674: How to build a community around your business

This is the Business Storytelling Show, a top global marketing podcast listened to in more than 100 countries, live streamed on social media and broadcast on DBTV. Kristoff Trapp chats with industry leaders to help your company tell better business stories. Here's today's episode.

Hey, hey, hey, business Storytellers. How's everyone doing episode 674 of the Business Storytelling Show? Still livestreaming? Why wouldn't we? That's the way to do podcasts nowadays, according to me. Not that everybody agrees, but I would still recommend doing that to this day. Today, we want to talk about how do you build community? And that's one nice thing about doing a live stream. Honestly, people can comment, people can talk with each other. I've seen that on live streams. Sometimes they're having discussions over here and you know, in the comments and the people on the live stream are talking about something related. So very excited to talk to Stacy Lauren today. She runs do the thing collaboration.com that sends you over to the Facebook group. And that's kind of how I met her, I think, I don't know how long ago, a year ago maybe to talk about live streaming as part of the community building. And certainly she's doing that today. She's restreaming or simulcasting this episode as well. So building community everywhere we go and everywhere we can. So let's find out, how do you do it, why do you do it? And you know, when does it make sense for business? Stacy, welcome to the show.

Blow it up. Blow it up right there. Do, first of all, do the thing. What thing?

Yeah, you know, what a great way to start. So good. Yeah, the thing is really anything that you've been wanting to do, it could be a huge monstrous goal that you want to, you know, reach and you are just have this like, vision of something that you're looking forward to or it could just be the tiniest little thing that you're wanting to do. And so that's why I love calling it the Thing, because it's really whatever is going to get you started, started and going it into momentum.

You know.

And that's, that's a good piece of advice. People have to figure out what the thing is for themselves, right? I mean, what, what can they build a community around? What can they build their business around? First of all, thanks everybody for commenting. Already we have.

Jana. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it. You can tell me. You can send me the phonetic spelling. This is kind of interesting too, right? Because when you build community. Woohoo. I can't wait. Hi all. I mean, certainly you say hello to each other. Right. What's interest interesting to me though, when it comes to. And I don't want to spend the whole 24 minutes talking about podcasting and building community, but maybe for a couple minutes here when you do a podcast and we only have 24 minutes. Right. Because of the TV slot, like you want to build community, but if we had 100 comments saying hi, we couldn't respond to every single comment. Right. We can do it now because like, we're kind of using it to show what we're talking about. And certainly we also say hi.

But.

But how do you combine the interaction while you're also trying to produce or record a podcast?

Yeah, I love this question because I what I love about live streaming and thank you, Christoph, because you're the one that got us to learn how to do all this stuff with Restream and Streamyard and all the things last year when you came into my community for showing us how to actually do that on other networks. And what I love is what you said in the very beginning, where I love interacting with the comments, but when I really am excited is when they're interacting with each other. And so that's what I use my Facebook community for, where if I'm streaming in the Facebook community, I'm only in there because I want the conversation all in one place and I want them to be able to interact with each other. So the live stream, in the way that I like to view it from the community building standpoint, is really a space where I'm giving people a chance to connect together all at the same time. And then the value is being created from either me or the guests, but the values really be created from the conversations that are coming from that space.

Yeah. You know what's interesting to me too is you have those conversations and you build that community and people can connect with. But I think a lot of business people would say, hey, how? What does that have to do with running a business? Why do I need a community? Like, why is that important? Why does it make any difference to have a Facebook group, to have people talk about things like, why is that a differentiator versus not building a community?

Yeah, I owned a staffing company for 20 years, so I was in the corporate world for a while, and we had had a sense of community within the business from our leadership team to also the clients that we worked with. But what was really missing was having just this shared goal and this shared vision of being able to create conversations within the company. And so that's what I really like to teach people. Now, whether you have a business or you have a book, or you have a podcast or whatever you have that you, you're excited about, that you're putting out in the world, it's having something that has this like shared purpose of why you're even there and why do you care about it in the first place. And then the community gets built around that shared goal. And that's where the people are really connecting and where the space is getting created. And why it's really good for business is because then they're like committed to what that vision is. They're kind of like feeling that sense of belonging because you're feeling it with them. It's like this co creation process that happens when you're doing it together.

