Building a network is hard work… You push, you recruit, you advertise, you promote… You try and try and try to hit that critical mass a reach the coveted viral stage. It’s hard. It’s Expensive. It’s thankless. But, it doesn’t have to be…
I get requests from people all the time for me to help them build their audiences… and my question is always the same: Who do you have now? The answer? Usually a rushed and uninterested “Well, we’re doing OK with XYZ, but what we really want to do is reach ABC!” And here’s where I stop. This very sentence is what causes most networks and startups to have issues. In a word, it’s Greed.
Let’s play out the scenario… Let’s say CoolPeople.com is doing great at attracting Jocks, but now they want to go after Nerds. In this scenario, money is no object, so they’re free to do a massive campaign and attract tons of Nerds to their site.
This is starting to sound familiar…
Time to build some more! They start going after the Rebels… They build aggressively and the Rebel number starts going up. But there’s a problem… Jock registration has all but stopped at this point. Activity in that group is abysmal and the active users don’t have much to do. No matter, right? Just do some more Marketing at them! But Nerd registration as already starting to cool as well… CoolPeople.com has a problem.
When you only focus on growth, you miss out on the purpose of that growth. People join your network with specific goals in mind. If you don’t put any energy there, why should they stay? Why should they support you financially? Why should they invite their friends? Growth is not just a function of new users… it’s a function of Retention AND Expansion.
So before you go looking for ways to bring new people to your cause, take stock of the people that you already have. Ask yourself (or them) why are they here? How can I make their experience awesome? How can I make them want even more? When you do decide to launch a new campaign, launch it for them and not for your own growth. Chances are, you’ll achieve more by building than you will by conquering new territory.
OK, got that off my chest… ‘Til Next Time.
