Building a Local Community Around Twitter: 5 Important Steps that will Help You Succeed

A week after signing up for a Twitter account for my business, it occurred to me that there would be tremendous value in a local Twitter community. A few minutes after that revelation, I found myself hopefully typing the word “Pleasantville” into the Twitter sign-up screen. Surprised to see it was still available, I quickly filled out the required information and set out to bring the Pleasantville community together.

Having heard all the statistics about how fast Twitter was growing, and seen all the buzz about Ashton vs. CNN– I was enthusiastic about quickly building up a following and using this new network for the betterment of this idyllic village located smack in the middle of Westchester County, NY.

That was the beginning of April. How difficult could it be to convince people to sign up for something that would bring them valuable information from a deep pool of talent and knowledge, while simultaneously allowing them to communicate their messages to others? Well, it hasn’t been quite as easy as I thought it would be. Despite the enormous number of Twitter users, the number of  people who “have no idea how Twitter works” is far greater.

Our account  Twitter.com/Pleasantville has 127  followers as of this writing. My hopes were to be closing in on 500  by this point.  Nonetheless, my enthusiasm for Twitter continues to grow. Over the past nine weeks, I’ve immersed myself in information about Twitter. I’ve read blogs, looked at websites and listened to hours of podcasts. New potential uses for Twitter continue to emerge every week.

One thing that has become crystal clear to me is the unbelievable potential Twitter has at the local level. Another plain fact is that there are thousands of people around the country trying to figure out how to best build these local Twitter communities. The most commonly used technique is trial and error. I’ve been trying to establish some techniques that could be used to simplify the process and build these Twitter communities more efficiently.

Here are some things I recommend to those who plan to use Twitter as a tool to build a local community:

1) Claim your account name by signing up for Twitter. This takes only a few minutes, and gets things started. There are still tons of great names available, but the good ones are going fast. Even if you’re not planning to get involved right away, reserve a name that best suits your community.  The local account Pleasantville was available in early April, but it would have only been a matter of time before someone from Pleasantville, NJ or Pleasantville, TX snagged the name. If your first choice is not available, try variations. The name is important, but the content that you produce and the community you attract is far more important.

2) Become familiar with the many ways Twitter can be used by your local community. There are dozens of ways Twitter can be used to further the goals of your community. You will probably discover uses that I haven’t even thought of yet. Some of the obvious benefits of Twitter:  It’s a quick, inexpensive way to get information in front of interested people;  it’s an easy way for groups or individuals to search for information that might be of benefit to them; it’s a forum in which users can ask for or provide referrals in real-time; it can be used to group one’s circle of friends into smaller, more organized sub-groups. Being well-versed on the benefits of Twitter makes you much more skilled at convincing people in your community to get involved.

3) Begin collecting information worth sharing with your community. As a member of any community, you are constantly in contact with information others may find helpful, interesting or even essential. Information that is specific to your community is especially valuable, because your followers are less likely to be exposed to that information elsewhere. Some of my favorite ways to find information include using Google Alerts; searching for specific terms on Twitter; reading the posts of accounts I follow; and inviting my followers to message me with anything they think my audience would appreciate.

4) Start following local Tweeps (people) and organizations. There are already local businesses and individuals using Twitter. Search them out and follow. One way to find local people is to do a Twitter search for terms that people in your area would be likely to use. These might include the name of your town or the name of a significant business or attraction in your town. Another great way to find people in you area is to use http://Twellow.com. This free service lists accounts in you area, and how many followers they have. Since it relies on information from user biographies, it may not include every user (some users do not include their location in their bio, and others may use a very general location, such as NY or USA).

5) Use Your Local Community Account to Highlight Your Followers. Give your followers an extra incentive to provide good content on their accounts. When a follower posts an update with useful information or graphics, RT (retweet) that post to your community. It’s amazing what a little positive reinforcement can do to keep the community growing.

The most important thing to remember as you work to build a community on Twitter is that the progress is likely to require some work and some patience. It is very difficult to push people into something that is new and untried for them. The best way to get the feet draggers to jump aboard is to make your local Twitter community so appealing that they can’t resist.

To see how our Pleasantville community building efforts are progressing, follow our blog in The @Pleasantville category.

Twitter Professor is not affiliated with Twitter. Chris S. Cornell is not actually a professor, but he is interested in helping build local Twitter communities. Feel free to add constructive comments, questions or criticisms in the comments section. If you are building your own local Twitter community, or know of a particularly good one, include the Twitter address in your post.