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How can you get involved in your community


7 Simple Ways You Can Get Involved in Your Community

By Alicia Sparks Akers on September 30, 2014

I spent last Saturday at a local music and arts festival and when I say local, I mean LOCAL. Organizers held the venue in my citys park, all food vendors were from mom-and-pop shops around town (no national chains), artists from around the area displayed their jewelry, paintings, clothing, and other merchandise, and all musicians were from within the tri-state area. I had a great time shopping, eating, and listening to great tunes with family and friends, and Im grateful for everyone who worked so hard to put together the festival.

Im a firm believer that getting involved in your community is beneficial for both your mind and your body. Theres a sense of connection, solidarity, and strength that comes from organizing or participating in an event within your own neck of the woods.

With that being said, below are seven ways you can get involved in your own community.

1. Look for Local Events

Keep an eye on newspaper and news station announcements. Whether its a music and arts festival, a performance by your local dance troupe, or a special presentation such as an outdoor movie viewing, GO!

2. Volunteer Your Time

There are TONS of ways you can volunteer your time. For example, you might volunteer as a dog walker for your local animal shelter or volunteer to read to the elderly at retirement homes. Just think about whats important to you, reach out to that organization, and ask!

3. Donate Your Resources

If you dont have time to volunteer, then donate. Actually, donate anyway! Some donation ideas include donating:

  • Clothes and household goods to your local thrift shops or area Salvation Army or Goodwill.
  • Food to your citys food bank.
  • Bed linens to your towns city mission or homeless shelter.
  • Books to area libraries.
  • Food, cleaning supplies, and bedding to your local animal shelter.

NOTE: Theres DEFINITELY nothing wrong with donating money, too, but I feel like actual products get you more involved in the community.

4. Shop Locally

Buy from local vendors. I purchased the cutest handmade bracelet from the festival, and there were paintings and clothes there, too. You can also skip the Big Box grocery stores and shop with locally owned grocers or at farmer markets.

5. Join a Class or Group

Two summers ago I joined a running class hosted by a track runner from one of my states universities, which surprise! is located in my city. I met like-minded people, learned more about an activity I enjoy, and spent registration money you guessed it locally.

My town also has ongoing groups for runners, bikers (of the pedaling variety), and other outdoor activities.

6. Support Your Local Sports Teams

You might not even be aware of how many sports teams surround you. Think about it. Does your town have a Little League? What about a Minor League? Think about high school and college sports teams can you go support them? Remember: Players play because they love the game, but seeing fans in the stands can make a world of difference.

7. Organize Your Own Event

OK, so maybe you don’t feel qualified (or have enough time) to organize something as involved as a music and arts festival or marathon, but that doesn’t mean you can’t team up with a few friends and organize a fun event! Think about special kids’ events at the library, car washes to raise money for your church, or putting together goodie baskets for hospitals and retirement homes.

Your turn! How do YOU get involved in YOUR community?

Photo by Elaine Casap on Unsplash.

How to Get More Involved With Your Community

Start » Strategy

Giving back to the community is crucial to building trust and personal relationships with your customers. Here’s how to get more involved with your community.

By: Nicole Fallon, Contributor
Looking for a way to give back to the community? Organize volunteer opportunities like park clean-ups or food drives. — Getty Images/SDI Productions

As a small business owner, giving back to your community is a win-win situation. Not only are you supporting important local initiatives and organizations, but you’re also forging connections with your customers and showing them you care about what’s important to them.

“Consumers appreciate businesses that not only want to sell but genuinely care about the needs of the communities they’re in,” said Deiver Montes, co-founder of Avalon Sports. “There’s no better way to build rapport with your community than getting involved at a local level.”

In addition to helping your company gain more exposure and ultimately more business, donating your time, goods or financial resources to a worthy cause can also “help to improve employee morale and make improvements to the community and neighborhoods surrounding the business location,” added Helen Varvi, deputy director of Wellspring Center for Prevention.

Here are six ways to get more involved with your community and give back as a business.

Donate to local charities

Donating to a charitable cause or local nonprofit is a simple yet effective way to give your community the tools it needs to make a difference. This is a good entry point for businesses that want to give back, as it’s often as easy as clicking a button on a website or mailing a check. You might also consider donating products or offering pro bono services to community organizations for even greater brand exposure and community impact.

[Read more: What Is Corporate Social Responsibility?]

Serve on a board

Joining a board, such as a nonprofit board, business organization board or school board, is a great way to get involved with your local community and to help serve the community’s needs. These boards also offer an incredible opportunity to network with other local leaders and make important connections that can contribute to your business’s future growth.

