Like I briefly talked about last week, community is what is going to set brands apart in the answer economy.

Why? We can’t necessarily trust the answers we’re being given. When you don’t know what’s real or false, you have to start relying on people. So while you’re investing so much time and effort in AI, it may be even smarter to invest even more time and effort into the people in your community.

If your first impulse is to say that you are doing that by investing in content, I’m gonna stop you right there. That is one aspect of the puzzle, but it’s not the whole puzzle when it comes to community building. Community building is far more complex than just pushing content at your audience, and it’s being forgotten in this rush to constantly push out content. It’s what makes social media actually social.

So if you don’t know where to begin to build your community, let’s take a look at some things you can do right now.

Make your community feel special

The easiest way to win someone over is to make them feel special. If they feel like you recognize something in them and want to develop that relationship more, then they are more likely to do tasks for you. So start with ways you can recognize certain members of your community.

• Create a group that receives “insider” information: I’m saying “insider” but it doesn’t really. Direct communication that they receive before anyone else counts. Where this group lives is dependent upon what your ultimate goals are and where your community likes to be. Maybe it’s just a special email they receive or maybe you create a Facebook group. Just keep your audience in mind when selecting where this will live and don’t be afraid to ask them what they think. They are special, after all.
• Share their content: If you share their content with care, then they are going to trust you more and want to do more with you. If you share their content by slapping all of your branding all over it and making the caption all about you, they will be running away so hard.
• Talk with them on social media: Having posts that ask real questions on your social media accounts means you might get real answers to them. And do you know what helps to ensure that? By actually talking with them with real empathy in your voice. Connect them with each other and with resources that will help. Make it all about them, with your brand as a secondary character.

Any one of these is easier to implement without adding a lot of extra work on your plate. In fact, any one of these could actually make your job easier with quick access to stories and content that can help you get your message across. But if you really want that to happen, all of these ideas need to be community-first and brand-second.

Create partners

If you really want to create a community that is dependent on each other as well as your brand, start looking for partners. This is a little different than above because all of those tactics are still marketing from brand to the consumer. In this case, you are working toward consumers marketing to consumers.

• Create a social media focus group: Have them give feedback on upcoming campaigns and give them some ownership with them. This can be particularly helpful for smaller marketing departments where a few more eyes would be helpful in spotting potential problems before they happen. But at the same time, remember that too many cooks in the kitchen can ruin a dish. So don’t feel like you have to address every single comment.
• Pay influencers within the community to co-create: I wish every idea that I had got you free content. But sometimes when you want your community to invest in you, you have to invest in them. I’ve seen so many social media managers look outside their community for influencers to bring in a new audience and pay them. That’s great, but make sure it doesn’t take all of your influencer budget. Save some of it for influencers your community trusts as well. It will be easier to get their attention on news and other important messages if you are co-creating with people they trust. And you’ll be able to give a bit more direction to what they post, which can be useful.
• Highlight your community partners: When someone works with you, highlight it. This will give your community an example of what you are looking for. Someone you may not expect may offer to do the same or they may come up with an idea of their own. But there is a huge difference between asking for help and giving an example of how you have been helped. The latter encourages many more people to do the same.

Partners are more invested and moving your best community members to this level can give you new access to your audience. Don’t feel like you’re stuck with these forms of partnership. Get creative and figure out what works for your community.

Have respect

In the end, the best way to build a community is to simply have respect for them. Your audience knows when you don’t have respect for them. Whether you mean it to be there, that disrespect will be in your voice, content and every interaction. Because your emotions always infect everything you do with your audience. And they will likely steer away from you due to that disrespect.

The good news is that the opposite is also true. If you respect your audience, they will feel that and want to work with you. They will want to give you their content and share what you are doing. So in the end, the best investment you can possibly make in your brand’s community is simply respecting them. The rest will easily follow from that.

How are you building a community in your social media audience?