Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing
the tools and knowledge to help small business
owners succeed. For additional resources, visit
www .businessabundance .online. Hello, I'm Rhiannon.
Hi, I'm Rowan. Hi, I'm Ian. Welcome back to the
Business Abundance Podcast. Today we are talking
about creating a community for your business.
But what does this mean and why does it matter?
Good question. But who are you? You're new. You're
not Zee. What happened? I'm Rhee. I turned my
head for a second. We changed Zee to Rhee. Changed
Zee to Rhee. You know what could be good? Some
crackers and cheese. We'd have some brie with
Zee and Rhee. Yeah, so Zee's moved on to greener
pastures. Yeah. She's taking on the world. So
she's gone. Not playing golf. I think it's been
too cold for her to play golf from what she told
me, which is apparently... A bit controversial
at her local club, but yeah, so she's moved on
to take on other opportunities, but Rhee has
quickly replaced her. It's very convenient for
you to get someone that rhymes with Zee. We didn't
really know that till now. Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, do you want to quickly introduce yourself,
Rhee? Yeah, sure. My name's Rhiannon. I'm a Devonport
local. I've just recently started with the Business
Abundance team. So I've come from a bit of a
varied background of customer service. I worked
in... superannuation for a little while, worked
with some cars for a little while as a service
advisor. I do university on the side, so studying
a Bachelor of Business with Economics, Finance
and Trade. And in my spare time, I usually look
after my family. Spare time? You told me you
didn't have spare time. That's because all my
spare time goes to university and my family.
She's a busy little bee, so we can have more
jobs to do with the podcast. That's good. That's
fine. Welcome. Thank you. So today we're going
to be talking about creating a community for
your business, but what does this mean? What
does it mean to have a community and why does
it matter? So for most businesses we do what
we do to help people achieve a goal or provide
a service, fill a need in the market. So that's
all well and good, but then often there are a
lot of people out there in the community that
want to do the same thing. Like think about if
you sell eco -friendly products, you're... creating
a good result for the world, but then there's
a lot of people that believe in being eco -friendly
or do similar things or want to share what they
do, but they don't have a platform to do that.
So being able to use your business and the contacts
that you create to build a community is often
a really, really good way to get others behind
you. So for your business, what does that mean?
It means more people talking about your business,
more people that like your business, obviously
a good bit of market research and information
coming back from people about what they want,
what they like, but a lot of things are better
when you've got more people involved, it's more
fun. So there's lots of reasons to have a bit
of community vibes happening. I think it's really
good for growth for new businesses as well. There's
a small, well it's not so small anymore, but
it used to be a really small bath bomb business
in Ballarat. Back when I lived there, I was walking
down through the mall one day and just waddled
in there just for a bit of a look. Waddled. It's
a word that doesn't get used enough. Waddled.
Waddled. Yeah. So I went into this new store
and I purchased a couple of little shower items,
kind of like a bath bomb, but like for the shower.
It just makes it smell nice. How do you bath
bomb the shower? So they're called shower bombs.
And it's like... Oh, they spend all night thinking
that up. So are you hanging it over the shower
head? No, it goes in the bottom of the shower
and it just like, as it disintegrates in the
water, it just makes everything smell really
nice. So if you're sick, you can get like a eucalyptus
one. So it's kind of like having Vicks, like
having a, you know, how like you put your head
in a bowl of water with like the Vicks in it
when you're sick. That's pretty cool. It's like
that, but for a shower. It's amazing. Try it.
One use only, I'm assuming. Anyway, so I went
into this store, purchased a few products, and
as I was checking out, the owner was like, you
know, hey, I'm gonna send you through an SMS
and that's gonna have your receipt in it but
it's also gonna have a link to our Facebook group.
So you can upload photos of what your bath bombs
look like and you can see what other people have
used. You can see, you know, what fragrances
people have liked the best. And yeah, just see
recommendations for what everybody else has used
all of their products for. So what started out
as a really small little store turned into this
huge group and there's now like 50 to 60 ,000
people. in this group that just show pictures
of their bath bombs. So let's go back a step.
So they were a little store to start with? Is
that where they started? Yeah, just a little
local store. And now they're selling online nationally.
Yeah, with 50 to 60 ,000 people following them.
