Community Building

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”

Community building is the practice of creating or building a community or a social group of individuals who have a common interest or common goal. Leadership, geography, teamwork, collaboration, motivation, cooperation, similar opinion, focus, goal-oriented behavior, and socio-economic status plays a vital role in community building. There were various communities in the past like religious groups, guilds, pioneer groups, families, the mafia, political parties, cults, online communities, alumni groups, movements, and tribes throughout history which has proved to be very effective and has highlighted the importance and essence of community building not just in the past but also in this 21st century. If one would explore the world, he would understand that building a community stands alone by bringing together people that share a common belief, a lifestyle preference, or inherited customs. Building a community begins its mission when its members decide to start collaborating toward a common purpose. We should not just lay the bricks but try to build a strong house out of it.

Why community Building is so Important for society and the world?

1. To decrease the Depression rate: -In India more than half of the population is suffering from Depression. Every second a man or student is suffering from it. It is one of the major causes of the increasing suicide and death rate in India which should be taken care of and it can be cured by socialising, being kind, and fostering friendly behavior. It is rightly said, “Stay close to people who feel like Sunshine.”
2. To Overcome FOMO (Fear of Missing Out):  These days people are losing their connections, bonds, and network and are getting socially isolated. Pandemic had a huge contribution to isolating people. Everybody is talented but they have fear a nervousness to show it in front of society because they feel they would be made fun of or else would be laughed at and that’s where the real FOMO BEGINS! People should learn from collaborating, connecting, and helping each other to eradicate FOMO not just from themselves but from the society to its roots. 
3. To learn how to deal with Social Anxiety: – Living in a community is very critical. At some point in life, we all suffer from people social anxiety. To a decline in socialising and networking people are suffering from mental breakdowns, mental illness, social anxiety, and low self-esteem.
4. To Overcome loneliness: – We all are social animals and need someone or the other to communicate, talk to make a heart feel light, somebody’s to understand our sorrows and pains and laugh with us in our happiness. Low kindness and low self-compassion are the results of resulting loneliness. It increases the trust level, and support level and fulfills the physiological needs of any person.

Advantages of Community Building in Business: –

• Generate sales Profit 
• Increase customer relationship
• Lead to organisational success
• Add value and can help in individual conversation
• Getting Feedback

Strategies To build community: –

1. Segmentation and targeting: -We can segment groups based on gender, age, demographic, geographic location, interests, Habits, lifestyle, Value system, Food Liking Habits, Clothing, and Culture and there can be many ways to segregate the audience. Segmentation is the first and foremost and most prior strategy in community building It is a very effective technique for community building.
2. Choose an Effective leader: -If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. “A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. “A leader should be Active in listening, should have empathy, Should have the ability to share clear messages and make decisions making, have Strategic thinking skills, and The ability to inspire and convince others. These skills will surely help in community building.
3. Give valuable conversation: -Try to communicate with every individual and try to know everyone’s problems. It’s a great way to know everyone’s interests and your community members and talk about an issue that matters to them or they are concerned about.
4. Provide Incentive, Rewards, Offers, and Prizes: – Community badges, awards, points Free rewards, movie tickets, free hampers, coupons for the jackpot, gold coins, lucky winners, and offers like 1on 1 free, to cheer the community and help them in increasing their enthusiasm and motivate them.
5. Increase Engagement and Involvement Rate: – Ask every person’s opinion, and interest and involve everyone in every task and ask what matters to them and involve them in every situation, cause and event.
6. Take Feedback: -Take feedback on regular basis, Draw community forums, and conduct surveys. They help to know everyone personally and their interest and serve accordingly. They give a reality check for the organisation.
7. Develop Rules and Norms: -You should develop rules and norms which should be abided by everybody. The rules should be restricted and followed by every member and punishment should be there if anybody violates them to bring a strong and disciplined community.
8. Promote your community: -You can promote your community through pamphlets, mouth publicity, actively engaging on social media, ads, and by doing good deeds and making it popular.
9. Issue a portfolio: -The portfolio of every group member should be issued digitally and physically to ensure he/ she is a member of your group and can easily be identified and to give a more professional look to the group.
10. Use social media: – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat these all-social networking sites can serve as a hub for your community Building and can prove very useful and fruitful in the long run. Social media can be very effective in collaborating with people and creating a huge boom in the market and also uplifting any community.

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Nancy Rathore

Nancy is a student for School of Communication and Reputation Mumbai - Class of 2022 - Spring Batch. She is from Bhopal “The city of Lakes.” She loves Travelling , exploring and learning. She has completed her Bachelor’s of Business administration from Jagran Lakecity University ,Bhopal. She is a peace lover and very friendly person. She is very ambitious and hardworking.