Photo courtesy of Flickr user Susanne Nilsson

Growing your expert community both online and offline is extremely important to build a highly paid expert business. First you must develop a strategy that builds a following. Your following includes Facebook fans, Twitter followers, YouTube subscribers and email subscribers. In most cases, strategy to build a community is an afterthought, yet it’s your Golden Database that will allow your expert business to thrive. Followers in your own community equate to income!

Your expert community will only grow when you begin to think outside the box. You must be creative and up to date with your marketing. You must not only be creative, you must also think about building a community that belongs to only you; nobody else has access to your own list. With this type of community, you are able to simply push a button to reach them. Having your own expert community is powerful and critically important to becoming a highly paid expert.

Turn seekers into community followers

Online domination and search engine optimization is all about the process of delivering seekers to your website. Yet there are different types of followers that will join your community. It’s important to understand who they are and why they are following you. Some are simply seeking information. They may have come across a post, video or web link that you posted. 

The seeker may just be checking you out at first, but once they opt into your database they become part of YOUR expert community. It is as if they are raising their hand to say, “I respect your expertise and I want you to stay in touch with me.” But the thing about seekers is that they may not stay with you for very long; once they get their fill of information or find what they need, they may leave you. They are a sponge for information. That’s why it’s important to engage the seeker early on to keep them on board in your community.

The social sharer shares and promotes your expertise to their following. Social media followers can help you increase the power even with a few online posts by cross-promoting on other social media platforms. As long as they continue to follow you, they are shameless fans of your work and gain pleasure from posting and re-posting your advice. Keep them engaged by recognizing them and thanking them for their efforts.

The born follower will quickly like your page and follow you wherever you guide them. They like to join and become engaged with experts. Some may simply follow you just because you already have a big following. Once inspired by your brand and expertise, you can easily turn this type of follower into a warm prospect and even a buyer early on because they simply need engagement to take action.