6 Steps to Building a Community of 1000 True Fans in 6 Weeks

Map of Online Communities,
originally uploaded by D'Arcy Norman.

If you're in business then you already know that the sweetest place to be is in the middle of a cluster of happy, loyal customers.

You might picture this either as a "Cheers" scenario; where the usual suspects are there and when Norm walks in – everyone yells out "Norm!"  or perhaps you picture a quaint small town diner or grocery store. The proprietor is relaxed and happy customers walk through the door, catch up on the latest gossip and either hang out for the day (eating and drinking) or walk out with their daily bags of groceries.

The Long Tail model tells us that your revenue comes from either having the bulk of the visibility or market share (think Fortune 100 or big time pop start) OR your revenue comes from a much wider base of offerings spread across — about 1000 true fans.

Without getting technical, all you need to know and understand is that identifying and fostering you 1000 true fans can keep you and your business profitable and happy.  Being focused on 1000 loyal customers will feed your operation with new product and service ideas, which have a much higher likelihood of success and it will keep your position in the marketplace secure.

Here is how to start building that 1000 true fans:

1. Harvest your existing list.  Whether you are using a contact list or customer list, start collecting and identifying your "true Fans" from the existing people and organizations that you deal with.  Don't just pick companies — pick PEOPLE.  This is a critical distinction because people will now have a personal brand identity separate from their companies.
2. Corral the list.  The quick and easy way is to give this list a home as a distribution list in your e-mail.  The quickly move on to using an online e-mail marketing program like Constant Contact.  This is an easy way to start communicating with this group and manage your lists while you weed out disinterested customers and add in more interested ones.
3. Connect with Influencers and Decision Makers.  If you haven't already, create a LinkedIn account and start connecting with these people.  Be sure to ask for recommendations from customers for whom you've created wonderful experiences.
4. Start a Blog. You are probably sick of hearing this, but it's true.  If you don't want to write blog articles to engage your true fans – then find someone who will.  Believe me there are people in your organization who are capable and would love to do this.  Your customers will appreciate it.  Think of it as the best free advertising.  Engage active customers to write guest articles.
5. Take time to Twitter.  If you thought the blog was a stretch this will freak you out.  Twitter is a microblog which allows you to post information to your community in less than 140 text characters.  Carefully choose who you follow and who follows you and build your community and credibility. 
6. Do the discipline.  Like anything worth having or doing, you will have to be diligent and disciplined to farm for your 1000 true fans.