Last week while at BlogHer, one of  the attendees asked my thoughts on growing an offline network. My niche is social media and it’s a given that just about everyone in this space is online. The attendee’s niche is smaller and more focused. Many of the people she needs to reach out to aren’t online or don’t want to spend a lot of time online. It’s another reminder that I take online community building for granted because there are plenty of people who don’t feel like hanging out on Facebook and Twitter and prefer to do their networking face to face.

It’s interesting that some folks in the newer generation aren’t sure how to build their brand or community offline. When I was starting out in business, the only places to have for networking were offline. It’s my preference, to be honest. I enjoy meeting people and talking with them. I like hearing their passion and see the sparkle in their eyes as they talk about what they love to do.

If you spend all your time building relationships online, consider some of these ways to take it to a whole new level. You may find it to be more beneficial – and that you’re spending less time online.

1. Join Local Networking Events

When I first move to the area where I live now, I joined a local newcomer’s professional organization. To be honest, our monthly meetings didn’t include much business. We drank wine and talked about our kids, school and local sports. However, those relationships mattered because eight years later some still call me to consult with me on writing or social media.

You’ll find a variety of social and professional networking groups and events in your area. Some feature regular meetings while others are one off affairs. Some require you to buy a ticket and others are free, sponsored by a local business. Usually they’re held at libraries, hotel conference areas and high schools or colleges. To find professional networking events, look in the “events” section of local newspapers and magazines and community bulletin board.  The Chamber of Commerce and business organizations also hold networking events. Check with their websites to see what is happening in your area. If there’s nothing happening around you, get together with some local business owners and start your own networking event. Maybe that will lead to a great, big, snowball reaction.

2. Meetups and Tweetups

Meetups and Tweetups are kind of different from professional networking events in that they’re not necessarily geared towards generating new business. However, they are a way to meet like-minded people and let them know more about you and what you do. These events are generally more casual than business events as well, but that’s not a bad thing. The purpose of meetups and tweetups is to meet the people who you know from Twitter, blogs and other online communities. Like professional networking events, the people who you meet offline may also follow you online as a result. If you belong to a particular community, there will be announcements for meetups, if not, start your own. Also, join local social networking organizations on Twitter and Facebook. If there are offline events, you’ll receive announcements. For example, I follow New Jersey Social Media on both Twitter and Facebook and if there are events in my area, I’ll receive an alert.

3. Teach a Class

My library offers free learning all the time. When I learned they would be offering classes teaching about the various social media tools for business and networking, I sent them a note asking if I could help. Students include representatives from local businesses who are considering making an investment in a social media campaign and people who just want to learn more about promoting their own stuff.

High schools and colleges also offer continuing education courses and seminars in the evenings. These courses are for people who want to gather more knowledge rather than matriculating students.

Teaching these classes is a good way to network with people who are interested in learning about your area of expertise. It will also establish you as a local authority, which can lead to more business for you. To inquire about classes and seminars, contact the places that hold these events to propose your idea.

4. Public Speaking

Speaking at conferences, business retreats, and other events is another terrific way to help establish authority and build a community both online and off. Start out small – speak at schools, businesses, and local business events. As you book more speaking engagements and gain confidence, you’ll land more prestigious contracts.

5. Attend Conferences

You don’t have to be a speaker to attend a conference. Rather, attend to learn and meet others. Conferences provide a bonanza of opportunities because everyone shares a common interest. The classes and sessions provide a place to learn about the topics that interest you the most, while the hallways and networking events enable you to talk in depth with interesting people. If the conference features a trade show floor, you’ll also learn about the products and services that will help to advance your career. If you attend a conference, you’ll likely come home with a stack of business cards, new Twitter follows and Facebook friends and even some new clients.

