This document discusses strategies for building and maintaining an audience for online content. It recommends 3 key steps: 1) Telling stories that matter to the audience and making them the hero. 2) Building a community by finding the right people and providing value to them. 3) Leveraging digital marketing techniques like email lists but in a non-intrusive way, making sharing easy, and focusing on community needs over self-promotion. The overall message is that audience growth is a human problem solved through meaningful engagement and storytelling, not just technical tactics.

1. STORYTELLING
SOCIAL MEDIA
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
ERIN BLASKIE

2. A 90-SECOND
HISTORY

5. TODAY

7. THE PROBLEM WE
ARE TRYING TO
SOLVE?

8. GET EYEBALLS
ON OUR STUFF

9. VERYONE WHO BUILD
SOMETHING TO BE
CONSUMED NEEDS
AN AUDIENCE

11. WHERE DOES AN
AUDIENCE
COME FROM?

13. WHY DO THEY
TYPICALLY SHOW
UP SO LATE?

15. WHY DON’T THEY
STICK AROUND?

16. THIS PROBLEM IS OFTEN
VIEWED THROUGH A
TECHNICAL FILTER...
TACTICS, STRATEGIES, UI,
UX, CTAs, CRAZYEGG DATA…

17. WHEN IN REALITY...
IT IS OFTEN A MUCH
MORE HUMAN PROBLEM

18. WE BUILD SITES, BLOGS +
OUR
BEST IDEAS IN ISOLATION

19. INFUSING OUR
PROJECTS WITH
OUR OWN
FLAVOUR +
PERSONALITY

20. BUT WHEN WE LAUNCH IT
INTO THE WORLD…
NO ONE REALLY CARES.
NO ONE SHOWS UP.
NO ONE IS AS EXCITED AS WE
ARE.

21. SO.
WHAT
WENT
WRONG?

22. WE CREATED IN A BUBBLE

23. WE CREATED IN SECRET

24. WE CREATED USING A
PURELY TECHNICAL LENS

25. WE FORGOT ABOUT THE
EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

26. OKAY ERIN…
HOW DO WE
FIX IT?

27. 99.9% OF BLOGGERS ARE NOT
AWESOME ON DAY 1.
THEIR AWESOMENESS IS THE
ACCUMULATION OF THE VALUE THEY
CREATE OVER TIME.
- DARREN ROWSE
LEMME LET YOU OFF
THE HOOK A LITTLE…

28. BUILDING A BLOG, A
SITE, A BUSINESS… IT’S
NOT A ‘BUILD IT AND
THEY WILL COME’
ENDEAVOUR

29. STEP #1
TELL STORIES THAT
MATTER

30. I MADE A DECISION TO
WRITE FOR MY READERS,
NOT TO TRY TO FIND MORE
READERS FOR MY WRITING.
- SETH GODIN

31. STORIES AREN’T JUST
THE POSTS YOU WRITE.
STORYTELLING IS DONE
THROUGH VISUALS, DATA,
A CAREFULLY CRAFTED
BIO…

33. STORIES ARE TOLD IN
EVERY PIECE OF COPY,
EVERY IMAGE CHOICE +
EVERY OFFER THAT
EXISTS ON YOUR BLOG
OR WEBSITE

35. AND THE TRICK TO HAVE
PEOPLE COME BACK FOR
MORE IS TO TELL THE
STORIES THAT MATTER
TO…
THEM.

37. THE KEY IS, NO MATTER
WHAT STORY YOU TELL,
MAKE YOUR BUYER THE
HERO.
- CHRIS BROGAN

38. FINALLY, START TELLING
YOUR STORIES WHEN
THINGS AREN’T
PERFECT…
WHEN THERE ARE STILL
MESSES BEING MADE.

42. LET PEOPLE IN FOR THE
JOURNEY AND THEY’LL
CHEERLEAD YOU ON…
LONG AFTER YOU
LAUNCH.

44. STEP #2
BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY

45. BUILDING YOUR COMMUNITY ISN’T ABOUT…
CHOOSING THE RIGHT SOCIAL PLATFORMS
SPAMMING 500 FRIEND REQUESTS
GAMING THE ALGORITHMS
IT’S ABOUT FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE +
FIGURING OUT WHAT THOSE PEOPLE REALLY WANT

46. FOCUS ON
THE WHY

47. CHOOSE YOUR
PLATFORMS
CAREFULLY

48. GIVE MORE
THAN YOU TAKE

49. NO ONE CARES ABOUT
YOUR BLOG UNLESS YOU
ARE ADDING VALUE TO
THEIR LIVES IN SOME WAY.
- JONATHAN MILLIGAN

50. STEP #3
LEVERAGE DIGITAL
MARKETING

51. CAPTURE EVERYONE!
(BUT NOT IN A “LOTION IN THE BUCKET” KIND OF WAY)

52. IF YOU’RE NOT BUILDING
YOUR E-MAIL LIST, YOU’RE
AN IDIOT.
- DEREK HALPERN

53. MAKE SHARING
YOUR CONTENT EASY

54. SURPRISE +
DELIGHT

55. 99% OF WHAT YOU BUILD
ISN’T ABOUT YOU.

56. SO, TO BE THE KIND OF
BLOG OR SITE THAT
BUILDS + KEEPS AN
AUDIENCE, ASK:

57. WHAT DOES THE
COMMUNITY NEED?

58. HOW CAN I CREATE
WHAT MATTERS?

59. HOW CAN I LET
PEOPLE ALONG
FOR THE RIDE?

61. FIND ME AT
@ERINBLASKIE
ERINBLASKIE.CO
M