Are you Taking for Granted Your Biggest Online Asset? by @sociallysavvy4u

by Manon Leroux | Featured Contributor

If you are like most, you are probably more concerned with growing your community than on nurturing the one you already have. Building a community takes time and hard work, especially with so much competition and noise in the space. Some days it is a challenge just to create good content.

But before you focus on growing your community by another 5%, why not take a look at who you have now and ask yourself what you have done for them lately.

Saying you should appreciate your community sounds like common sense, and it is, but it is often the common sense initiatives that get overlooked the most. We forget that our community wouldn’t be a success (in any degree) without the people who are there today engaging with your content, taking the time to comment and having conversations with other community members. Your community is there for you now no matter how small the community may be.

Perhaps you don’t have the numbers you want, or you don’t get as many comments and shares as you had hoped, but that doesn’t mean that you should negate the people who show up every day to engage with your content.

People like to feel acknowledged and appreciated. It is a very basic human need. If we continue to give and never get acknowledged or thanked, it doesn’t make us feel very good.

So by now you are either thinking that you are doing a good job thanking and rewarding your community, or you have a worried look on your face because you are thinking that perhaps you could be doing more. In either case, it’s a good thing.  Your community will notice if you begin to acknowledge and thank them. Just taking the time to show that you are there, you are listening, and that you appreciate their input is such an important thing to do, and in the grand scheme of things – it doesn’t require a lot of your time.

Here are some things you can do to keep your community engaged:

• Monthly giveaways for engaging commenters / influencers
• Daily response and comments to folks who contribute
• Say “thank you” to people who help the community thrive
• Promote projects and initiatives of your community members
• Share yourself by connecting emotionally and letting them know you
• Monthly member or fan spotlight Q&A style with photo and/or links

It doesn’t take a lot of time to say thank you and acknowledge your community, but it is probably the most overlooked aspect of community management. So take the time and reach out to your community, let them know that you do care and that you do appreciate their valuable time.

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Social media maven by day, mother of two and dog lover by night, a well-dressed fashionista all the time – Manon Leroux helps solopreneurs and small business owners find their way through the hype and gimmickry of social media marketing to achieve measurable results for their businesses.

As a serial entrepreneur, Manon brings a great deal of energy, passion and enthusiasm to every client opportunity.  After years of working with companies to deliver effective and strategic social media programs she turned her focus to strategy and education.  She works with solopreneurs and small business owners to understand their business, their buyers and their unique selling propositions.  She collaborates with them to create strategic roadmaps for using social media marketing to build their business by creating brand awareness, building online communities, increasing audience engagement and more.  Manon has developed a comprehensive curriculum that teaches her clients how to implement their social media strategies using the different social media tools available, combining easy-to-understand how-to with invaluable experience and on-trend insights.

When she’s not making the social media world a better place – one “Like” at a time – Manon is trying to coral her two sons, aged 13 and 14.  She has a degree in fashion merchandising and the benefit of more than 20 years of customer service experience: she understands the power of strong customer relations.  Her professional portfolio includes multiple Fortune 500 companies.

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Manon Leroux