Connect More Genuinely with Your Community with the Help of Technology

Whether you’re at the helm of a public Facebook group, a lively Instagram account or a paid coaching group, your community will thrive + flourish if you pay attention & personalize their individual experiences.

It might seem impossible, especially as your community grows – but there are many ways to unearth the trends + preferences of your tribe using technology.

We’re all familiar with data dashboards (Insights in Meta Business Suite, Google Analytics, etc.) but most of us use it only to quantify popularity + engagement of our content with our audience. What if we could access an untapped potential for connection, service & growth? Wouldn’t that put our activities into a more fulfilling + sustainable perspective?

For these deeply satisfying interactions to happen, we need to create a space for meaningful conversations & positive experiences, whether it’s in a public or a private setting.

Some aspects of community leadership will always rely on our humanity – culture, feelings of belonging & connection require thoughtful design, empathy & leadership. No AI can declare the values of your heart & soul, but general + specific data about your followers / subscribers / members can inform you better on who they are & what they value.

“Disclaimer: If you use cookies or collect personally identifying information (name, email, etc.) from your audience, you may seek legal advice to create a clear privacy policy & be informed about ethical practices. This post isn’t intended to provide legal advice.”

Here are some practices for creating a genuine connection with your community through technology:

Engagement

With the help of A/B tests, you can use analytics to determine the most engaging email subject lines, opt-in names on different landing pages, or calls to action. Landing page services, like Leadpages & Unbounce, have split testing features & several WordPress plugins exist for that purpose. You could also do a manual test by creating 2 versions of your page & making them live in alternance for an identical period of time. You’d compare their conversion rates & other KPI.

Data analytics can provide telling insights on your most popular offers (clicks, revenue, etc.) & content (likes, comments, etc.), thus helping you better align with customer needs and desires. If you want more granular data, you could use different landing pages for each traffic source (eg. send your Instagram traffic to /instagram & your Twitter traffic to /twitter, which both have a list of popular links) & compare their traffic to learn more about each of your social account followers’ preferences.

Communications

Use UTM parameters + custom fields to create customer avatars / buyer personas & segment your list to personalize email communications.

You can add UTM parameters to virtually any link (did they learn about your free opt-in from a featured article on MindBodyGreen or a post in a specific Facebook group? Where are they located in the world?) & save them at the contact level.

You can also use custom fields in your opt-in forms to know more about their psychographics. Are they beginners or more experienced? Which goals are they trying to reach?

With that information, you can then segment &/or use conditional content in your email communications to talk directly about their preferences & interests. Maybe you’ll invite one contact to join your private Facebook group for beginner meditators & another contact to purchase your meditation program, based on their readiness. Or maybe your Instagram audience prefers live content while your Medium audience wants more long-form articles.

Empathy

As you segment + analyze the intersection of your audience’s psychographics, you’ll gain invaluable insights into the subcultures present in your brand’s community & serve them more effectively. These trends could inform your future operations, enhance the overall customer experience & save you time, money & energy.

Accountability + Support

Once a contact has signed up for your newsletter, a free download or a paid program, you now have an opportunity to nurture + deepen the relationship. Use your email service provider (ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, etc.) to create a nurture sequence automation to welcome them into your community, answer common questions, point them towards resources or cheer them on their learning journey!

Too many people don’t reap the full benefits of what we have to offer because they get distracted & don’t finish the awesome teachings they’ve signed up for. Don’t let this happen to your people – hold their hand & stay in touch.

Adaptability

Use surveys & forms to receive feedback & improve content / culture. You could link to a Google Form in a newsletter, use a poll in your Mighty community or Facebook group, use Questions in your Instagram Stories, or simply ask them to reply in the comments of your post. As you learn what works best & what needs improvement, or what they want more / less of, you’ll be able to tailor your content + drive engagement in your community. That’s a win-win scenario for everyone! ️🏆

Optimize your paid ads budget + return on investment (ROI) by refining your target audiences & removing customers from promo campaigns.

Generosity

As you learn more about your most loyal customers, you may want to give them VIP perks, like access to pre-sales or exclusive bonus content.

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Now I want to know:

How are you using technology to connect more authentically with your followers & customers? Which new tool could help you serve + delight them better?
Let me know in the comments below!

Marie xo