6. Write for Print Publications

As a freelance writer, I can tell you that it’s not easy to get published, especially in print. However, it’s easier to find your piece published in a small, local newspaper or county magazine than it is to land an assignment with The New York Times or Newsweek. Local publications are often interested in good content and by writing an informative article or Op-Ed piece, you’re helping them to achieve your goal, and getting your own name out there. If you provide a real educational experience, people will want to find you to learn more, so make sure your bio includes your web address, Twitter handle and other means to contact you.

There are plenty of benefits to building an offline network. Though they’re not online as much as your offline network, these are people who will buy your books, read your articles, and contact you for your consulting services. Just because someone doesn’t spend a lot of time online, doesn’t mean they don’t matter.

How do you build your offline network?

If you read any of my other blogs or guest blog posts, you’ll know how I feel about the competition. Or rather, that I don’t believe in competition. The way I see it, the people who blog about the same or similar things are colleagues and collaborators. “Competitor” almost has a negative connotation and I prefer to keep my relationships positive as much as I possibly can. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to look at successful “competitors” to see what they’re doing right and what I’m doing wrong. By studying those who dominate my niche, I’m learning about why they’re so successful and how I can become successful too.

I give you:

10 Tips for Using Your Competition to Become a Better Blogger

Just a side note: By “using” I don’t mean using as in that “get what I can from you then never hear from me again” way. My meaning is to see what methods competitors use to achieve success and determining how you can apply those same methods to your own blogging. I also mean collaborating with the folks you deem “competitors” in order to cross promote each other and build up a rocking relationship.

1. Read their content

The main reason certain bloggers are so popular are because they have killer content. People dig their writing style, tone and voice. They also have something to say and something to share. Take time to read a good representation of their blog posts to see which ones are the most popular, which received the most votes or comments and what it is about their style that makes them so engaging.

2. Read their comments

What is your competitor’s community saying? How do they treat each other and the blogger(s)? A community that respects each other even in disagreement will continue to grow. When it becomes a negative free for all, people tend to stay away. Comments are a good indication not only of how a community feels about their blogger, but also they can give you ideas for posts of your own.

3. Participate in their comments

It’s not enough to read the comments. Participate. Enjoy the company and the discussion. This serves several purposes: You’re part of an active discussion, you’re communicating with others in your niche and helps to establish your expertise. When you comment on other blogs, folks from other communities might follow you back to your own.

4. Offer to guest blog… Or better yet…Offer to trade guest blog posts

Competing bloggers are just as interested in promotion as you are. Many of them aren’t opposed to having you come on and guest post –which serves two purposes. The first is that you’ll get links back to your own blog and put your name out there, and the other is that the other blogger will gain traffic when you promote the post.  You might even propose a swap and guest post on each others’ blogs. This can lead to future, more profitable collaborations.

5. Who is linking to your competitors and why?

The highest ranking blogs receive plenty of back links. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out who is linking to your competitors and why. Maybe you can try a new slant on their most linked to posts or write an opposing view to keep the discussion going. Also, once you learn who is linking to competing bloggers, do what you can to participate in those other communities as well.

6. How are they using social media to expand their communities?

Do the popular bloggers in your niche have Facebook fan pages? Do they use Twitter to talk with like-minded people? Are they uploading videos to YouTube or ? Blogging isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of deal. You have to promote and converse. People won’t come if they have no idea you exist. Plus, you can’t count on RSS alone to offer updates. Today’s readers use social networks, newsletters and other methods to receive their updates.

7. What do they have on their blogs beyond content?

How are  other bloggers attracting readers? Contests? Courses? Video? Games? Cartoons? What can you do that is interesting to your community – besides writing posts?

8. How are your competitors networking?

Popular bloggers are networking both online and off. They’re online at the social networks and offline at meetups, tweetups and conferences. Engage beyond your blog.

9. Who do they hang out with?

You don’t have to travel in the same circles as the other bloggers in your niche, but it doesn’t hurt to hang out in some of the same spots. Learn where the popular online forums and communities are. Don’t just look for the influencers, either. Influeners don’t all hang out int he same spot and they’re usually too busy for forums and online groups. It’s the people who want to learn and share who you need to make friends with the most.