Sponsor local events and sports teams

Nearly every community hosts local events and organized sports teams. Sponsoring these events or teams allows for an opportunity to be a part of your community culture, while also generating valuable engagement and positive public relations for your business.

Volunteer your time

One of the best ways to get involved in your community is by getting hands-on experience and volunteering. Pick a cause that is important to you and your team and aligns with your brand values, and plan a day to volunteer together. Aside from supporting the cause, you’ll be building team camaraderie and contributing to a positive company culture.

“When a business’s mission or founding purpose aligns with a similar or specific community organization, it is an awesome synergy,” said Melanie Fountaine, co-founder and COO of Joshin. “For instance, if a business works with families with special needs, supporting a local nonprofit for people with special needs is a win-win. It creates a relationship and feeling of connection.”

[Read more: 7 Wellness Benefits You Can Offer Employees]

Consumers appreciate businesses that not only want to sell but genuinely care about the needs of the communities they’re in.

Deiver Montes, co-founder of Avalon Sports

Join your local chamber of commerce

Your local chamber of commerce is a centerpiece for business in your community. Getting involved with your own allows you the opportunity to network with other small businesses in the area. It also gives you the opportunity to become among the leading experts in your industry.

Participate in online community forums

Most communities have a website or news publication where local residents and organizations can connect with each other via an online forum. Adam Eisenberg, senior editor of community engagement at hyperlocal publisher Patch, recommends this as an effective way for businesses to stay in touch with the community and its needs.

“Local businesses were hit particularly hard during the coronavirus crisis and the ripple effects are still being felt over a year later,” Eisenberg told CO—. “Neighbors and local customers want to support local businesses now more than ever. Getting involved in these conversations can help forge real, lasting connections between local customers and small businesses in the community.”

[Read more: Building Your Reputation in the Community? 3 Tips for Getting Involved]

Whatever way you choose to give back, make sure it’s authentically aligned with your brand and its values, as well as important to your local community overall.

“Be transparent and authentic in [your] interactions with local customers,” said Eisenberg. “Customers build affinities for businesses when there's more to the experience than just a transaction, so the more ways businesses can find to engage local customers and get them involved in their efforts to give back, the more likely they are to see those efforts pay off.”

“Whatever you do, you do it from your heart, whether it’s donating your time, talent or treasure,” added Pat Mathews, co-founder of Avalon Sports. “The more genuine and authentic you are, the better it [will] be received and appreciated. ”

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

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Published May 07, 2021

how to design a community and increase the number of subscribers - Social networks on vc.

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The formula for success for a group or public on VKontakte is quite simple: we design it correctly, creatively approach the creation of unique content, support life and stimulate activity.

1527 views

Today we will talk about what must be present in the design of your community and how not to get banned by increasing the number of subscribers.

Community design

The modern subscriber is demanding not only to the content, but also to the appearance. And if you haven’t made any changes to it for a year, rather do it.

Community profile picture

The image that VKontakte users see in the list of communities and subscriptions next to your name.

The avatar should not have small elements or poorly readable inscriptions. If we compare the two examples above, then we can say that the bottom avatar is more pleasant and easier to perceive.

Community Cover

Cover, title and status are the most important elements. This is the first thing the user sees when they go to the group. It should be immediately clear to him what the group is about and the information should interest him to scroll further. If this is not the case or the design is of poor quality, then most likely it will quickly leave.

Below is an example of what not to do. The user does not understand from the first seconds what kind of space it is and what exactly they do there. Screaming status, poorly visible logo on the left. I also want to note that there is no main button for the target action.

It is now possible to create live video covers that automatically play when you open a community in the mobile app. This allows not only to explain the essence of the group, but also to grab attention and show the main USP and offer.

Addresses and opening hours

The quality of community design is noticeably improved if you add one or more places to the business page map. Many local businesses ignore this setting, although it helps the customer find you quickly and easily. VKontakte automatically shows the user the nearest point and its work schedule.

If the map and opening hours are set as the main block, the map with the location of the branch will be displayed.

Main button

VKontakte, unlike Instagram, gives us the opportunity to set the "Main Button" - this is the main call to action for the user. For this button, you can choose any of the actions: write a message, book a table, make an appointment, go to the site, open the application, or even make a VKontakte call to community representatives.

QR code

It is needed to simplify the transfer of a lead from offline to online. You can also collect all the users who clicked through it into a separate retargeting database and show ads for them. For example, this is important for warming up for a repeat transaction or a call to leave a review.

