Building a community: Networking

This is part one in a three part series that discusses community building. Part 2 and Part 3 will be posted over the course of the next 3 to 4 days.

What is a community? Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines a community as 1: a unified body of individuals…. There’s more to the definition but those five words sum it up very well. It’s great that we know what, but really what we all need to learn is how. How to build a community.

Network

Common sense? As the saying goes common sense isn’t always so common. You need to get out there and network.

How:

Show your ugly mug (or avatar) all over the place.

• A) Comment on blogs
• B) Post in forums
• C) Signatures in your emails
• D) Answer questions on Yahoo! Answers
• E) Create profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, Squidoo, and others
• F) Join other communities

Wait! Before you go off joining communities you need to read this next part… Join communities you have something in common with! Why? Because in order for this to work you’ll need to actually participate in other communities. If you don’t why would anyone participate in yours?

Where:

Anywhere and everywhere you can manage. Sounds like great advice, right? Wrong! Be selective about the communities you join, and where you start plastering yourself all over. Frequent places that are in the same or similar niches you are. That doesn’t mean don’t go elsewhere at all, but spend 80% of your effort in places that will relate to your content.

When:

From the very beginning. Even better, before you ever get started. To get a headstart you should spend time at places where you’ve long been integrated into the overall community. Web forums are great for this! Certainly the longer you do it the more you’ll see your efforts paying off.

Why:

The short answer is you network because it gets you something in return. The long answer is similar except it explains why a little bit better. You network because it:

• A) Lays a foundation for your communities growth
• B) Provides a stream of future growth
• C) Gets you familiar with them and they with you
• D) Builds trust in your name

How important do you believe networking is in the effort to build a community?

Parts 2 (participation) and 3 (management) will be published soon. Instead of risking missing out on those posts why not subscribe to A Blog about Nothing’s Full RSS feed or the Email Feed and we’ll deliver the articles directly into your email inbox!

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