You know, and it's not super transactional. Right. So for example, and feel free to fill us in. But like, I don't, I don't actually know what you sell, like what I could even hire you for. I think I should know, but I don't because, because you know, you were just like, hey, coming on the show, we're going to talk about this and blah, blah, blah. And you know, and there was like a number of shows that week and I learned a lot from those shows. Maybe it was part of when my book came out. I don't remember if that, that's what it was. But you know, you always learn something, right? Like you see all these people interacting and commenting and then you see some shows where there's hardly any interaction where there is, and, and maybe sometimes it's okay, right? People are just watching and paying attention and certainly it's better than having trolls around. But how do you build the community of the right people and not the community of the right people and the trolls?

Yeah, it's really important. You mentioned Facebook earlier. I'm actually my. The way I help people build community, it's platform agnostic Facebook. It just happens to be where I like to build it because I'm already there and a lot of the people that are my people are there. Um, although we're on LinkedIn most likely, so I know that's where your show is. So I do like LinkedIn from, from different perspectives, but it comes from a. You know, it's funny when you see people out there that are doing really extraordinary things, you don't get to see where they started. Right. You're only seeing where they're at now with their thousands or millions of people that are following their thing. A lot of people don't realize there's like a starting place. And so that's what the method I'm teaching is. The hundred founding members of whatever it is you're doing and having this foundation to start from. And that's where the community is then getting built because you're getting to know who the people are from a just a really human relational perspective which is then where everything gets built and created from because you actually know who you're with. So, so that's kind of one of the things where I like to teach people is like I don't actually go from like an avatar perspective, like most people to where they're trying to sell to their avatar. My suggestion is to actually like find out who you're serving and who you're wanting to help. And then you're. There is no avatar. You're now just you're not speaking to them because you're helping them. And that's what actually then is what sells to them, which is it's just a different way to look at things.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm a big believer in doing that. And when Scott Meerman Scott was on the show, he certainly talked about inbound marketing. Right. Which is kind of feed into that same concept. And then, I mean, Jeff Boulis was on the show and said I started what I'm doing because he was talking about that. I mean talk about that endorsement for him.

But how do you.

Combine that or like, you know, how does it make sense when people are just chasing the quarter? Oh my God. Like, you know, somebody said to me, oh my God, the end of the quarter. The end of the quarter. Yeah, like, but you knew the end of the quarter was going to be here, like the whole quarter. And then the other thing is when it comes to like content marketing and content strategy, like there's very little you can impact in a quarter. So whether quarter ends in two days or in 10 days doesn't really make any difference. But because you have to build that long term, sharing knowledge, sharing helpful stuff, which is very similar to building a community. But how do you kind of combine that and make sure, hey, yes, we want to win this quarter, but we also want to win 10 quarters down the road here.

Yeah, I actually learned this from my staffing company because we had like.

We always had those clients that you sort of, I don't want to say needed to pay the bills, but like, you know, they were the ones that kept the, the rent going. So you're, you're, you're actually able to just have like a baseline for who you're working with, right? And so that's one level of people that you're working with. But in terms of when you're, if you're just starting out and you're building a new community, you don't want to come from a money driven place because it kind of messes it up. You want it to come from like your, your heart, you know, and like who you actually want to serve and who you want to help. And then that's where the space actually gets created because they're coming from that level. And so it, so, so that's where you win the quarter, right? Is you already have those people that are helping you do that through whatever that transaction is. But the community actually you don't want it to be transactional. It will end up being massively transactional. But you don't want it to come from that place or it doesn't work in the same way.

It's just interesting. You need a little bit of a Runway. But you know, how, how do you have time to build that Runway? Now let's talk about how do you actually build your community? I mean, we have people that talk about that all the time. You have a Facebook community, do the thing, collaboration.com, which redirects there. And I'm not even on Facebook. I mean, every once in a while I pop back in, you know, and I reactivate my account. I use Facebook messenger still. But I don't like Facebook. Like, it's just like I don't want to be there. I don't even miss it. So like, how do you know where to build it? I mean, I know Facebook is like an easy one, right, because everybody is on Facebook. But I'm also seeing that shift a little bit where people are like, I don't want to deal with this anymore. And then you have LinkedIn groups which are kind of like, yeah, you know, I mean, they're kind of dead and yucky too. And then who knows what's happening to X, right? I mean, they used to have X communities or whatever. So how do you know where to build it? And then how do you build it?

