaging to health, education, business and society.  As humans we need to find the balance between an increased need for privacy, and shutting ourselves off from the world.  Human interaction must be meaningful and when we recognise this we need to picture what our own ideal in-person villages look like, and use technology for good in order to seek them out.