How to Build a Community

There are many types of wellbeing that help us be the best versions of ourselves. It's easy to think of career, physical, or financial wellbeing as factors that contribute to our overall health. Community wellbeing is another type of wellness that stems from human beings' innate need to belong.

How Do You Define "Community"?

Defining "community" can vary from person to person. In Wellbeing: the Five Essential Elements, authors Tom Rath and Jim Harter describe community wellbeing as "the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live."

Community wellbeing isn't just about the physical location one lives in; it requires "active involvement in community groups or organizations."

What Are the Benefits of Building Community?

In The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters, Emily Esfahani Smith describes the importance of community: "We all need to find our tribe. We all need to feel that we belong." Her research shows the benefits of belonging are developing relationships based on mutual care and frequent, pleasant interactions.

You can help your customers and followers build a sense of community around your product, service, or mission and really make an impact. With tools like social media, building community and a sense of belonging is possible virtually everywhere.

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram provide platforms to exchange information between knowledge seekers and those who have the knowledge to share. These network effects are experienced across service-oriented, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations that sell goods.

How Can You Build a Community Using Facebook?

Recently, one of our staff members attended Facebook Community Boost, a three-day event in Menlo Park, California, hosted by Facebook. 750 small business owners and entrepreneurs learned about marketing and advertising tools to boost creativity and build community.

Here are some of the highlights they discussed for building a community on Facebook.

Profile vs. Page vs. Group

First, it's important to distinguish between these different types of resources.

• A profile is where you share information about yourself like your interests, photos, videos, current city, and hometown.
• A page is where artists, public figures, businesses, brands, organizations, and nonprofits can connect with their fans or customers.
• A group is a place to communicate about shared interests. You can customize the group's privacy settings depending on who you want to be able to join and see the group.

The Power of a Facebook Group & Page

A group is a great way to pool your resources collectively. You are no longer the only one communicating with your customers. Now, your customers can interact and even serve as a resource to one another.

What's most important is that your group is useful, easy to engage in, and valuable. To create a productive group, establish guidelines for members, and identify a moderator.

A page provides a space where businesses can curate and share quality content with followers. Maybe you want to share upcoming product updates; you could do that through your page.

You could also share industry news or upcoming partnerships and how they will impact your customers. You could use a tool like MarketBeam to curate high-quality content and distribute it to your social channels—including your page.

Sometimes You Need a Knowledge Base

Maybe your community of experts may not be enough support to help your community. In that case, what is helpful is to create a knowledge base that can be referenced.

Facebook has achieved this process by creating Facebook Blueprint—a free, easy-to-use, online learning module database. The modules are bite-sizes, 10 – 15-minute video segments to educate consumers on how to maximize Facebook's tools to grow a business.

Ready to Build Your Community?

In this digital age, we still have an innate desire to belong and connect with people. In Wellbeing: the Five Essential Elements, Rath and Harter provide next steps you can take to boost your community wellbeing.

• Identify how can you contribute to your community based on your personal mission.
• Tell people about your passions and interests so they can connect you with relevant groups and causes.
• Opt into a community group or event. Even if you start small, start now.
• Decide what steps to take to increase your community wellbeing and get started now.

MarketBeam is an AI-driven, personalized, social marketing platform that utilizes untapped executives' and employees' social networks to increase reach, elevate their brands, and nurture leads dramatically beyond the usual corporate channels.

Gamification encourages content-sharing on social networks while building executive branding and individual employee thought leadership. AI-driven analytics constantly learn and identify top influencers, popular content, and social networks to maximize marketing ROI.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.