Creating QR codes for business just got a whole lot easier. You can do it in the app. Place them as you wish: on the pavement, on the front door, at the checkout, on goods or advertising booklets. And where the QR code will lead is up to you. This can be either the business page itself, or a selection of products, an article or a dialogue.

VK Pay

Be sure to set up VK Pay. So you will not only stand out with a special label in the list of communities, but you will also be able to accept payments for goods without involving third-party solutions. To do this, you just need to fill out a form, sign an agreement and get an ID. Then you will be able to receive money to your current account and issue fiscal checks.

Verification

This is a confirmation that your community is official and belongs to a particular person or company. Verification provides a priority in the search, due to which the community can receive more organic (free) traffic. The process is free - you just need to fill out an application, attach a couple of documents and wait for a response from the administration. You can submit a request in your community settings.

Applications and widgets

Their capabilities will help make the community a full-fledged replacement for a website or mobile application. We especially recommend starting with the community activity tracking widgets. Arrange contests, call for comments and participate in the discussion. This will increase the engagement rate of the audience, which means that your community posts will appear more often in the smart news feed.

Community Transformation to Site

In order not to lose your audience among other Runet users, you can assemble your site from a well-designed and well-functioning VKontakte community. All this is done quite simply in the settings of the community itself. And if you are going to set up promotion through VKontakte advertising tools, then your site will already have all the necessary pixels that will help you track targeted actions.

Conversations

Now you can create conversations in communities - group chats managed by the community administration. With their help, you can answer questions, discuss new items and learn more about customers. At your disposal are up to 20 chats and up to 2 thousand people in each of them.

Conducting lotteries

And now for the most popular and relatively easy way to reach an audience. If you have just created a community and want to start word of mouth, we recommend that you start with drawings.

Tens of thousands of contests are held on social networks every day. Some get a huge influx of subscribers and potential profits, while others get banned for violating the rules. We'll tell you how to avoid it.

Acceptable draw conditions:

  • Like the entry;
  • Repost the entry on your page;
  • Join the community that runs the competition;
  • Subscribe to 2 sources. For example, to a community and a YouTube channel;

And for drawing stickers VK only creative tasks are allowed.

Invalid draw conditions:

  • Get the most likes and reposts to win;
  • Achieve some indicator so that the competition ends;
  • Subscribe to more than 2 sources;
  • Add an administrator or another person as a friend;
  • It is forbidden to encourage the targeted involvement of users in the community in any way, including writing private messages, using mentions, sending out invitations to a group or event, etc.

Banned:

  • Draws without a specific prize;
  • Lottery draws (with contributions, fees, etc.).

Summing up the results of the draw:

  • The results must be summed up publicly and in a separate post;
  • Before summing up the results, the entry with the contest or draw cannot be deleted;
  • You can not change the rules during the competition;
  • The owner, administrator and moderator of the community cannot participate in the draw and become a winner.

The debriefing software we use:

  • Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) — screen capture;
  • Randstuff (randstuff.ru/vkwin) — winner selection service.

And let's share a story from practice, when the VKontakte administration issued us the first and so far the only warning. We held a drawing of prizes from a cosmetics manufacturer in three social networks at once: Instagram, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.

In VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, the conditions were the same: like the post, repost on your page and write a comment under the post. In Instagram, the conditions differed only in that they called for tagging friends in the comments. For some reason, this is what VKontakte users began to actively do. A day later, we received a message from the administration demanding to end the contest and distribute prizes, since we violated the ban and began to attract users to the community.

We have completed the contest, raffled a set among users who managed to take part in the past day and announced a new raffle with a new post text.

To summarize , VKontakte giveaways are an effective tool for increasing the number of subscribers, increasing awareness, obtaining a database of potential customers and converting subscribers into leads. But they must be carried out with caution. And, of course, do not forget to improve your community by using all the features of this social network.

Good luck!

Vkontakte public page. Design recommendations.

That moment has come. The monthly audience of VKontakte exceeded 100 million users for the first time.
VKontakte clips also show a new record - over 1 billion clip views per day. Daily video views rose to 1.31 billion.

I just want to say “Wow”.

According to Brand Analytics, in February and March 2022, VKontakte became the most popular platform in terms of author activity and the number of publications. Every week, the number of daily publications grew by millions, and the number of authors by hundreds of thousands.

Here is the confirmation:

VKontakte also became the leader in terms of the volume of published content.

VKontakte has convenient tools and methods of promotion - in the advertising account, even not the most “advanced” marketer will be able to sell goods and build relationships with customers. But first you need to create and configure a public Vkontakte page. We will talk about this in this article.

