Nurturing your community

Why does community matter?

[@meganjaynecrabbe] I think that the most powerful thing about Instagram is that so many people come to it to find communities where they haven't outside, offline. And if you can create a community with your followers, you are giving them something that they have always searched for and they will help you grow. You will help them grow and it becomes this beautiful relationship. They're not just an audience, they are your people. And that is why community matters.

[@lauriseirl] OK, let's do this. I find that feeling like you're a part of something bigger than yourself. One of the best things about social media in general that's how you build loyalty, but that's also how you develop healthy relationships with the app.

What makes your community special?

I feel like [@nicolemclaughlin] My Instagram's a forum. I'd say that it's really a place where a lot of people can come to talk about their design issues, their thoughts their ideas. And so, I try to be someone that people can rely on and come to for inspiration, but also like tips and tricks for how to do these things. But I definitely don't have all of the answers. So, I try to keep the community as a forum, so I can ask questions to them as well.

[@presidentkennedy] I have such a tight-knit community online because I'm talking about things that you would talk to your friends about and your family about.

How did you grow your community?

So it just feels very familiar [@deepica] When we first started Live Tinted as a community platform. I just talked about issues that I didn't see anybody else talking about such as colourism and just by organically talking about something that resonated with me, I found out that that was something that resonated with people from different cultural backgrounds and it just helped grow and expand what I was talking about, so much bigger than I even imagined.

[@lauriseirl] I grew my following by showing that I was an expert in my craft with my posts. It's not just having that line in your bio that's like, Ooh, my magazine editor. It's like, where are the posts that I'm posting that are talking about? Like how I got this job? What am I offering in terms of value?

How do you keep your community involved?

[@presidentkennedy] I go live a lot. I have a show called Live with Kennedy and that's where I talk about everything. Pop culture conversations. I talk about what's going on in the world. Talk about what's going on with me. We talk about relationships. I host matchmaking Lives. I host talent show Lives and all of those times that I go live, I engage with my audience by letting them call me and we talk. I'm communicating with them through the comments.

[@meganjaynecrabbe] I think my number one tip for getting people in my community engaged is making sure that they know that it's a safe space to be vulnerable to share what's on their mind and that they're not going to be judged or shamed. When I put up a Q and A box saying, Hey anything you want to let out? How's your week been? What's on your mind? How's your mental health? Hopefully, they know that I'm going to take that in responsibly and I'm going to share it with care and with love for the community because I want us all to feel like we're part of something bigger and that we got each other.

[@newyorknico] I'm constantly encouraging conversation on my Instagram. I feel like that's the best way to, you know, get people to support a cause. I will often leave things with a question or something for people to leave their 2 cents on.

[@nicolemclaughlin] Sometimes on my stories, I'll post a prompt. So, I'll have people send me pictures of their reusable water bottle or their house plants. And those are really fun little things that I do to involve the community and to be able to interact with people, to be able to show their sustainability journey. And it's just so fun. It's really great to see all of the different types of people who are following me and to be able to connect with them one to one.

[@deepica] Our community is involved in every decision that we make, down to the products that we've created, literally down to the very first one; to this day, we're listening to them and using tools on Instagram, such as the Q and A, the polls and looking at our DMs and our comments and making sure that we're really listening to what it is that they want, because at the end of the day, they're going to be the ones that support you and buy your products. So, it just makes sense to really make sure that they're involved along every step of the journey.

[@newyorknico] Since the pandemic, I've been helping a lot of mom-and-pop businesses. There's no greater feeling than posting a profile on these owners. And then just having a flood of people just willing to help and support them.