Today’s customers need to understand who you are and why you do what you do before they’re willing to purchase from you. And that’s doubly true if you position yourself as an expert or leader in your field.
As a creator, your customers need to trust you, which is where an online community can help.
Whether you run a community on social media or use a dedicated online community platform like Mighty Networks, fostering connections between people is a powerful way to build trust, form deep connections with your audience, and keep new and loyal customers excited and engaged about your work.
But how do you build a community that people want to participate in and engage with?
Email marketing.
How to use an email list to build an engaged online community
Email marketing is a powerful tool that helps build an online community that cares about your business and its offering—helping you grow quickly and keep your audience engaged.
Here’s how:
1. Define what community looks like for you
Community means different things to different people. For some, it might mean lots of online support, questions, or discussion. For others, it might mean regular meetups or actively working together.
Before you dive into the specifics of building a community, you should determine what it looks like. For example, ask yourself:
- What is the purpose of your community?
- What is the goal of your community?
- Who should be a part of it?
For Kevin C. Whelan, marketing advisor, a community is a natural extension of his work helping people navigate their marketing careers.
The community I run, Mindshare, is designed to give members the best of live and asynchronous coaching with the necessary tools, resources, and training to help them succeed over longer time horizons.
The community is there to make it easy for members to connect with peers, build relationships, and get feedback from me and others in the group. People get as much value from the other members as they do from me. Maybe more in some cases. – Kevin C. Whelan
Kevin’s community makes it easy for members to connect with peers.
Like any marketing strategy, you have to know your audience before you can communicate effectively with them.
That’s why Charis Lindrooth of BotanicWise, a holistic and natural medicine community, focuses on the human element of what he creates and puts people first above sales.
My overall strategy is to be open, personal, and genuine. There has to be an actual human exchange happening. – Charis Lindrooth
Cartoonist, author, and coach Jessica Abel of Autonomous Creative makes her online community exclusively for course cohorts so they can connect.
The most powerful thing for people in my community is to spend time meeting each other. Building an email list in and of itself isn’t the same as building a community. You need to foment connection between people in your audience to each other. – Jessica Abel
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