Contents

Community VKontakte: step by step instructions for creating

Types of VKontakte communities

    1 type. Interest Group

    2 type. Event

    3 type. Public Pages

    What type of VKontakte community to choose

Design and setup of the VKontakte community

    Step 1. Settings - basic information

    Step 2. Visual design

    Step 3. Select the sections that will be available to users

    Step 4. Set up products and services

    Step 5: Customize Comments

    Step 6: Add links

    Step 7: Add Other Community Leaders

    Step 8: Set up messaging

    Step 9. Status

    Step 10. Posting

Conclusion

Vkontakte community: step-by-step instructions for creating

In order to start creating a community, you need to go to the "Communities" section in the menu on the left:

Next, click on "Create a community":

A window will appear to select one of six community types:

  1. Business
  2. Thematic community
  3. Brand or organization
  4. Interest Group
  5. Public page
  6. Event

But in fact, all these types can be combined into 3 groups:

  1. Public page
  2. Group
  3. Event

Let's analyze each type in detail.

Types of communities VKontakte

1 type.

Interest Group

An interest group is most often created for discussions and discussions. It can be a study group, a secret society, an association of interests.

Groups are open, closed and private:

  • Open group: everyone can join it, the information in it is open and available to any user.
  • Closed group: join it by invitation or by submitting an application to the administrator, information in the group is available only to its members
  • Private group: it cannot be found in the VKontakte search, you can join such a group only at the invitation of the community administration.

The group type can be changed at any time.

Vkontakte interest group example

When creating a group, you will see the following window:

Enter the name of the group here, select a topic, type and create a conversation.


    What are conversations in the VKontakte community?

    These are group chats where community subscribers can communicate: discuss important issues or just chat. Administrators will be able to create multiple of these conversations. Their full list is displayed on the community page.

The feature can only be used by communities with fewer than 500,000 members.

A community can have up to 20 conversations. Each can be joined by up to 3,000 members plus community leaders. A conversation that has reached the limit is still visible in the general list, but you can no longer join it.

2 typ. Event

Created for organizing parties, selling tickets for concerts and performances. In fact, this is the same group, only it is dedicated to a specific event.

The event can also be open and closed: you can invite your friends and remove participants.

The organizer of the event can be either a separate person account, or a group or a public page. The date and time of the event is always indicated, the end date is optional.

After the visitor has joined the event, 3 response options are available: “I will definitely go”, “I might go” and “I can’t”. By default, when joining an event, the visitor is assigned the status "I'll definitely go".

And another bonus of the "Event" is that VKontakte will send a reminder to participants one day before and on the day of the event, along with other notifications. It will appear next to your friend's birthday reminders.

VK event example

Once you have created an event, the community type cannot be changed in the future.

When creating an event, you will see the following window:

Here you also need to enter a name, select a topic, type of meeting - open / closed, time and place of the event. Here you can also select the organizer - a personal page or one of the groups in which you are an administrator.

3 typ. Public pages

The public pages section includes: a business, a thematic community, a brand or organization, and the public pages themselves.

This type is more suitable for companies and public figures. It is important that the public page is not closed, only open. And also you can’t invite friends, but you can recommend a page:

"Recommend" button on the public page of VKontakte

When users go to the public page, they will see a friend recommendation box on the left:

This is how it looks in the mobile version:

If you made a mistake with the choice and want to change the type of community, for example, make a public page a group or vice versa, then this option is possible, but not more than once a month. But it’s better not to indulge in such things and immediately choose the right type of community.

For example, there is such a situation: you have a group and the number of participants is more than 10,000 people, you change the community type to a public page, but when you change it, it is not displayed for your subscribers in the "Interesting pages" block. In order to fix this, all of your subscribers will need to re-subscribe. It doesn't seem worth it.

Public page of the Web Center VKontakte

When creating a public page, the settings windows of all four subtypes look the same:

The only difference is that in the “Brand or organization” type, you can select a category depending on the direction of your business:

Group or community: what type of public page to choose VKontakte

Let's generalize. Group is ideal if you have come up with an interesting content strategy and create a "club for communication". For example, if you sell pet food, create a group of cat lovers to share experiences between members - people themselves generate content, communicate, and you manage the process on behalf of the brand.

Event is suitable if you need to gather an audience in a certain place at a certain time.

Public page Vkontakte is more suitable for distribution of company news, promotional materials. The user must subscribe to the page himself, you cannot invite him.


    The public page is the most suitable for business promotion.

Designing and setting up the VKontakte community

Using the example of a public page, let's analyze the design and content:

When creating a community, enter its name - it must contain the name of the company or brand.