Encouraging people to take photos in their shower.
Anything's possible, folks. So what did they
actually do? So they were obviously building
their community up a little bit with, hey, give
us your details and join this group. But what
was that group? like what happened on the group.
It's just so that people can share photos of
what they've enjoyed about the different products
and people can also share feedback so it gives
the owners like an opportunity to improve certain
items that might not be doing so well because
they can hear feedback directly from their consumers.
Yeah wow that's pretty interesting. Pretty good
idea. And now you're telling me about telling
it about it to us. Yeah. And we're sharing it
even larger. Interesting. We're miles away from
Ballarat. Oh good example of a community there.
Yeah I think so. Ron, why do you think it might
be important to understand the community that's
behind your business? Yeah, well, understanding
what your clients want and what your clients
like is 100 % important. If you get a little
bit out of touch with that, you could be delivering
products or services that people don't want or
don't quite need, or maybe they're not happy
with, like you mentioned, the bath bombs, if
that particular product or type doesn't work
very well. If you're not in touch with your community,
you're not going to get that bad feedback. And
you're definitely not going to be able to stay
ahead of, oh, this is what people that did deal
with me, they like this now or this similar product.
You're not going to be aware of the market shifting
whatsoever. Absolutely. You can keep your finger
on the pulse. Yes, so to speak. In real time
now, like 30 years ago. Could you please fill
in our little customer satisfaction survey? And
maybe we will get to you in three weeks. And
now we have instantaneous feedback and photos.
Yeah. Do you think that it's important to target
the right audience as well? I think you find
your right audience with that method, really,
don't you? Yeah, well, you've got to find your
audience before you find your product. Yeah.
So if you're selling shower bombs, and I'd imagine
anyone with a shower and a nose is probably going
to have a need, you're not going to know your
audience until you start to get that feedback
from the community or your network, as it used
to be called. It seems we keep... We keep pivoting
in marketing and advertising and we keep changing
terms, but it always seems to be that we're saying
the same thing in just a different way. So for
the older business owners, think of your network.
That's your community, except it's easier and
more wide now with social media. That's an interesting
point. With social media, we're probably changing
the topic a little bit here, but thinking about
your network back in the day, You have a community
behind you, a network of people that you know
or supported you or liked you or thought you
were professional, good at what you do. And you
had to meet those people in person or by sending
them a letter and writing them. But now, you
know, social media is obviously a big leverage
tool where you can put something out there and
thousands of people can see it. Or in Rhiannon's
story's case, she's walked into a shop, they've
then put her into social media, leveraged her
100%. and everyone else and they've ended up
with 50 ,000, 60 ,000 people around Australia
and selling it. So, you know, your old network's
a good example of the community and that could
be an example of the community and the social
media version is just a leveraged version. I
think it's much simpler now as well. And if you're
not doing it, your competitor will be. Yeah.
So get smart. I think even word of mouth on social
media has evolved. Like where once upon a time,
if you were giving a recommendation to a friend,
you were giving a recommendation to just one
friend and You know, they might then pass it
on to more people if they choose to recommend
it. But generally, if you're recommending someone
a product on social media, it's in a public space
and anyone can see it. So it's potentially recommending
it to, you know, five, 10 other people at a time,
even when you're only posting it on one person's
status. Yeah, definitely. It's so true. The old
rule of thumb used to be that if you did a really
good job, the person would tell two people. If
you did a really bad job, they'd tell 10. So...
Now, it's a lot harder to measure how many people.
Time is both by a thousand, really? It really
is. Yeah. If you happen to sell a shower bomb
to a social media influencer who's got 10 ,000
people on their Instagram, sky's the limit. Yeah.
Anyway, that's a really good example of a community
and why a business should build one. It's not
just the growth of the business, 100%. That's
a good thing. There's obviously value for people
to join that group because otherwise they wouldn't
have 50 or 60 ,000 people in that group. So what
other benefits do you think a business can gain
from creating a group like that? Pivot points.
If the market changes, you're going to find out
straight away. Yeah, so you think it can give
you insight into the activities of your customers?