10. Don’t try and be the same

It’s one thing to learn about competitors in order to learn about yourself or your blog. It’s an entirely different matter to copy them outright. No one wants to visit a clone. Learn what others do right – and wrong – and put your own personality and unique slant on the topic. If you’re a copycat people will stay away. If you’re fun and engaging and honest with your readers, they’ll come. It may take a while at first, but it won’t be long until you have a loyal community of your own.

And here’s a bonus: If you spend a lot of time in another blogger’s community don’t discard them or forget about them once your own community takes off. There are different kinds of using – make sure you choose the right one.

What are some of the things you’re learning from your competitors?

The owners of the old general store got it...do you?

If you’re one of the minority wondering if community is overrated, you’re not getting it. Or rather, you’re not getting the need for community. Because if there’s one thing we shouldn’t be brushing aside, it’s the importance of the power of a collaborative of people, most especially, community.

Old School Examples:

In my old Queens, NY neighborhood, the local funeral home has a problem. They’re losing the support of the now primarily Asian members of the community because there is no one on staff to accommodate their faith or speak their language. This is a family run establishment that has been in the same location across from my old church and Catholic School for at least fifty or sixty years. They didn’t adapt with the community because they felt those who are moving into the neighborhood should somehow convert to the funeral home’s way of thinking, rather than the other way around. Now they are losing business to the Asian funeral homes and may have to shut down. If they hired someone who spoke the language and could help the funeral home to learn to  adapt to traditions and religions, they’d have more business.

Another case in point from the same town:

My former home town is what is considered a melting pot. I went to school with people of all races and nationalities and everyone got along…except for some old schoolers who didn’t want new races and nationalities moving in. There was a hardware store two blocks away from our home that my father went to often, until he learned that the new owner didn’t like Hispanics moving in to the neighborhood. Instead of adapting, the shop owner complained. He didn’t want them in his store and he wasn’t going to accommodate them. My father made the decision to walk ten blocks to the hardware store owner who chose to embrace members of the new community by learning Spanish and discovering how to best accommodate their needs. Now my Dad had new friends to talk to and share with.

Guess which hardware store went out of business?

The funeral home and first hardware store made a big mistake. They didn’t see these new arrivals to the neighborhood as community. They saw them as outsiders. The smart business owners knew that collectively people become a community and community will make or break a business. Outside of a corrupt society, majority always rules. You can say you’re a people person, but unless you understand community dynamics, you’ll have a hard time getting your message across.

This is more than just some public relations practice. Both hardware stores needed their community to survive. It’s the folks in the community who buy the products but they also recommend the business to others. Communities are fiercely loyal and those who don’t get it, the ones who don’t get community or what it stands for, are the ones that don’t last. Oh sure, the store can have a sale or jump on the next big thing, but once that special day is over, life returns to normal and they see where the true loyalty lies. People will come for a sale, the community will give continued business.

Why You Need Community More Than it Needs You

When I was 7 years old I walked to the local pharmacy and asked the pharmacist for my Dad’s prescription. He didn’t have to look at the prescription slip or check the files. He filled the prescription from memory. He knew all his customers and their families. He also knew our doctors. He knew if we had allergies or a low tolerance to certain foods, and he didn’t need a computer database to give him this knowledge. In return for the excellent customer service, we gave his pharmacy our business, and the pharmacist, our friendship. I don’t know that the guy behind the counter at the ginormous CVS inspires the same response.

There’s a reason my generation trusts mom and pop stores more than super centers. We remember what it was like to pull up a pickle barrel, sit down and chat with the neighbors. We know that community isn’t one sided. Instead, it’s everyone working together towards a common goal. That goal can be the betterment of a neighborhood, or to share information, but without community neither would happen.

Guess what happened?

As soon as people realized they had a voice they made sure it was heard. They made it clear they didn’t want to navigate a phone menu to nowhere or talk to a recording. People began realizing they had options and they could leave for a better customer service experience. And they did. They banded together for a common cause. They created a community.

