How do you do that?
Well, we have started a Facebook page together. Now we are going to start a COMMUNITY.

Why Community Is the Secret Ingredient for Blogging Success?

It’s just human nature, people like being around like-minded people, whether it be the church or the local golf club. We just love sharing things we have in common with other people, it’s called a community. It is somewhere you feel at home, a place you feel you belong. This camaraderie can be felt at distance. Imagine getting up in the morning. Once you have read the news, checked out your emails, you can go and see what your community has to say about the passion you all share. Of course, if the community is not quite what you are looking for then you will probably look around for a better fit.

So if you can start a blog that people find welcoming and interesting they will stay around.

Think about it: a successful blog is one that has lots of visitors and people who come back and subscribe to your emails.

Any successful community needs new blood but also needs a core membership.
When visitors first land on your blog, you have only a short time to convince them to stay and engage with the page.

How do we open up this new club or Facebook group?

1. Join other communities. If you want to get readers for your blog posts. There’s no better way to achieve that than by sharing it with a community that already is interested in what you do.
2. Do market research by following forums. Then when you have started your own community, you can find out what your followers want to read, share. Encourage comments and start a forum or a type-form survey.
3. Encourage your members to interact. Communities are great for connecting people and providing members with the ability to interconnect. FAQ?s are great to establish you as an authority. But members of your community can answer other members questions.

4/ So how do you build a community based on your blog?

Do not reinvent the wheel! Just use the best FACEBOOK!

When your group is created, you’ll need to write a compelling description.

A good group description includes:

• Your group’s name
• Contact information
• Your goals, philosophy, and passion
• Activities
• Links to any websites, Facebook pages, or other news and event sources the group maintains
• Fun writing that sells the group to potential members
• A mention of any parent organisation for your group
• A logo or icon if your group has one

Everything on the web is searchable through keywords, which you can set up when you begin your group. Facebook calls these “tags,” in order to attract Facebook users, set these keywords that will help them find your blog. Keywords should describe what your group is about. For example, if you have a blog about Blogging, you might set your “tags” as “Copywriting, SEO, WordPress…”. If a tag is relevant, it will show up as soon as you begin to type in the first few letters.

Upload a cover image. An attractive cover image is the first thing a prospective member of your group will see. You can use your existing logo, or create a compelling cover image with a tool like Snappa, which has a built-in Facebook Cover creator. Make sure your image stands out to people familiar with your blog, this is called branding.
Here is a good example of the cover image of a Facebook group I’ve recently started to help people get their travel blogs up and running:

Create a welcome message. When members join your group, your welcome message will greet them and give them a sense of what the group is about. Include details the who why and how of the group.
To make sure this information is always in view, pin the post to the top of the page.

After it’s up and running, you need to get people in your group.

#3: Capturing YOUR FIRST GROUP MEMBERS

It’s the age old-question about communities: How do you get people to join? Aim: Facebook Groups for Blog Traffic

When you’re first starting out, it can seem daunting. After all, the last thing you want to do is to start a deserted group. That makes you feel like you’ve thrown a party that nobody shows up to.
In fact, many bloggers shy away from starting groups simply because they fear nobody will join.
But don’t let that hold you back, because as daunting as it seems, getting group members to join your group is not rocket science.

Here are 9 ideas for scoring your first members:

Don’t forget that getting started is the hardest part. Once the group has approximately 600 subsisters it suddenly grows by itself! In the meantime apply these methods to get to that first milestone:

1/ First approach:

Maybe the most obvious way to start is to promote your group by inviting friends of yours. Most of your existing Facebook friends will ignore the invite as are not interested in the topic or in helping you. Your closest friends or relatives will support you in most cases, especially if you send a personalised message to each and one of them, explaining what the group is about. Do not bother inviting those acquaintances that you barely speak to. Choose the people you invite carefully for better results.

2/ Second tip:

You should constantly use your other social accounts to broadcast your Facebook group and grow your community. Use twitter, reddit, instagram google+… Of course do link the group in your profile and comment.

3/ Thirdly:

Start displaying your group details in your blog’s menu with a clear CTA e.g. “Join the community of like-minded people!” and picture. Most noteworthy: with a direct link to the Facebook group.

4/ Fourth point:

Add the group details as well as a call to action at the end of each of your blog posts. Thus reminding your readers to engage and follow you at all times!

5/ Fifth strategy:

Showcase your group details and the link in your email signature. This is part of branding and ensures consistency and professionalism.

6/ Sixth pointer:

As you may have already seen in our blog post regarding Mailing Marketing getting in touch with your subscribers and followers by mailing your email list is a great way to engage socially.

7/ Seventh plan of action:

Comment regularly in other groups that are similar to yours and add your facebook group name. You can find a topic that you have covered and offer added value to that group by mentioning your articles and Facebook group.

8/ Eighth tactic:

This tactic is useful once you already have a set number of members. You ask the existing members to invite others to join the community. It is a simple group promotion tactic but within the group people are generally easy to convince.

9/ Ninth and last piece of advice:

Organise a giveaway to raise engagement by creating a Facebook event and offering a prize / freebie through a challenge.