It's split testing, any sort of market research.
is instantaneous feedback. Instead of getting
a focus group together, you just click a button
online. True. I suppose if you've got people
talking about what you do or what the group is
about, they're going to bring in new ideas, new
examples. Oh, gee, I wish we had this or check
this thing that we did. Yeah. Or here's a different
type of product we think everyone would like.
You're going to get a lot of information about
that, aren't you? Yep. It's low cost too. So
you're getting a lot of information without having
to put a lot of effort or money into it as well.
Yeah, definitely. So long term, the advertising
cost is pretty much nil and you're growing that
network without doing too much effort. So then
you've got that side of things, but you've also
got the security of your business. So something
that's important for a business to have as a
niche, which you're not competing directly with
another business. One electrical company that
puts power points into walls competes with another
electrical company that puts power points into
walls. And you have XYZ business just replicating
itself doing exactly the same thing, and it's
a race to the bottom with the cheapest price,
or you can factor in who likes who more and things
like that, but fundamentally they're the same
business. But if you can figure out, well, we
specialize in this type of XYZ service, and this
is what we're about, you can start sort of forging
some niches for your business. If you have a
big community group like this behind your business,
in the case of the bath bombs, that's pretty
safe. Is someone going to come along and take
your market off you? Pretty unlikely. If bath
bombs become illegal, let's say shower bombs
are illegal because they're using some dodgy
materials and they're putting it down to the
drains and it's killing all the fish in the river,
then they still have this big group of people
that wish to buy. that sort of product. So you
can then go, okay, well let's find something
else that's going to fulfill that need and you
don't have to require those clients again. You've
got all these people to help you with the right
ideas. You can even go lucky and send market
research. Hey, we can't sell these anymore because
of XYZ. How does anyone know of something else
that's suitable? These people can't, won't necessarily
want to start their own business and do it themselves,
but they're happy to be a part of you've been
able to provide that to everyone. They already
know, like and trust you as well. Yeah. As a
business. So if you've built a community of 60
,000 people, pretty sure they're not just there
for the bath bombs. Yeah. Because they trust
your brand. Yep. And it's probably something
slightly bigger. It's not just the bath bombs,
but it's probably they like smelling nice and
they like a bit of pampering and it's been able
to communicate with other people that like the
same things because maybe in their household
no one cares. So they get to be part of something
bigger. It's also you look at it from the perspective
of being sold something and people hate being
sold, but they love to buy. If they're touching
base with your community, whether it's online,
with social media, or it's an email newsletter,
or you're doing the occasional Facebook Live
to share, or a TikTok, or whatever platform you're
using, they're tuning in to hear what you have
to say. And if they've shopped once, they'll
shop again. So if you do have to pivot, if you
say, okay, well, this ingredient is terrible.
we've got this new product coming out. It's shaped
like a dolphin. You can watch the little dolphin
dissolve at the bottom of your shower. You're
like, oh, that's a great idea. Well, we don't
want to see a dolphin dissolve. Make it a heart.
I'm getting over a breakup. Oh, that's funny.
So yeah, we've got a couple of different reasons
there. One's growth, one's been able to change,
one's been able to be a bit more secure with
your business. But you know, there's a greater
good as well. It's about making something bigger
than your business. giving people a platform.
People buy. Yeah. And people want to deal with
people, not a robot. Yep. So, you know, just
can make you feel good about yourself. You would
be building something that's a bit bigger than
your business and make your income pretty strong
and make your growth pretty good too. Makes a
lot of people happy. We're a social animal. So
what sort of advice would you give to a business
that's wanting to start their own community?
A good question. Be yourself. Yeah. Because it's
really hard to keep up a fake persona. So if
you're a business owner, be you. Let people see
the real you. And what's the saying? Your vibe
will attract your tribe. Yeah. Definitely be
yourself and show people behind the scenes. But
community waters out. That's not you. It's a
group of people that might have leaders, might
not have leaders, but fundamentally a group of
people that have something in common. The number
one rule is the purpose of the community. What's
the community solving? We talked to a client
last week that's in their sort of energy space.
They do energy efficient products, renewable
energy and cool technology and things like that.
We were talking about how can we help them build
a community. And then they gave a few different
examples. There were communities already set
up around electric vehicles. People in different
states, if you've got an electric vehicle, you're
probably part of one of those groups on Facebook.