Now the bigger chains also have ways of growing a community using social networking, special promotions for registered members and more. They’re getting it, finally. They offer special services to reward loyalty. Before the Internet it was harder to rally a community around a big business. Complaints were brushed under the rug and it didn’t matter if customers were left on hold for an eternity. Now they understand that it’s the people who hold the power.

I dare you to name any business that can survive without community:

Let’s try:

• Stores: Without community feedback they wouldn’t know what items to stock or what to charge.
• Blogs: Without community you’ll only having the same three people who write for the blog talking back and forth with each other.
• The DMV: Ok. Bad example…
• The Cable Company: If the community is unhappy they’ll write letters, take it to the Internet and create a public relations nightmare.
• Politicians: They won’t reach office unless their community votes for them.
• Public Relations: Simply put, without people to respond to their promotions and press releases they’d be out of a job.

One person is a single voice. A community is a powerful force.

Can you think of any business that doesn’t need people to survive?

It’s All about People

People are the reason behind any success. You might not physically see the people who give feedback or buy products, but without them nothing would exist. Would Thomas Edison invent light bulbs if people didn’t have a need for them? Would we have trains if people didn’t want to travel across country without being scalped? People are the driving force behind everything. Make no mistake, where there are people, there’s community.

You can write off community as overrated, but unless a group of people agree with you, your point won’t be successful.

See how that works?

Community.

I have decided it’s time to revive Kommein, but in a slightly different format. Instead of focusing solely on community and community management, I’d like to include other aspects of social media, including blogging. You see, social media is my passion but I have no where else to talk discuss it. Though I try to sneak in topics on my freelance writing blog from time to time, that community would much rather discuss writing.

So here I am. Again.

I hope you’ll give me a second chance.

Most community management gigs appear to 9 to 5 jobs, but are they? I work for a 24/7 social radio network and it certainly doesn’t shut down at 5:00 p.m. every day.  Folks are still visiting each others’ chat rooms and talking in the forums and Yahoo Group. They still need me to wear my moderator hat. I’m also expect to provide a blog post or two over the weekend to keep the traffic flowing.

This is something all Community Managers need to think about – what happens to your community on the weekend. Do you just leave it and come back on Monday spending a frenzied day trying to catch up, or do you drop by here and there on the weekend just checking to make sure the joint hasn’t been taken over by trolls?

Even though my weekend time is family time, I still take an hour or so each day to check on the community. Someone might be having difficulty dealing with a situation, and I don’t want them to have to go through the frustration of waiting two or three days for a response.  If I know I’ll be away from my laptop for a few days, someone else takes over.

Everyone knows how frustrating it can be to reach Customer Service personnel over the weekend. Rather than have a frustrated community, it’s probably in your best interest to make sure there’s some sort of presence during the non-business hours.

What happens to your community on the weekend?

Even WalMart understands the need for Community. Actually WalMart totally gets the community thing. The have their 11 Moms blogging network, with accompanying BlogTalkRadio shows, they know the importance of community and a heavy web presence. They’re also making sure to get the most bang out of their social media buck because they’re hiring a Community Analyst. It’s a great way to assess the needs of the consumer.

Here are some details:

The Community Analyst is an advocate for the community initiative and all its components (e.g. classifieds). He or she identifies best practices and insures no inappropriate content gets on the site, or is identified/escalated in the organization or media. As a part of supporting the community team, this individual is responsible for making sure performance of the experience meets expectations, including timeliness of the user generated content experience. As a subject matter expert for community, they will deliver reporting and insights for all community functionality to advance the organization’s knowledge about online community. Key success metrics for the role are zero internal or media issues, uptime/responsiveness/customer service metrics, and delivery of reporting metrics and insights.

