If I Lost My Entire Community Overnight: Rebuilding from Scratch

Welcome to Million Dollar Grit, the podcast that dives deep into the world of entrepreneurship, where tenacity meets strategy and dreams meet reality. My name is Julie Chenell, and I explore the raw, often overlooked truths of what it takes to succeed in business and in life. It's not just about the glossy success stories. It's about the grit it takes to get there. Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Million Dollar Grit. Today, I am talking about what I would do if I had to rebuild my entire community overnight. And the reason I'm talking about this is because I posted yesterday on social media that the only moat left in this upcoming business world and social media economy is your following, your community, your platform. That is the only competitive advantage that you have. And as I'm watching AI speed ahead, a lot of things that we thought were competitive advantages are just evaporating so quickly. And so I was like, well, let's focus on the one thing that does continue to give us a competitive edge, and that is actually leaning into being human and creating community. And we are biologically wired to want to be in community. That is not going to go away. And so if I lost my community overnight, what would I do? And I want to establish that when I say the word community, I think people automatically go to a Facebook group or a school group or a forum or, you know, a membership. And I'm using the word community very loosely. Community could be your email list. Could be the people that respond to you when you write your emails. It could be your newsletter following. It could be your Instagram followers that are always DMing you. Could be your TikTok. Could be, could be a Facebook group. Could be a paid mastermind, right? I, I honestly think I have multiple communities. I have the Funnel Gorgeous community at large, which are all of our customers and students. I have the FG Funnels community, which is both like our account users and those that are in the Facebook group. We have the FG Society community, the Marketer's Heart community. And then over in my, on my personal business, I have my Digital Insiders Mastermind, which is a small paid community. And then I have the community of people that listen to my podcast and follow me on Facebook and Instagram. So as I'm discussing what I would do, I encourage you to not get stuck on one particular type of community. And the reason I say that is because people oftentimes underestimate how much work a certain type of community is. And so they're like, Oh, I'm going to start a Facebook group, or, oh, I'm gonna, you know, whatever. And then they're like, man, this is a lot of work. And it is, because certain communities take on a life of their own, right? So if your community is your Instagram following, that's just your Instagram following, and you want to engage with them and interact with them. But if your community is a group, like a Facebook group or a forum, you have the dynamic of the people, right? That it's— they're not just interacting with you like on Instagram, they're interacting with each other, right? And And that adds a more complex dynamic. So just be prepared for that if you're going to build that type of community. All right, so what would I do? Number 1, every community needs a purpose and a value, right? Why does this community exist and what needs does it meet? So I think about the, uh, the town communities on Facebook. Like I'm part of a group called Simply Guilford. That community cracks me up, just like it has an energy and a dynamic. Well, why does the community exist? It exists because we all live within, you know, 10 miles of each other, and we want to know what's going on in the town. We want to be kept up to date. We don't want to miss when the fireworks are, you know, things like that. We want to know if there's like an accident. And what needs does it meet? Well, it helps people find, you know, landscapers, and it helps people get reviews and restaurants. And there's a lot of reasons that, you know, there's a lot of people in that group that like to post photos of the coyotes and the deer and the, you know, and the crows and all of that kind of stuff. And that's just a sense of connection with a neighbor since we don't really have that. So you want to define both the core purpose of your community and the value and what need does it meet. And you can do this for any type of community. That means your Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever. Okay. All right. The second thing I would do is make sure that I understand who I am serving, right? And you guys have probably heard me talk about this a million times, but it is so much easier to make content for one person or create a group for one person than it is for a lot of people. And everyone gets nervous doing this because they're like, well, I'm going to leave people out, but you actually create a more powerful community and a more powerful platform when you're focusing on one person, when you produce that content, because it's more specific. And so the more specific it is, the more powerful it gets. And the more powerful it gets, the more it actually attracts people that maybe aren't an exact fit, but are close. Okay. Okay. So then I would, after I have those two things, my purpose and values and my audience, you know, figured out, then I would figure out where this community, where I'm going to focus this community. And is it going to be on Instagram? Am I going to just interact with people on stories? Am I going to create a broadcast group like the way you can on Instagram? Same thing with any social media channel. Am I going to actually create a group in Facebook or am I going to do a paid community in Circle or School or whatever? Right. So that's what I'm going to do is I'm going to pick that container. And I was thinking about like, what container would I pick if I lost my entire audience overnight? I would definitely start with what I'm naturally good at, which is writing. And so I'd probably just focus on my email list and maybe one or two social channels. And then pretty quickly after that, I'd probably create a free group, but I'd be careful about that because I've created free groups and then come to regret it, not regret it, but just like, oh my gosh, this is a lot of work. So I'd have to make sure that that free group had a very, very specific purpose. So I didn't just amass, you know, 300,000 people that, you know, aren't planning on, you know, ever paying me for any of my services, you know? So I would pick what container, and I think that the one-way communities where it's you interacting with your followers are simpler than the ones where they interact with each other. Just, it's gonna just take more energy. Okay. Then next thing I would do is I would think about what creates a sense of welcoming, right? How do I, whether it's between people or it's just me to my followers, my community, and that at large, how do I show that I am welcoming them? And not just welcoming people who, you know, agree with me, or welcoming people who are appreciative of me, but I'm also welcoming people who maybe are different than me. Maybe they disagree with me, uh, you know, I I'm kind of known on Facebook for posting things