People like to show their range and their charging
stations and their car and where they took it
and what they towed and all those sort of things.
That's, you know, probably their friends don't,
not too fussed about, but other people with electric
vehicles just love. So we're talking about how
can we do that with them? And then the first
thing is like, well, you know, what's the purpose?
What are we? What are we looking for? We're looking
to give a platform to people that they're interested
in energy, they're interested in better lifestyles
and maybe efficiency. Maybe it's just a better
level of comfort, but particularly in the state
that they're in. So defining a community is definitely
the first bit, and it's not necessarily this
is my business, this is what we do, but what
are people interested in? Yeah, you've got to
have a goal, don't you? You've got to have a
target, so you can't just be a bit wishy -washy.
The wishy -washy. The Cheshire Cat scene in Alice
in Wonderland always makes me giggle. It's a
good analogy for business. She's a bit lost.
She's walking through the forest. Cheshire Cat
appears. She's like, oh, I can't find my way.
I don't know what I'm doing. And the Cheshire
Cat's, well, where are you headed? I'm not really
sure. How can you find your way if you don't
know where you're going? So define what you want
from a community. would be a good first step.
Yeah, definitely. So define what you want and
then look to see if there's a common purpose
that other people share or would be interested
in. And then if you've got those two things,
then you've probably got a good place to start.
What advice would you give to someone looking
to choose a platform to create their community
on? What platform? That's fluid, isn't it? Yeah,
so I guess it goes back to who's the community.
four who's in the community. So the target audience.
Yeah. So if, you know, people can't use computers,
you probably won't use the social media, but
you can have groups, you can have a local business
here. They do every Wednesday night, they do
a shop ride, they sell mountain bikes and they
do a shop ride every week. And sometimes that's
just them out in the shop going for a ride after
work. And sometimes it's 20 people, you know,
might buy bikes from them, might not buy bikes
from them, but they go to a trail and they do
it every week. And it's a pretty cool little
community there. So you don't have to just think,
you know, it's in technology, we use social media,
but it can be something where people go to the
same place. It could be a newsletter. It could
be a group. It could just be a meeting and an
office location. So a platform is who's going
to be in your community. What do they use and
what's going to be easiest for everyone. There's
no point in making a whole new platform that
people have to use just to be in your community.
If there's something else there like a... Facebook
group that everyone's on Facebook and everyone's
gonna see it's pretty easy like the bath bombs
Go for it. Mm -hmm I think Facebook kind of gives
you a bit of guaranteed traffic as well because
there's already so many users that are on that
platform So it's easy for them to kind of stumble
upon it or to be referred to by friends Just
because it already has such a large user base.
Yeah, definitely at the moment It's pretty easy
to use and well received depending on the age
group of your target audience the under 20s Not
so much using Facebook as much anymore. TikTok
and Instagram and Snapchat. Yeah, with some of
those other ones just figuring out how you'd
actually allow people to communicate with one
another. Sounds tricky. That's the number one
part of the platform. They could be able to talk
to one another. Yeah. And I think Facebook has
some pretty, pretty good. parts in that area
like if you go into a group they have little
badges people get so if they've invited a lot
of members they get like a recruitment badge
and I'm a super fan yeah super fan fan badges
if you comment a lot yeah yeah um and if you're
like conversation starter because you you post
and then people reply to you gamifying gamifying
what's that one they're gamifying it yeah that's
100 yeah they're making a game and that's that's
pivoting with your audience we know that we know
that kids learn differently now and that next
generation have grown up with screens and social
media. I couldn't imagine that. But I think some
of the highest users now of Facebook, and correct
me if I'm wrong, I could be wrong, but the last
time I had a look that people over 50 are by
far the heaviest users of social media. Especially
Facebook. Yeah, and they say it's the kids, but
the kids are on various things, but they're also
doing other things. And the older people are
definitely hammering it these days. A lot of
schools are banning the use within like school
time as well. Yes, they should. Yes. You're opening
the liquor cabinet to kids. Yeah, and we're not
going to talk about that today. No. A can of
worms there. Do you think it's important to choose
a good title if you're going to make an online
group such as a Facebook group? Yeah, it's got
to be people who understand what it is. But the
title doesn't matter so much, depending on how
you're doing it. Intent, the key, isn't it? Yeah.
