In this email I will share with you 3 strategies I'm currently using to build an engaged community around myself and my brand.
Building an engaged community is much more than just building a following. That's why we see so many accounts with 50,000 followers and barely no engagement on their posts... They didn't focus on community.
And that's why we also see accounts with less than 5,000 followers getting consistently high engagement... They took the correct route by focusing on community.
Building an engaged community allows you to to earn money predictably:
Unfortunately, most people take the "quick and easy" route by just focusing on the number of followers they have.
These people only have 1 objective: To get as many followers as fast as possible, usually via paid ads.
And yes, it works... In terms of growing a following of ghosts who couldn't care less about your posts.
These people fell into the trap of instant gratification, they wanted many followers fast even though these followers are useless. (They will never buy from you or engage with you)
A few months back there was an Indian dude who got a lot of hate for it. He bought more than 200,000 followers via paid ads...
Sounds nice? I mean 200,000 followers would be cool.
But not when when these followers are bought. He got no more than 5 comments per post and was losing 200 followers a day.
This is what happens when you try to build a mere following.
A community of 1000 > A mere following of 100,000.
By the end of this article, you will have a clear roadmap of how to build an engaged community and how to not end up as that Indian guy who could barely get 5 comments per post.
P.S. Just before we get into the steps, what community building is, is just building a quality audience that wants to buy your stuff.
The businesses that are the most liked by the public always prioritize people, their fans, customers, prospects.
The most successful restaurants in my country have the best customer service:
And all of that pays off. We tip generously and we keep coming back to eat at that restaurant over any other because they go the extra mile to make their customers feel amazing.
The same applies to building an engaged community on Twitter.
If you want to turn initial followers into fans, then clients and then lifelong clients, you need to focus on the people.
You do that by delivering amazing content via 3 content styles.
1. Content that educates
This is where you teach people how to do something. Just like I am teaching you how to build an engaged community. This is an essential step to monetization. Without educational content, you will not make money.
2. Content that inspires
Ever felt crystal clear on your next steps, like the feeling you get when you have full clarity? Feels good, doesn't it?
This is what inspirational content does. You give people clarity and courage so they can make their own decisions and connect the necessary dots by themselves.
The bonus, even though they come up with the answer themselves, they still attribute that good feeling to you.
As an example, Iman Gadzhis' content always inspired me. Whenever he was talking about his hard childhood and how he dug his way up to the top, it just made me jump off my ass.
Even though he didn't give me any specific steps to follow, he gave me the feeling of clarity and courage to go do the things I already knew I should've been doing.
And back then, whenever I wanted to feel inspired I'd just watch an Iman Gadzhi video. I kept coming back for more to get that feeling.
3. Content that entertains
This is to add variety. At some point, if all you posted was educational content like tips and tricks, people would get bored of that.
Entertaining content gives you that spice so your audience doesn't get bored.
This is stuff like:
This is how you nurture your audience from all important angels. You need to hit all of them.
Removing one content style is like removing a tire from a car, it will move but not efficiently.
If we remove educational content, you will not make money. All you will do is make people laugh and then they will go buy from someone who shows off their expertise via educational content.
You need to create content from all 3 angles.
Now, this is something I'm still working on myself. I've had a couple of big ideas in the past but as my views changed, the idea didn't fit anymore.
Essentially what a big idea does is it helps you stand out and be recognized.
When you think of likes or cash, many of you will think of "likes ain't cash" by JK Molina.
That's his big idea, this is what his brand is built around.
Think of it as a passive marketer that works 24/7. Whenever people talk about your big idea, your name comes up.
Another great example of this is my friend Audrey and her big idea: Community.
Whenever people talk about community, I think about her because she has built her brand around community.
She basically owns the word community and she's living in peoples' heads rent free.
And this also helps you bring the right people together which community building is all about - bringing likeminded people together.
Thanks to JK Molinas' big idea, he brings together people who vibe with his message: Likes ain't cash.
Find your big idea and start talking about it.
That's the main reason why I struggled to monetize and why so many people I started with, 9 months ago, still struggle to monetize.
They haven't built trust between them and their audience.
Every transaction requires a certain amount of trust. Whether it's a like, comment, retweet or a purchase, for it to happen, it requires your audience to trust you.
Think of it this way, how much would you trust a doctor without a relevant degree to perform a surgery on you?
Probably not at all.
Without building trust, this is how your audience feels about buying from you. (They probably don't want to give you their money)
No big deal though, all you have to do is build trust :)
Now, here's how I'm doing it.
I've found that the best way to start building trust is to turn yourself into the case study. (There are dozens of other strategies to build trust with, this is just one of them to start off with)
Turning yourself into the case study is simple. You just have to get results for yourself and then share it with your audience.
I started using this method back when I signed my first $400 client in August of 2023.
After signing that client, I shared a case study going over the steps I took that made it possible.
It works the same way as client case studies do but instead of getting results for other people, you start by getting results for yourself.
And no, this is not simplified. This is literally how building trust works. You get results for yourself, share the results and help others achieve them as well.
And as you start signing clients, you can turn these into more case studies, client case studies.
As your achievements get more impressive, more trust is built and the desire to buy from you increases.
And it doesn't have to be anything crazy, even signing your first paying is a start.
Get cracking and share your achievements in public.
Step 1: Prioritize people
Step 2: Find a big idea
Step 3: Build trust
Keep in mind that building an engaged community takes time and consistency but if building a one-person business is something you see yourself doing in 10 years, a couple of months is nothing. (Everything great takes time)
And I can already tell you, the wait and the effort is well worth it.
That's all for today.
Hope you enjoyed the mail and got some gems out of it.
If you want to book a 1-on-1 consulting call with me to get 100% clarity on your brand, you can save your spot here.
If not, all good.
I'll see you tomorrow, have a good one.
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