This document discusses how to build and maintain an engaged community of readers by providing continuous value, being authentic, inviting feedback, and rewarding loyalty. It provides examples of successful bloggers like The Bloggess and Wandering Earl who prompted action from and elevated their readers. Building a thriving community makes brands stronger by widening expertise, recognition, and social reach. The key is establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with readers through open-ended questions, responding to comments, and moving with them to new areas of interest.

1. Rethinking Your Audience
Turning Readers Into A Thriving Community
Jodi Ettenberg & Annemarie Dooling

2. Hint: It’s not just engaged readers and
it’s not just a platform.
What Is A Community?

3. How Do I Find And Relate To My Community?
 Be sure of your unique niche and tone.
 Be mindful of authenticity from day
one.
Always aim to provide value.

4. Keeping Relationships Continuously Beneficial
 There’s no stopping point for providing value and building out a
community.
 Reward community members for their loyalty and interest.
 Pay attention to reader feedback and expertise: Take your cues from
them.
 Remember that when reaching out to ask questions, open-ended
questions to generate one-time engagement is not the aim – true
listening/value is the aim.

5. 860+ comments and suggestions from valued readers, incl. changing
the kerning & modifying fonts.

6. Trolls And Grouchy People
 Trust that an established and strong community will often
speak for you to defend you to negative users or trolls.
 To keep in mind when confronted with negativity: think
about (1) when to step in, (2) when to let community step in,
and (3) when to walk away.

7. What Does Success Look Like?
How does community make a brand stronger?
 Ability to pivot into new field of expertise,
taking your community with you.
 Wider net of expertise to draw from and
learn from.
 More brand recognition and wider spread
on social networks.

8. The Bloggess
 Prompted her community into action
both for important and more whimsical
projects. (In this case, drawing a lady
making out with a unicorn and then
tweeting it).
 Rewarded and elevated participating
readers by calling them out/drawing
attention to them.

9. Wandering Earl
@wanderingearl
 Responded to comments while
providing additional information.
 Created an atmosphere of
conversation.

10. John Green
Vlogbrothers
 Created a sense of
camaraderie between community
members .
 The NerdFighters have become
self governing.

11. Andrew Sullivan
@sullydish
 After creating a valuable product, measured
that value by asking his readers what they
wanted, thus moving a popular column to an
independent site.
 A month later he had earned over $625k
from readers paying $19.99/year per
membership.

12. Provide continuous value to your readership.
Be authentic and invite your readers to speak often.
Know when to stand up and when to walk away.
Be mutually beneficial to each other, always.
GRAND FINALE!

13. Questions? Concerns? Cats?
Annemarie can be found:
@travelinganna
www.frillseekerdiary.com
Jodi can be found:
@legalnomads
www.legalnomads.com/about