So if you're relying on social media to make
the group grow, it's got to be super clear what
the group is because people are going to search
for it and find it. But if people are ending
up in the group because of some other reason,
as in we bought XYZ or we've got this type of
product and they've been invited to the group,
the name doesn't matter as much. But like any
name, it's good to be descriptive. You probably
don't want secret group one, two, three. Hashtag.
Because I don't think that explains, I don't
think people want to be part of secret group
123 or it's going to be a certain type of person.
But electric vehicles, electric vehicle group
Queensland. A perfect example is if you're driving
traffic to the group from buying a bath bomb
and getting a QR code, for instance, the name
is probably not as important. You still want
to tie it to what the product is or what the
brand is. Whereas if you are using social media
to try and drive traffic to your group, the name
is probably going to be a bit more important.
Yeah, I think a lot of the contents and what
people get out of it is a lot more important
than the name. So how would you go about getting
people engaged in a community? Be interesting.
So creating good content, do you think that's
important? Absolutely. I think that's part of
it as far as you've got to be able to have, if
you're starting the content from scratch, so
how do you get people engaged? You've got to
start it. but if you're getting the right people
into your community, they're going to assist.
And then at some stage, so really, you do have
to have a plan, just before I go on to the next
step, you do have to have a plan of, okay, well,
how are we going to get people engaged? How are
we going to give some content? Like, what's going
to get that up and running? But after that point,
you're going to have that content and engagement
coming from the community. And that's the whole
point. The difference between your business and
putting something out there for people to consume
and having a community is that the community
is looking after itself. People have a common
goal, they're getting something beneficial from
it. So if you're just giving content, content,
content, look at me, look at me, look at me,
well people, unless they really love you, aren't
going to like that. If you're facilitating a
way for them to show what they've done or what
they've found or to help other people or do whatever
it is that... within that community, that is
the engagement and that is the content we're
looking for. And then your role as a business
or you don't have to be a business owner to do
this is to facilitate that along with other people.
Keep the conversation going. Yeah, 100%. So,
you know, maybe people need some advice that
needs a professional. You could do that as far
as content. So there's some value for people
being in that group aside from just being able
to share what they like. Maybe you have some
interesting. Projects or jobs or products that
you've done recently just to because I super
interesting that you can show people I check
this out a bit behind the scenes Early doors
you could it's all about value really. So give
it away. What do you know that maybe people don't
know? Yeah about your product or What what stumbling
blocks of people found using your products? Yeah,
do some interesting content based around I made
this mistake over here when I was installing
this. Don't make this mistake. Here's a simple
guide. We had this problem today, you know, how
would you fix it? Yep. And I think it's just
important to understand that it's a community.
So these people are not necessarily buying from
you. We talked about how it can help your business
grow and it can be good for your business, but
they could be people that just do it themselves.
They're never going to be a client. But what
does that mean if they know someone who should
do it? They're not going to do it for them. They're
going to say, hey, go deal with this business.
So it's not just customers there, it's referrers
and whatnot. So giving them that free value,
there's nothing wrong with that. You're not going
to be taking work away from yourself. People
want to do something themselves, they're going
to find a way to do it anyway. People love to
be heard. Yep, and that's part of the community.
We're facilitating the voice. Do you think there
are any particular issues that people might come
across trying to create a community? There's
always issues. Depending on where you're building
it, there's always going to be trolls on social
media. We'll just start with those. Yeah, that's
one. issue that jumps straight to... So what's
a troll? So somebody who is sitting behind their
keyboard and the only reason they're on their
keyboard is to go through social media and start
arguments or try to bring people down. Yep. And
there are two schools of thought on the trolls.
