Communities: If You Build It, Will They Come?

A "Sense" of Community

Lee Odden, author of the new book Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing and CEO of Top Rank Marketing, will be joining us on #SMchat Wednesday, 3/21/12 at 1P ET as we discuss building a blog community. When I read Lee’s recent post, How to Increase Business Blog Traffic, Readership, & Community it made me think about the community here at #SMchat.

I’ve been the #SMchat Marketing moderator for two years as of St. Patrick’s Day (see my post about becoming the #smchat Marketing mod here) and there have been quite a few changes. The chat now has our own website (you’re on it) and we’re always trying to get more interaction on the blog, so I’m interested in Lee’s advice and the insights from everyone joining #SMchat!

Brian Solis recently led the #BlogChat Twitter chat discussing using blogs as tools to build influence. In Mack Collier‘s post discussing the chat, he brought up several great points for both sides of the debate on whether blogs or Twitter were better for building awareness.

Q1: Do you think blogs are influential in building community – in other words, if you build it, will they come?

Q2: How do you determine the niche solution your market needs to develop “go to” resources for that solution?

Q3: A keyword glossary and editorial plan keep content on track, but does it create community?

Q4: Is it better to gather a community on social media and drive to your blog or directly on your blog itself?

Q5: What other tips do you have for driving blog traffic/readership?

What questions do you have about building community and increasing blog traffic and readership? Please leave your comments below and/or join us on Wednesday, 3/21/12 at 1P ET!

Tagged: #blogchat, Brian Solis, Community, Facebook, Lee Odden, Mack Collier, Marketing, smchat, Social Media, twitter

Posted in: Collaboration, Marketing