Hey team,
How’s it going?
Curious how you can build a loyal, engaged, profitable community on social media?
I was.
Step up Daisy Morris from The Selfhood.
She’s the expert when it comes to building a community around your brand.
She’s worked with brands like Apple, Meta and Gucci.
She built a super engaged community on her own Instagram.
What does she recommend?
There’s 8 steps:
1/ Audience and community are NOT the same
You might have Instagram followers.
Or customers.
Or impressions on your latest ad.
That is not the same as having a community:
“All brands and creators should be striving for people who champion them behind the scenes,” says Daisy.
But why?
Building a community = an army of people advocating or your brand.
For free!
Retaining an existing customer is normally cheaper than acquiring new ones
Advertising is getting harder.
Privacy rules are tightening.
TikTok bans are threatened.
Communities are a way to cut through.
So, where do we begin?
2/ Know your story
You can’t form a community if nobody understands who you are and what you stand for.
You want your audience to be invested in your journey.
That means crafting a story that people buy into.
“But our brand story isn’t interesting enough” is something Daisy often hears.
Don’t worry.
It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking.
It just has to be yours.
That’s enough.
3/ Build your Funnel
Lots of creators throw out the same content across all of their platforms.
There’s not much thought into why they’re doing it.
If this sounds like you, take a step back.
It’s time to build your content funnel:
These parts are really worth thinking about:
They are your owned spaces.
Social media is rented land.
You might have a killer Instagram account.
But what happens when Instagram blacks out?
Or the algorithm changes?
You’re screwed.
That’s why you need pockets of community in spaces that you can control.
This could be:
Regular events
Workshops
Webinars
Newsletters
Private group chats
Community platforms like Circle
Here, your community will form deeper connections.
That’s exactly what you want if you’re trying to nurture a loyal, invested audience.
4/ Before you post…
Before publishing your next TikTok or LinkedIn post, be honest with yourself:
What is the point of this post?
How will my community react to this?
What value are they getting?
Am I ready to interact?
Don’t post if you’re not happy with the answers to those questions.
Avoid ‘buy me please’ posts:
5/ Show up consistently
You won’t build a community by spitting one post out and disappearing for 3 weeks.
You need to show up consistently.
Struggle with this?
Use Robots to help:
6/ The Don’ts
What about the things to avoid?
Don’t post content while you’re emotional – if you’re going to post something risky, Daisy recommends sleeping on it first.
Don’t feed the trolls – some people love batting back at their online haters. But for most of us, it’s not worth it.
Don’t post n ghost – people won’t give back to you unless you’re a proactive member of your niche. Start conversions and make connections.
7/ Monetise
How profitable is building an online community?
For brands at scale like Apple or Nike this sense of belonging means queues at product launches.
Instant sell outs.
For a Creator like Daisy it’s just as powerful.
She indirectly monetises the audience:
Her community advocate for her Social Media Consultancy & Agency
All of her business here is from referrals
It’s what landed her a Book deal
It lands her speaking gigs
Then she directly monetises the audience:
Brand deals to get in-front of them on social and in her newsletter
Sponsorships for her in-person events
Products
8/ Stay in the game
Daisy’s been doing this for 5 years.
She’s consistently shown up and served her audience for a long time.
Thousands of comments and messages.
Hundreds of posts.
Countless events, connections made.
Community takes time.
Ok, that’s a wrap!
Drop me a comment on the episode if you enjoyed it.
Or reply to this email if you’re thinking of growing a community.
I read every reply.
Talk soon,
Callum
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This is great. As someone starting a newsletter, starting to think about building a community using this strategy is useful. Thanks!