You either block them, ignore them or you engage
heavily with the troll but you don't stoop to
their level. So you can, due to... Due to conversations
in social media, the more comments you have,
the more eyes are on it. So if there's a particularly
nasty troll who's deciding that your brand is
the one they're going to target, engage them
in a polite conversation from your side of the
thing. Let them look like the troll that they
are while you appear to be the level -headed,
kind business owner that you are. Keep the conversation
going. And if you've got a pretty solid community,
you're gonna have to, you'll stop talking eventually
because you'll have all your fans coming in going,
you're nuts, this is crazy. Let your fans be
the people that then argue with the troll after
you've sort of been quite polite. So this reminds
me of a story from, this is going back about
nine years, so social media was newer then, not
new, but newer, and they had a, what I would
say is a very unreasonable customer post very
publicly. and spread that around, some bad feedback
about this business, which probably wasn't quite
true and probably wasn't quite fair. And they
were very well known in their community, their
large volume of traffic, they were a supermarket,
so a lot of customers. And it was a bloodbath,
like on this person who posted the bad feedback,
by the next day, this is about nine o 'clock
at night, from my memory. By the next morning
when we saw it, it had 500 or 600 posts and 99
% of them were people smashing the person who
gave that bad feedback and was taking the business
on. So I think Trolls, we're talking about social
media in a group there, but let's just say someone
who's not been positive or not been maybe adhering
to how the group wants to act. It's about having
some form of administration in place to deal
with that. politely play along and and not suit
the level but um otherwise block and delete and
you know that's what you have moderators for
for any group so if you if you're doing a in
-person activity then you've got people that
aren't necessarily your business they can be
from the community you think of parkrun. So park
runs are definitely a community event and they
have five or six or seven volunteers required.
I don't know how many but they're always looking
for people just to do that park run for people
on a Saturday morning wherever it is. So that's
a good example of one that's in person and then
those people are there to ensure a little bit
of safety. They're there to ensure that people
generally behave but then you've also got all
the people that are participating that are working
on that as well. So don't be too afraid of the
bad eggs. You will get them. It's just a matter
of letting the community deal with it. Just don't
ignore them. One way or the other, you need to
address it. The amount of times you see a Google
listing, for instance, where someone might have
had a less than favorable interaction with your
brand and given one star and they might have
gone out to a restaurant, for instance, and the
dessert wasn't quite what they expected. And
some people overreact and go, one star, sorry.
The main meal was fantastic, but the dessert
was terrible. one star and then the restaurant
doesn't engage in it, doesn't respond. A simple,
we're sorry you had such an experience or even
just saying, you know, here you go, let the person
know that they've been heard. But if you ignore
it, a lot of people will read those reviews and
go, well, they haven't even responded. Yeah,
definitely. It's subconscious negative. No one
wants to be left out. No. But you're going back
to the community side of things, you know, it's
not a direct one -on -one with your business
necessarily. It's not a community about your
business. It's a community for the greater good
of a group of people. So you generally don't
have too many people going out there trying to
smash your community. Like this is not going
to happen. And if it does, it's definitely an
issue much bigger than you. It's not for you
to sort out. But problems making the community,
the number one problem most people are going
to have is that building it. Getting it started
like anything, getting something started is the
hardest thing. So, and then that's where as a
business, you have a bit of a platform to be
able to start it. Cause you have the customers,
you know, the people that interested, you know,
the right people that would be really keen to,
to get involved and get it up and running. So
getting off the ground is definitely the hard
thing and some things you can do in business.
Pretty obvious the, from the story that you mentioned.
Hey. What's your mobile number? We do SMS's.
We've got this Facebook group, which I'll have
to join it. And we've got QR codes now, Ian,
you mentioned QR codes. Scan this, just comes
up, join the group. Using Square, you've automatically
got it. Yep. You know, certain products you sell,
hey, you know, this is a pretty new product.
Not many people know how to use it. Here's a
group we've set up for everyone that buys one
in the local area, just to, you know, talk about
how they're using it and get to know it a bit
better. Like most people are going to be keen
on it. If they're not interested, they're going
to say no, but. The people that say yes, you
know, help you get it up and running. But that's
why a lot of other people won't make those communities
because they don't have access to the people
to get it up, to sort of build it up to that
point where it's actually going to grow itself.
Most people want to be a part of something that's
bigger than themselves. So it's relatively simple
as long as you have your motives in place. Yep.
And then another reason why it can potentially
be pretty hard to get off the ground is that
people just think it's going to be too hard.
We don't have the resource to manage it. But
again, it's going back to its community, it's
not your business. So you've got to get up and
running and you've got to have a few processes
to help build it. But ideally, that community
is going to look after itself and it's not you.
