I went fishing off Prince of Wales Island, Alaska this year.
The waters are teeming with fish. You bait the hook, drop the line, and within a minute or two you’ve snared yourself a fish. That’s what happens when you fish where a lot of fish are.
This contrasts with hunting. You know what you want when you begin. You follow the trail and track down the animal you want. It’s precise.
Most of us are fishing. We bait a hook (SEO terms, content, etc..) and drop it into the most likely places our prospective audience will gather. The problem, like fishing, is it’s random and we often catch the members we don’t want or can’t convert.
We would do better to go hunting for members instead. Target specific people and follow the trail to find them.
What kind of person would improve your community today?
What kind of person would attract more people to join?
Draw up a list of a few traits of a perfect member. It might be:
- Unique expertise (published material)
- A few years of experience.
- Easy to get along with.
Now ask your existing members if they know anyone that meets those criteria. Ask for introductions. When you find some, look at the unique phrases they use on Twitter. See who else they follow. Search for similar people. Get referrals. Ask for a quick conversation with them.
It’s easier to get the members you want if you know who you’re looking for.
You can go fishing for new members or you can go hunting for new members. Fishing is far easier, hunting is more effective.
We’re now just 12 days away from our FeverBee SPRINT event. If you want to learn a lot of advanced community skills from 14 world-class experts and ourselves, I hope you will join us at: http://sprint.feverbee.com.
