Setting Business Community Growth Goals in 2022

Every year, entrepreneurs are given a new focus for their business. In past years, the focus has been to get email signups or phone numbers. Other years, the suggested focus has been on community outreach and finding their WHY. This year, we think the most important thing for businesses to do is focus on building their communities.

Why Communities Matter

A community isn’t just a warm sounding gathering of your biggest fans; it’s a critical driver of both business and of customer support. As of 2019, 76 percent of internet users around the globe participated in at least one online community. Further, 80 percent of founders said that building a community was critical to their business in 2019, with more than one third admitting that their community created a “competitive moat” differentiating them from other brands. It’s easy to see that communitybuilding matters to businesses, especially when you look at the continued spending of companies like Apple and Amazon on community engagement.

Building a brand community means assembling a group of brand cheerleaders, all of whom begin befriending each other and bringing new people into the fold. Since 84 percent of people are more likely to trust a referral from a friend, that makes a community not just an advertising center, but a referral generator.

Communities are also useful in reducing the number of phone calls to the business and returned merchandise, as many consumers first turn to the community to ask questions and get product tips before reaching out to the company itself. Not only can this save a brand money, it can also result in better overall user reviews of their product or service.

The Goal of Community Having a community of loyal fans sounds great, but you need to make sure that the time and effort you spend creating and maintaining the community brings you the results you want. This means that your community activities must be in line with your wider business goals. It’s a good idea to get clear on those goals before you start your community, rather than later after you’ve already put in time and effort to build it.

For example, say your goal is to cut customer support tickets by 10% in the coming year because you are spending too much time and money dealing with them. There are several ways to tackle this, but you think that starting a brand community would help. You could monitor the discussion in your group and spot recurring customer service issues. You could then take action to prevent these issues from turning into support tickets.

Goals for your community should be as specific as possible so that you can measure when you’ve attained them. Your goal could be that your community will enable you to: • Grow your email subscriber list to 1,000 • Ensure you give the best customer support package to purchasers that you can, resulting in zero complaints

• Increase your sales by 10% this financial year by selling to community members • Get referrals leading to new business worth 10k in the next 3 months

You may even choose to invest financially in your community. If so, one of your goals should be return on investment. Starting a community doesn’t require a huge investment unless you want it to. Potential costs include subscriptions to community platforms, small-scale advertising on social media, outsourcing graphic design, and so on. Where you allocate your budget will depend on your specific goals. community may be one of the most important. Before you get started, define the purpose for your brand itself. What do you want to achieve with your brand? Do you want to raise awareness of your company, service or professional availability? Do you want to build trust and authority? Maybe you want to use it to connect with your audience on a personal level? Whatever your goal for branding, ensure it’s clearly defined so you can find effective ways to use your community to achieve it.

To learn more about setting goals for your business and increasing your community engagement, visit our course page at ???

There are many facets to building your brand, but creating your online No matter what kind of accomplishments you want to reach for in 2022, it’s important to set goals that help you stay focused on serving your chosen purpose. S.M.A.R.T goals can ensure that happens while helping you align your goals to your values to ensure success. The S.M.A.R.T. Model outlines the simple guidelines you can use for setting effective goals in the key areas of your life. • S – Simple/Specific: Keep your goal simple and focused, rather than wordy and vague. Be very specific about the outcome you want. • M – Measurable: How will you know when your goal has been reached? What will be different? • A – Attractive: Does the goal inspire you? Is it exciting enough in both the long and short term? • R – Realistic: The goal must be achievable. • T – Timed: State your goal as if it’s already been achieved. This trains the unconscious mind to accept the goal as real, which helps you to move more effectively toward it.

It’s tempting to set grand goals when you’re looking to achieve your ultimate vision for your life. But you need to make sure you’re setting goals that are both inspiring and actionable. You won’t achieve your goals if you aren’t truly motivated by them. But you also won’t achieve them if they’re completely unrealistic.

10 Tips All Working Women Need for Success Without Burnout

Burnout is real. Millions face it daily and it can dramatically affect how we show up and manage our time, energy and focus. I know. Burnout led me to complete breakdown, but it didn’t stop me; through my journey I was able to identify a few simple tips that have helped me to face and breakthrough burnout to keep me on track, in control of my time and more fulfilled in all areas of my life, personal and professional. Here are the tips: 1. Create a Mindset of Abundance and

Gratitude. It sounds simple, but how we choose to look at the world and its offerings we impact our results. If I see the world as challenging and one that is set up to work against me, that is exactly what I will create. I focus on creating a mindset of opportunity and abundance; looking at the good each day brings, even the challenging ones. There truly is beauty in each day.

2. Hold a Weekly Success

Planning Session with

Yourself. When you can plan your week before it starts, you can see what is ahead and plan accordingly. As you identify the weekly priorities, you can then be honest about the time you have to give to each area and go into the week with more direction and focus, elevating stress and being reactive in your days. 3. Protect your

Mornings. Our mornings set the tone for the day. Work to protect this time, and your mindset during this time and you will find you can go into your day with more energy and focus and also become more in control of your time.

4. Build Your Skills. Think about the skills you need to perfect to show up as the best version of yourself. When you have stronger skills, you are more confident and in control, therefore less stressed in your days and interactions with others. Less stress = less burnout.

5. Connect. We are social beings, and we are not meant to live

alone. When you are feeling Burned out, get connected with good people who will help bring you up and fill up your energy. When we become isolated, loneliness and stress can build, leading to a feeling of even greater burnout.

6. Disconnect. Just as we have to connect, sometimes we also need to disconnect and get away. Rest and recovery are key to overcoming burnout.

Find something that brings you joy and do more of that. It can be gardening, cooking, going into nature, or yes, a vacation.

Sometimes I just take a “nothing” day where

I lay in bed and do …. NOTHING. It reenergizes my soul and fills me back up, so I feel more in charge and ready to take back on the world.

7. Give back. One of the best ways to feel whole is to give back to others. It allows us to connect on a higher level and feel a part of something bigger than just ourselves. It shifts us from thinking about ourselves and brings us to a feeling of community and knowing our place in it. You can volunteer, mentor, or anything else that works for you.

Giving back feels good and when we feel good, we show up happier and more productive. 8. Create a Success

Environment. Just like a plant, we can only grow the right way when we have the right environment to nurture and nourish us. Make sure your workspace is one that fosters creativity, positivity and productivity. Surround yourself with others you can learn from and collaborate with. When you plant yourself in the right environment, you will have all the nourishment you need to stay on your game and keep burnout at arms-length. 9. Ask for Help. No one needs to be alone. We can learn so much from each other, and others want to help us too.

If you are struggling,

GET HELP. This was something I did not do, which lead to me falling deeper into my

Burnout. As I started to share my turmoil and open up, I found others were struggling too and it allowed us to bond together and help each other. Asking for help is not weakness, but one of the greatest points of strength.

10. Celebrate! We work hard and far too often we put off celebrating life and our wins. You do not need to wait until the end of the year or until you close that big deal to celebrate.

Make sure you are celebrating the small wins of each day and week. If we do not pause and focus on the good things we are accomplishing, we never see that we are moving forward.

Burnout happens. When you are passionate about what you do, you want to give your all. But you also need to pay attention to the signs of burnout, because when you start to fall, it takes you away from doing your best and giving your best. Implement these tips and you will see you can be more in control of how you show up, stay connected to your path and show up happier, more energized and focused.