And if you're doing everything, well, you're
probably doing it a little bit wrong. Is there
someone you can go to for help in starting to
create a community? Yeah, a lot of marketing
agencies would be able to help you doing that,
to do that. If we just go through what we talked
about in the podcast and if you go, hey, we've
got access to a lot of people that have a common
purpose or a common goal and there's nothing
really to facilitate or a platform to bring them
together. If you've got those two things, it's
probably not too hard to do the next step, which
is like, how do we get them together? And how
might you monitor the success of your building,
like how it's going and track its progress? Yeah.
Are people talking? It's probably one. It depends
what your goals are for the community. If it's
to just make the biggest community in the world,
obviously you're going to go on the size. If
you just want to give a platform for some people
to share, then it's going to be that. If it's
a platform to make an impact on the community,
or if we've got Lions clubs and all those sort
of things going around, that's an example of
a community. So it could be one of the... measurements
you use is the impact you're having on what results
are happening or what change is occurring. It
could just be the interaction. It could be, you
know, does it make people feel good? It could
be, it doesn't have to be a black and white measurement.
You just go, hey, is this working? Is this not?
From a business perspective, if you're looking
to make your business a bit more secure and a
bit more work and build up some products and
services or whatnot, then it's going to translate
to what sort of inquiries do we get. And if you're
asking people, hey, how did you find out about
us? And they say, oh, friends in this group or
I've been following this group, then it's going
to be a really good numbers track. So a good
example is many, many moons ago before social
media, I worked at a hardware store in a garden
center. And there was a TV show that used to
be on Friday nights. It was the TV show for gardeners.
And you always knew that whatever that person
recommended, it didn't matter where you were
in Australia. And I was in Adelaide, so it was
quite arid. But on the East Coast, everyone wanted
to buy these plants, depending on which part
of Australia you're in. Or New Zealand plants.
Plants, there we go, yep. So we prepared because
we knew that there was a community of people
who watched this show. And we were lucky enough
to be a big enough hardware store to have ties
with the channel that the show was on. And they
pre -warned us and said, this is what we're talking
about. It's a good network in there. Yeah, that's
a community, isn't it? Yeah. It was a network
back then. It's a community now. You were prepared
for the rush that inevitably came on the Saturday
and Sunday of people buying Fuzzy Widget Plant
number 324. Yep. Yes. Spot on. bit easier now
than having to talk to TV networks and now you
can just go, that's what everyone's talking about.
Here's a hashtag, it's trending. Yeah. Let's
buy that thing. So we've talked about a lot of
points today. What do you think the most important
takeaway points are today? I think it's getting
people involved in what you do. So looking for
ways to make your business bigger than bigger
than yourself and itself. How can you give people
that are interested in what you do a voice and
a platform to find other people and share what
they do or can do and receive the information
from others. So I think that's a huge takeaway.
Business is uniquely placed to be able to facilitate
that community as putting those people together.
So whether you do that as a meet and greet or
you do that as an online presence. That's something
that a business can do. So that's probably one
big point. I think the second one is that it's
not that hard to do. It doesn't require a lot
of resource. It's a matter of finding a way to
start building the group that practically, how
do you get the people together? But once you
solve that, it's getting it set up and then letting
it run its course. Those are two big points.
But number three is why would you do it aside
from being nice to people? It's a good place
for your business to be and this is going to
help your business grow. Using that story with
the bath bomb plays a little shop to 50 ,000,
60 ,000 people following it selling throughout
Australia. And you can pretty much pull that
into any other business. And you've got people
participating in a group that are going to help
with word of mouth referrals, recommendations,
market data research. to help your business grow
or provide better service. And the second part
to that was it's pretty secure business. If you've
got a huge group behind you of people that like
you and you're a part of their community, like
if you're a part of their community, they don't
want you to have a bad day. So if you're struggling,
there's going to be a lot of people happy to
help you. And it's definitely helping forge a
nation in your market. The bottom line is the
community is going to be there with or without
you. You can help focus that. Yeah, sure. So
that's all we have time for today. In our next
episode, we will explore why businesses resort
to cutting costs and what effect this can have
on a business in the long run. If you have any
questions about what we talked about today, make
sure to visit our website and book a catch up.
You can visit our website at www .businessabundance
.online. Till next time. Bye. So long.