Yeah, so I have a free community which is on Facebook where the reason I like Facebook for that is because when people are joining the community, you're able to ask them questions like what they're hoping to achieve from being in the group. You get their email, it goes immediately onto your Email list, which is amazing. And then you're also able to ask them whatever other questions you have. So if I'm promoting something like a masterclass, I'll ask the question like, oh, would you be interested in coming to my masterclass? Or right now what we're excited about is cause I have a community building challenge coming up. But so the question is more like, what does being in a community mean to you? And so for me, the reason why I like Facebook is for all of those reasons. That being said, with your paid community that could be put really anywhere, whatever platform people will actually go on. So I've got a gamified platform right now that I'm starting to build, which I'm deciding how much of the community will be on there. But those are just some of the things that I'm looking at is people will follow you wherever you are. That's the point. Right. Once you start to get that genuine connection with those first hundred founding members, they're setting the framework for everybody else. Everyone else is going to join what you're doing.

Yeah, it's kind of an, it's, you know, I mean, props that people follow you.

I don't know if it's that easy for everybody, right. I mean like some people, they don't get followed. I mean I even, I even I unsubscribe to Seth Godin, who is like one of the best listened to episodes ever on the show. And there was no video, no live streaming at the time. It was me sitting on my couch with my phone and the guy is a mastermind and I unsubscribed for by mistake. And it took me forever to figure out that I unsubscribed. Right. And I was like, oh, what happened to my email subscription to Seth? And so like people like you and I think.

Ross, ah, can't think Ross brand, right. Like you guys have that skill to build these communities. I mean I was on his show one time, his live stream, stream. It's like hundreds of people say, oh, hello, hello, hello, hello, blah blah, like your hair is looking slightly different or I mean they didn't say that to me, but you know what I mean? So it's like, it's like, like let's not breeze over how hard that actually is to build that community. So how do you do it? Like what's the skill? Is it just being human? Is it just like why is it happening?

Yeah, I like to say you want to first take off the mask, right. Of like who you think you need to Be who you are. Like, show up as some kind of, like, shell or version of yourself that you're thinking people want to see. You want to get to know who you are on a fundamental, deep level and, like, what you care about and why what you're doing is even important. And once you kind of, like, lose all of those kind of perceived expectations that we have of all of that, then you basically create this community. You create the gathering place. You create, you know, for people to come. And so when you asked the question earlier, like, how are you building that community? It's pretty much now it's like you have a space for everyone that you've ever been on their podcast, or anyone that you've met at a networking event, or anyone that interacts with your social. You're bringing them already into this one gathering place, and that's where the conversations are started and ignited. And for me, I love, like, a challenge. I always love my do the thing challenges. That really connects people together in a short, kind of, like, limited time frame, which is when I do get the hundreds of people coming to the lives because they're excited about something and they're all wanting to do something at the same time and for the same purpose. So that would be the other thing I really like, is when there's a shared goal that everyone's trying to reach together, then the followers pretty much come. But I also like to say is, like, don't look. When you're building something, don't look at it. Like, you need to get, like, thousands of people or millions of people. That's where everybody thinks they have to to start. And instead you just start. And I keep using this word 100, because I think it's so powerful, but you just start with a hundred, and then everything sort of like builds from there.

You know, it's about, like, it's about building that relationship, right? I mean, you want to pull people in. I mean, even just look at the show. Everybody's just saying, hello, does anybody have a question? Any questions? No. But everybody is super thankful, right, for, like, the stuff you do, how you communicate with them, how you engage them. And I think that that puts people top of mind right down the road when people actually need help or if you have an ask for them. When you build a community, though, how do you keep it structured? Like, I mean, there's some Slack communities, actually, I think maybe that's where I like communities, maybe way better on Slack. Some are kind of out of hand, too, because they're like, every channel is just Blowing up non stop. And I use slack for work. Right. So you go back and forth between those different things. Yeah, but on one like content marketing World, a content marketing institute, they have like a daily. Not a daily, maybe, maybe a weekly question. Right. Like, how did you think about this? And I guess that's one way to keep things moving forward. But how do you encourage the community members to participate, to engage with each other? Do people need kind of a kicking the behind like that or how. How do you do that?

