Edition 21: Sept 3, 2024 - Build a Brand by Building a Community
You’ve likely noticed the surge in new community platforms emerging lately.
Businesses are recognizing the value of community building. They know that they are no longer selling a product or service. Instead, it’s about creating a loyal customer base that feels a sense of belonging and connection to the brand.
A strong community can lead to increased customer retention and brand advocacy. Community members become ambassadors who spread the word organically.
There's currently a shift toward a more purpose-driven society, which has amplified the trend of community building. People want to be part of something bigger than themselves, contributing to causes and movements that align with their values.
👉Isn't my social media platform my community?
No.
Your social media platform is not your community, and here's why:
Reason #1 Lack of Control
When you rely on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to build your community, you’re essentially renting space in someone else’s ecosystem. The rules, algorithms, and features can change at any moment, often without warning, affecting how you engage with your audience. In contrast, building your own community on a dedicated platform like Kajabi gives you complete control over the environment, the content, and how your community interacts. Learn More About Kajabi >>
Reason #2 Distraction Overload
Social media platforms are designed to keep users scrolling, often bombarding them with ads, notifications, and unrelated content. These distractions dilute your message and make it harder for your community members to stay focused on the purpose of the group. A dedicated community platform provides a distraction-free space where members can engage with your content and each other more meaningfully.
Reason #3 Limited Customization
On social media, your ability to customize the experience for your community is minimal. You’re confined to the platform’s layout, features, and branding options. On your own platform, you can tailor the experience to reflect your brand, create a unique atmosphere, and offer features that specifically meet the needs of your community.
Reason #4 Data Ownership
When you build a community on social media, the platform owns the data. This means you have limited access to insights about your members and little control over how that data is used. By hosting your community on your platform, you own the data about member behavior, engagement, and preferences so you can fit your business to better align with the community.
Reason #5 Monetization Challenges
Monetizing a community on social media can be challenging, as these platforms often take a cut of your earnings or limit how you can charge for access. With your own platform, you have more flexibility in how you monetize your community, whether through paid memberships, exclusive content, or other revenue streams, without sharing profits with a third party.
Reason #6 Community Focus
Social media is a public forum where conversations can be scattered and unfocused. Building your own community platform allows you to create a focused, purpose-driven space where members come together with shared goals and interests.
Conclusion:
Social media is awesome for visibility and outreach, but is not a substitute for a dedicated community. By investing in your own platform, you can cultivate a more engaged, loyal, and purpose-driven community that aligns with your long-term business goals.
👉What is Kajabi?
Kajabi is a robust platform that acts as your coaching/consulting website as well as client interface for your online program and community. What makes so Kajabi great is that it's All-In-One Platform:
- Create website pages (optionally replace your current site)
- House your email contacts (replace MailChimp or other service provider)
- Design a course or coaching program behind a pay wall
- Offer group or 1:1 coaching sessions right inside Kajabi
- Make coaching session recordings available for replay behind a login wall
- Community forum includes online Meetups, Challenges, Feed & more
- Automate opt-in, purchase and onboarding email sequences
- Collect payment via credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, After Pay, Klarna, or PayPal
- Craft offers of full pay, payment plan, subscription, or "pay what you can"
- Segment email contacts based on filling out forms or clicking on links
- Set up webinar funnels, live workshops, open/close cart, and more
Kajabi Community: New Design is Coming 👇👇👇
Kajabi Community Overview
Kajabi Community is an integrated feature within the Kajabi platform that can be completely branded and styled to fit your business needs. Learn More About Kajabi >>
- Course/Membership Integration: Kajabi Community allows you to easily connect your course, coaching program, digital product, or membership inside the forum. Yes, you can even have a page of offers and upsells.
- Engagement Tools: The community forum provides you with public (meaning everyone in the community) or private (only those you invite) "circles" to focus chats toward a single topic. Within each chat forum is the ability for anyone to post video, image, a PDF, and/or text. You even have the ability to design a poll. Members can also directly message each other privately.
- Monetization Options: You can monetize your community by offering paid memberships and/or a free membership. Both communities are behind a password-protected area so are not indexed by Google. You must have a login to enter.
- Content Delivery: Within Kajabi Community, you can create live, pre-scheduled Meetups. This could be a one-time meeting or recurring. Members will receive notification of ap upcoming Meetup and can RSVP accordingly to receive showup reminders. At the time of Meetup, just click "go live" right inside the community that also records for rewatching later. Yes, you can also screenshare and have a full group coaching experience similar to Zoom.
- Analytics and Insights: Kajabi provides analytics on member activity and engagement levels to help understand your community’s behavior and make business decisions for improvement.
- Member Management: If you have virtual assistants, they can become moderators inside the community to include adding or removing participants and moderating discussions.
- Mobile Access: Kajabi Community is available via mobile app. For an additional fee, you can also get your own business branded app in the Apple and Android stores
The First Steps to Starting a Successful Online Coaching or Consulting Business
It’s time to share your expertise through group coaching, a membership and/or an online course. Step-by-step, this manual will guide you.
Part 1: FAQ: How much will I make? How long until success? And more...
Part 2: Step-by-Step Build a Brand
Part 3: Step-by-Step Designing a Marketing Plan
Are you ready to really get started in your coaching or consulting business today?
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