They’re looking for skills to:

*Strong analytical skills

*Experience developing reports/custom inquiries and with
execution of dashboards and reporting

*Retail Industry experience is a plus

*Familiarity with online marketing metrics such as ROI,
click-through rate, cost-per-click, conversion rate, average order
size, etc.

*Skills at working with proprietary and leading web site
reporting tools

*High Level of Comfort with MS Office, specifically MS Excel,
MS Access and Power Point

*Ability to organize and prioritize multiple requests or
escalate unresolved issues when necessary.

*Previous vendor management experience.

*An understanding of and passion for online community and
consumer-focused e-commerce

This isn’t a job for the sweats and bunny slippers crowd. You will have to go into the office in Brisbane, California. Since WalMart is destined to survive the current crisis with the economy, and their stock is actually up, it doesn’t seem like a bad gig to have. Check out full details for this gig at Forum One Networks.

I recently unfollowed a couple of people from Twitter. The first I unfollowed because of spam. I stopped following the second person because most of her posts are laden with profanity and followed up with “Don’t like swearing? Too bad. Don’t follow me then.” Well ok. I don’t follow people for the sake of haiving a large pool of followers, anyway.

I’m not a prude.  Though cursing doesn’t hold the same pleasure for as it did during my teens, I’ve been know to throw out a bad word now and then, particularly if pain is involved. However, I’m of the belief that creative people can get their points across without resorting to profanity or vulgarity.

You are what you Tweet. Whether you use Twitter for business or pleasure, folks have to think about what they put out there. Employers are cruising Google and the social networks to see what employees and potential employees are up to. Maybe some people don’t think about this stuff – or even care. I do. I care how my community sees me and the example I put forth.

The folks I meet on Twitter are friends, colleagues and even perhaps important business contacts. Why turn them off? I’m not saying not to be you, but it’s always a good idea to take some time out and think about what we’re tossing out there.

When you use Twitter, does it matter to you what your followers think?

This past September at BlogWorld Expo, my co-Kommein conspirator David Peralty and I hung out in the blogging lounge and had a little discussion about community forums. Specifically whether or not it’s a good idea for businesses to have a community gathering place. David wasn’t so sure he liked forums as they’re a lot of work to moderate, and as David showed me with his own company’s forum, the most popular folder is the one designated for complaints and technical support issues.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of community forums. I find they can really bring a community together – moreso than comments or social networks. It gives a bunch of like-minded people the ability to carry on a continuous conversation without word limits and it’s a great way to for folks to share ideas, help each other out and cultivate friendships and relationships.

The place I work recently launched a forum and I’m about to open one at the blog network I own. David was right. So far, the most comments have gone to the technical issues folder. Now mind you, we’re only a couple of days into the forum, but  I did expect a bit more of the warm and fuzzy. Something else to keep in mind is that the company  I work for  just launched a major website redesign and the regulars are feeling a bit out of their comfort level. I’m willing to give the complaints about the relaunch a bit more time as the community gets used to a new interface.

The good news is that the forum has eliminated a lot of the email the team gets on a regular basis. Instead of emailing technical support or customer service, folks post at the forum. Our team visits regularly and responds in kind. I also enjoy watching everyone discuss and share.

A couple of days into it, I’m glad we launched a forum. Yeah, the technical issues folder is a thorn in my side, but isn’t it our job to find out what works and what doesn’t? I’m still a big fan of forums. They’re a great place for the community and team to interact and they bring everyone closer together. I’d rather not be in the dark about what my community is thinking.

I’d love to learn your thoughts about community forums. Is it better to not know what your community is thinking?

One of my biggest frustrations is when I want to communicate with a blogger or web site owner and his or her contact details are no where to be found. If anyone should be easy to reach, it’s the Community Manager.

Make sure the members of your community know your email address as well as hours you’re available to chat via Skype or other means.  Post these details on the company blog, website and community forum if you have one. Feel free to establish guidelines, for instance, if you’re only available during certain hours make sure everyone knows. Having a Community Manager who is easy to reach and talk to is one of the most important things a business can do.