Yeah, when I'm building a community for the first time, it's. It's typically around that shared goal. And then I like to think of like what would be the people wanting to share as they're joining the community. That will be something that will spark a conversation among people. So then as people are joining the group immediately, people are feeling called to be a part of that conversation and support and encourage and so actually have a formula that I use myself that it's a formula to success. But it also happens to be an incredible engagement formula. But it kind of like taps into just helping people be vulnerable and feel safe and supported in the space that you're creating. And so I always, like, regardless of what community, I was like to be private, so then I'm able to moderate the people that are in there. And then as you create that safety, that's where the conversations get started and where people are feeling like they're able to support each other. And then it's no longer about me. Right. Like that's what I do differently is what I'm doing. It's not about me, it's about me helping kind of like facilitate these conversations, that people become friends and then they're supporting each other. And that's really the magic of what happens when you're building a community from a, from a deep level.

Yeah, it's just kind of interesting. And how do you. So how do you not make it about yourself? And I see this all the time, whether it comes to people writing content, people doing a podcast. Right. They talk about themselves. And I think to an extent you want to share your own stories. Certainly. But if my stories don't apply to the people that listen to the show, like they're not going to listen to the show. Right. It's not my diary. But how do you make it about the audience and not yourself? And what's the right mix?

Yeah, it's so interesting because it's almost like it gets ignited. So I mentioned when people are joining my community, I'm asking the question what are you hoping to achieve from this group? Right. And so by them joining, I'm already getting activated in terms of even just my own personal experience and my own stories based on what they're saying. So if they're saying like, oh, I really want to get out of my comfort zone, right. Or if it's right now for the collaboration network group, because that's the one we're talking about, it's I want to grow an audience, then I know I'm going to help them with stories around, growing the audience. But I don't always do it from my own kind of need to share the story. A lot of times I like to bring on a guest that's able to give value to the community, which then leads to the value they're getting because they're feeling a sense of.

They'Re feeling a sense of purpose by the people coming in and sharing from their wisdom because they're getting to see a bunch of different things at one in one space.

Yeah, I just, I, I mean, you make it sound so simple. I think people, it's way harder than it sounds to kind of build that community, to, to have that sense of community and, you know, get people to participate. I mean, I, even on this show, you know, I'm trying to get the story out of other people. I share my own stories too, certainly, but I think there's a skill. Right. And like, how do you get people to connect? How do you get people to. But what, what companies should even do this? I mean, is it. Hopefully it's not everyone. Hopefully that's not your answer or. And hopefully your answer is also not. It depends. But like, what is. Like, like what kind of companies are primed to actually do this and how much work does it take?

Yeah, right now the majority of the people I'm helping do this. It's funny. So before I was helping people that have been like entrepreneurs, coaches, authors, people that already had some kind of sense of products or programs that they were selling. But I'm actually doing a new thing now where I've opened it up to, even teachers have recently joined, where I'm helping them build a community, retirees, different people that are, that are doing different things because I'm actually helping them give my products that they're selling. So it's kind of an interesting new thing. It's a wealth experiment that I'm doing right now. But.

What is coming from that is this one thing that they're going to be selling? It's actually what trains people on how to Be in community. It's my find your voice challenge, where they're going to be able to find their voice through this challenge, but then also get to know each other through it as well. And so for that, it kind of is almost everybody, because they're like, learning how to be in commute. Like, it's literally, once this gets going, I feel like it's going to train everyone on how to be in community with everyone, because I do agree it is hard for people that have never created a space for others to tap into how to do that. And so it's giving people that gift to understand that they're able to be vulnerable in a space with other people, get to know themselves while they're getting to know other people. And so hopefully that answers that part of the question. But if I even go back to my staffing company, just from the corporate side of people, since we're on LinkedIn, I feel like if I would have had the skills I have now back then, I probably would have taken a subset of my company and have given some kind of shared vision and created just like a sub community within the company of people that really wanted to create the most change. Right. And have built a. A community within it just to then have it spread out in a different way.

Yeah, it's just. It's interesting. And, you know, the other thing is how do people communicate in a community, right? Like, how do you make sure it's collaborative? How do you make sure there's no verbal fist fights? You know, people can define that however they want, but, you know, build your community, Figure out where you want to do it. Certainly it takes time, I think. I still think live streaming a podcast is one way to do it. However, we are out of time today. Do the thing. Collaboration.com connect with Stacy there. Nice to see you again. And we're out.

Thank you.

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