and having a lot of disagreement in the chat. I think this is because I attract people from both political affiliations, and so the minute I start talking about any sort of issue in the world, I get both extremes. But I've, I've made it a welcoming place where I respect both sides. And so even if people start to get a little like upset in the comments, it largely stays respectful. And that is because of me and my commitment to holding space and being welcoming. And so, um, I definitely think that asking yourself what are things that other people do for you that make you feel welcome, that make you feel important, and then start to do those behaviors no matter where your community is. And so for me, if I was doing like a one-way community where I was just focusing on my list or my Instagram, I would show welcome— welcoming behavior by asking questions and encouraging people to respond. And I might even take it a step further, and I might then feature someone's response, anonymously of course, as a way of saying, wow, this was really insightful. And that's going to encourage not only the person who reached out to me, but it's going to encourage other people that, wow, she reads my responses or my comments or my DMs, and then she also like validates them or highlights them. So that would be an example of how to be welcoming, and that is going to encourage people to continue to interact with you. Um, and then I would say the next thing that you would want to do is foster engagement as much as possible. And I kind of already talked about that with the welcoming behavior, but like Getting people to engage and participate requires you to think about the things that they care about, right? What are the things that they care about? What are the things that they are hyped up on? What are the things that are annoying them, right? Because that's going to get more engagement and participation, right? So asking questions, you know, hosting Q&As, um, encouraging like responses But also valuable content, right? Content that is free, no strings attached. People are going to get value out of it. They're going to feel appreciative. That is also going to get engagement in the, in the, in the form of shares, referrals, saves, all of those types of things. And that is going to ultimately build your community. Okay. So just to kind of recap, we've got purpose and value. We've got understanding your audience. These are what the things that I would do. Then it would be like, pick your container of how you're going to start to foster your community. And I do think there's just real value in seeing your social platforms as communities because it will help you think like this. Then create that welcoming environment and then foster engagement and participate— participation. I gosh, I can't say that word. Okay, last thing, and this is something that I say lightly. The sense of identity that comes with being a part of a community is very important, and I think that this is a key piece in understanding what sort of identity people are wearing by participating in your community, even if it's just being a follower. On a social platform. The reason I put a little, like, hesitation here is because I think this particular aspect of community has been abused, especially in internet marketing. And we— you may hear it called cult marketing, and this is where a community forms around one particular guru, and the guru is really smart or really gifted at something, and they get really popular, and then people start to, um, kind of form concentric circles around this guru, right? Like the inner circle of people are the, you know, the highest paying people, and then you've got the like lower paying people, and then you've got the free community people. And there's nothing inherently wrong with this. This happens all the time. It's very natural. I think where it's gone awry is that there is an inability to disagree with the leader without facing some sort of social rejection. And it's not— I don't think it's intentional at the start. Like, nobody wants to be that way. But, you know, like, let's say you're in a Facebook group with a particular leader at the top, and they have a, you know, a platform, and they have products or whatever. And you have something that maybe disagrees with that, and what happens? Well, if it's a welcoming community, you're received, right? And maybe people disagree, but you're received. In some communities, you're immediately— the post is immediately deleted, right? And it's all in the name of like, we don't— this is our group, like, we get to promote what we want. And, you know, there is— I don't know, there is like legitimacy to that. I'm not saying there isn't, But what ends up happening is you get this community where it becomes very obvious that you can only say positive things. You can't say anything that isn't in disagreement, even if it's a friendly debate. And you start to get this cult-like vibe where the person is on a pedestal, they can do no wrong, nobody can say anything. And that is not real community. And so it's important that when you're building a community, especially a community where people can engage with each other, that you watch out for this. It's, yes, it's great to have an identity. I don't think you can set up a community from the beginning and say, okay, this is the identity. I just don't know that like that's how it works. Identity sort of forms organically, right? So if I had no audience overnight, I wouldn't really be focused on what identity people are going to have by being associated with my community. I would focus on all the things I already told you, and then as time goes on and I start to see what identity is forming from the people that are embracing the community, then maybe I bring that into the community as, you know, this is what we are, or this is what we stand for, or this is what we do. And I let that form organically rather than deciding. And watch carefully for cult marketing, because like any community, you can go one side or the other. You can go to cult marketing where like nobody can say anything, or you then get like the clique communities where the community gets so big that people splinter off and then there's gossiping and backchanneling. It's really, it's, it's really a difficult balance, and I do not get it right all the time for sure. Um, But if you are going to survive the next 5 years in business, it is absolutely imperative that you spend the bulk of your energy right now developing your community, your audience, the people that follow you, because as time goes on and more fake content goes out, AI-generated content, people are going to want to know who you are, what you stand for, that you're a real person, that you are human. And that does not mean perfect. In fact, our imperfections are going to be the very thing that help us stand out among the sea of artificial. So hope that was helpful. Talk to you soon. And there you have it, folks, another dose of Million Dollar Grit. I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired, equipped, and ready to face your own entrepreneurial journey with resolve. Remember, until next time, embrace the struggle, harness your grit, and keep pushing forward. Your stronger than any challenge you face. I'm Julie Chenell, and this has been Million Dollar Grit.