A lot of online creators today really want
to build a community around their content,
but what does that really mean, and how
do you go about doing it?
Today let's talk through six of the basic elements
that any successful online community needs to have,
and we're going to talk about those
coming up right after this.
Hey, guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer, and welcome to Video Creators,
the channel that is all about helping you grow your YouTube
channel so you can spread a message that reaches people
and changes their lives.
And one of the best ways to reach people and change
their lives is to form a community that they
want to be a part of, right?
So before we get into some of the basic elements
that your community needs to have, let's
talk about what a community is, because a lot of people
use words like audience and community and viewers
and subscribers.
They use like all these words interchangeably,
and to me, there's very distinct differences for each of these.
An audience is-- the way I think about it
is if you were on a stage, and everyone
is in seats looking at you up on stage, that is an audience.
They are looking at you.
But a community is when you, as the leader of that audience,
can get those people to stop just focusing on you,
but instead get them to turn and look at each other
and start interacting with each other.
And you as the leader become a facilitator
to people who are interacting and supporting and standing
together like this rather than them all just looking at you.
So how do you go about creating that type of dynamic
around your content with you as the leader or the facilitator
of that community?
Well, there's a great article at moz.com.
I'll put a link to it in the description below this video.
You can go check it out.
It'll go into far more in-depth about all this,
but there's a few key points in there
that I'm pulling out that I think makes sense, especially
for those of us who are developing communities
around our YouTube channels.
And the number one thing is that there has to be boundaries,
and what that means is that people
need to feel like they're included
into like a little group, but the only way that happens
is if there's actually another set of people
that they are not, the [INAUDIBLE] of people
that are not a part of this group
that they do not identify with.
So it's like Republicans versus Democrats.
It's like PC versus Apple.
And as creators, I know a lot of times we actually
look at like the haters on the outside,
and we just want everyone to be a part of our community
and to be a part of what we're doing.
But that's actually the quickest way
to kill community instead of a really good way to grow it.
Number two, a growing and thriving community
also needs to have an element of emotional safety.
That is if I share something here
that is personal or maybe even intimate, will it be accepted?
Will people understand it?
Will they get it, because we're all kind of coming
from a similar perspective of something,
or we're coming from a similar, like, point in life
or whatever?
Like is this a safe place for me?
And that has to be really key in order for your community
to grow.
Number three, the community has to feel
like they have some sort of personal investment,
some sort of personal involvement in the content,
in the community itself.
So I think it's really important as creators for you
to come up with ideas of how can you
get your community involved.
Rather than it just being you on a stage talking
to your audience, how can you get the audience
to become involved with each other, become
involved with you, to become a part of your content?
And [INAUDIBLE] some really easy ways
are just to start featuring them in your videos,
talking about the community's accomplishments
of what you're doing together.
And that kind of goes along with number four,
and that is influence.
Your people who are watching you need
to feel like they have an influence on the community,
not just that they're a passive part of it
and, like, OK, like they're going off and doing this thing.
But like that's not me, or like there's nothing that I really
have to contribute or anything.
They have to feel like not only are they a part of it,
but they actually have influence on the direction
that this community goes and how this community shapes
and what it looks like in the future.
And so it's really important for you
as the creator to create opportunities for your viewers
to have some influence over the community
and what you're working on.
The next one is, perhaps, the most important one that
ties a lot of these things together,
and that is you need to have some sort of shared values,
because the strongest communities,
both online and offline-- it applies
to both places-- they form around shared beliefs,
not common interests.
A lot of people think, like, oh, we both like fishing, right?
So if we both like fishing, we'll
have something to talk about for a little while.
But if we realize that we both believe
the same thing about fishing, on why it's important,
whether it's from like a childhood belief or value
that something we did with grandparents
that really established like multigenerational relationships
or something like that-- I just made
that up off the top of my head-- then
we now have something to talk about,
but we have something that's going to bond us
and really pull us together.
And those shared beliefs is what's really going
to make any community strong.
And number six, there has to be meaningful emotional
connections with the community, with the members
with each other, with the creator, with the content,
with the story that the channel represents,
with the history of the channel.
There has to be some really emotional connections there.
So a lot of this is easier said than done, and a lot of this
does take time to develop.
But I recommend you go down there
and read that article at moz.com.
I think you'll learn a lot more from that as you dig into it.
And also, read the book called "Primal Branding."
Not a sponsor or anything, but this book, guys,
is really good in helping you set up
a brand that makes it really easy for people to connect to,
to have the emotional connection to, and like all the things
we just talked, like this will give you
some really practical examples of how other brands have done.
You can see how, like, I've highlighted like so much
in this book.
And as you go through it, you'll start
understanding why some of the big channels on YouTube
are as big as they are-- not because they're
making awesome content, but because they
have the stuff in their brand that's translating over
into their community.
And so I really highly recommend it.
There's a link to it in the description below if you want
to go get it and check it out.
I would love to hear from you guys
in the comments below about what other things you
have learned from the communities
that you're building online.
Thank you so much for being a part of this community
of creators, who are spreading messages and reaching people
and changing their lives.
That's really what this channel is all about,
about helping you guys grow your channel so
that you can do that.
So if this is your first time here,
I would love to have you subscribe.
Every Thursday we're publishing videos just like this
to help you guys continue to learn how to do that,
and I will see you guys again next week for another video.
So subscribe, and I'll see you then.
Bye.