HOW TO GROW AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

 Community is so important in the social media world. After all, isn’t social media influencing all about connection? It should be. We love to love social media, but are we sometimes missing the whole point of it? Social media is all about connecting, sharing, and creating community – authentic community.

So, how do you actually grow authentic community within your social media reach? Well, you’re in luck! Today, I am sharing some of my best tips on how to cultivate an authentic community and an engaged audience on social media.

HOW TO GROW AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

1. Know & Own Your Voice // First thing’s first – you have to know what your voice is and how to own it to be able to begin to form your community. This is of such great importance, because how are you going to cultivate your ideal community if you don’t know what your voice is or how to own it? It’s when you’re secure in your voice when you’ll know exactly who you want to reach and form a relationship with.

2. Lead By Example // When you’re wanting to form a community, sometimes you have to take it upon yourself and make the first step. Lead by example.

• Do you like someone’s Instagram feed? Follow them. Don’t just like a ton of photos to get their attention to get them to follow you first.
• Do you enjoy someone’s tweets? Follow them, and then follow it up by tweeting at them directly and letting them know that their tweets make your day.
• You see someone owning their brand and rocking their blog? Tell them! Let me know! Encourage them to keep going!

Don’t be afraid to step out and start the conversation.  It’s not easy to be the one to start the conversation, but imagine all of the connections and friendships that could take place if you just started that one conversation here and there.

If you take anything away from this post, let it be this: Start that conversation you’ve been wanting to.

3. Put Out Awesome, Quality Content // Fluff will only get you so far, my friends. A real, engaged audience wants to see your best work and they can tell when you’re not putting that out. They want to learn from you. They don’t want another sales pitch or another post that’s been written by tons of other people before. They want your real input, thoughts, and experiences! Don’t hold it back from them. Help them out.

If you’re a food blogger,  give your audience recipes, not beauty suggestions. If you’re a beauty blogger, give them reviews and suggestions of your favorite products, instead of DIYs that aren’t relatable to what you’re known for. People follow you and want to be in your circle for a reason. They love what you bring to them, so don’t steer too far from what you’re known for.

4. Be Predictable // Be predictable with your content. I know some can disagree with this, but this ties in with my previous point. People follow you for a reason – for what you’re “known” for. They want to see more of what they followed you for. If that’s encouragement, encourage them! If that’s behind-the-scenes of your business, let them in!

When the Binge Is Over

 Have you ever felt sad after finishing a series? When we finish binge watching a series, we actually mourn the loss. “We often go into a state of depression because of the loss we are experiencing,” he says. “We call this situational depression because it is stimulated by an identifiable, tangible event. Our brain stimulation is lowered (depressed) such as in other forms of depression.”

In a study done by the University of Toledo, 142 out of 408 participants identified themselves as binge-watchers. This group reported higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression than those who were not binge-watchers. But in examining the habits that come with binge-watching, it’s not hard to see why it would start to impact our mental health. For starters, if you’re not doing it with a roommate or partner, binge-watching can quickly become isolating.

When we disconnect from humans and over-connect to TV at the cost of human connection, eventually we will ‘starve to death’ emotionally.

“When we substitute TV for human relations we disconnect from our human nature and substitute for [the] virtual,” says Dr. Judy Rosenberg, psychologist and founder of the Psychological Healing Center in Sherman Oaks, CA. “We are wired to connect, and when we disconnect from humans and over-connect to TV at the cost of human connection, eventually we will ‘starve to death’ emotionally. Real relationships and the work of life is more difficult, but at the end of the day more enriching, growth producing and connecting.”

If you find yourself choosing a night in with Netflix over seeing friends and family, it’s a sign that this habit is headed into harmful territory. 

How to Binge-Watch Responsibly

The key to reaping the benefits of binge-watching without suffering from the negative repercussions is to set parameters for the time you spend with your television — which can be tough to do when you’re faced with cliff hangers that might be resolved if you just stay up for one more episode. “In addition to pleasure, we often binge-watch to obtain psychological closure from the previous episode,” says Carr. “However, because each new episode leaves you with more questions, you can engage in healthy binge-watching by setting a predetermined end time for the binge. For example, commit to saying, ‘after three hours, I’m going to stop watching this show for the night.”