Step 1 Settings - basic information

The page is indexed by search engines. In the description of the community, specify the keywords and phrases that the user can use to find you.

We recommend placing in the community header:

  • Company contact details;
  • Call to subscribe to the company page. The picture above says “subscribe” and an arrow is drawn on the “Subscribe” button. This technique increases the conversion to subscriptions by 40%;
  • Tell us about promotions and discounts, sweepstakes, events, and so on.

Step 2.

Visual design

Upload an avatar. Here are some tips for designing an avatar:

  • the text must be readable;
  • text must not extend beyond the thumbnail;
  • the image should be clear;
  • do not use stock images;
  • miniature, must be bright and eye-catching;
  • use minimalism in creating an avatar.

The size of the avatar must not be less than 200 x 200 px. To make the avatar clear, make it twice as big. For example, if you want to use a size of 200 x 200px, then make it 400 x 400px.

Next, upload the cover - the header of the community. Recommended header size is 1590 x 400 px. You can upload an image in JPG, GIF or PNG format.

Remember to come up with a short address for the page, preferably identical to your site or brand.

Here you can upload a community cover and make a live cover - up to 5 videos or photos that will automatically change:

Step 3.

Select sections that will be available to users

Decide what content you will be posting to the community and select the appropriate sections.

Step 4: Set up products and services

At this point, you can set up the “products” and “services” group if you are going to sell something.

Select the country and region where you can deliver your products. Specify the currency in which all transactions will take place and a contact person who can answer questions from your customers.

In the product card, all fields are easy to fill. Describe your product in detail. If it is not in stock, check the "Item not available" checkbox. The product photo must be at least 400 px on each side. If the client is interested in one of the products, he will be able to click on the "Write to the seller" button. You will receive a private message with text and product. You can promptly consult the client or immediately take the order.

Step 5: Turn off comments if you can't respond quickly to user comments

If you do not have the ability to quickly respond to user comments, it is better to disable comments altogether.

You can also use the profanity filter.

Step 6: Add links

In the "Links" section, you can add links to the resources you need: pages on your site, partner sites.

Step 7: Add more community leaders

In the "Members" section, you can view community members, add community leaders - VKontakte profiles of your company's representatives who will be able to manage and edit the page - and see the users you have blacklisted.

Step 8: If you can reply to your subscribers quickly, enable messages

By default, community posts are disabled. Turn on the ability to send them if you want to receive private messages from users and respond to them on behalf of the community. It is important to understand: if you cannot provide a high response rate to messages (up to 2 hours during business hours), then you should not enable messages.

Step 9. Use the status

Status - a place immediately below the page title, where you can place up to 140 characters of text. Often, status is completely forgotten or some philosophical quote is written in it, and often this quote is not even related to business.

What is useful to write in the status for business promotion:

  • USP - your advantages: delivery in 2 days, free consultation;
  • telephone and other contact details;
  • site address, if any;
  • information about current promotions and discounts.

Don't waste valuable space. In the status, we recommend once again placing the keyword you are promoting on.

Step 10. Start posting

The community is set up and you can safely publish your first post or story.

In the Vkontakte community feed, you can pin the post.

What is the best post to pin:

  • The post that brought the most likes and reposts. The more reposts, the greater the reach and the more subscriptions the page receives.
  • A post that talks about your promotions and offers.
  • Announcement of your events, pranks, anecdotal posts, useful tips.

How to move VKontakte from another social network

Your audience, which you so carefully collected on Instagram, has not disappeared anywhere, but has moved to available social networks. So give users a platform where they can continue to make their usual purchases.

Moving from Instagram to VKontakte

If your business is related to the sale of goods or services, then the main activities and content should be transferred to VKontakte.

A small checklist to help you take the first steps:

  • Save content from Instagram to VKontakte using the free Instagram Manager service, @SaveAsBot telegram bot or, in the old fashioned way, through the computer version.
  • Add the first few posts as initial content. We recommend placing the top 5 of your Instagram posts by engagement.
  • Create and design a VKontakte community: upload images for the header, add links to the website and other platforms where the company is represented, create photo and video albums.
  • Add menus and widgets. They can host an application form, a newsletter subscription button and many other applications that will increase the conversion of your sales.
  • Add discussions: frequently asked questions, customer reviews, terms of cooperation.
  • Add a product and service store to make it easier for potential customers to navigate. You can even create a multimarket through which you can sell simultaneously on VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Yula and AliExpress.
  • Add a pinned post with a description of the company and your main advantages and values, or a current promotion.
  • On Instagram post and story about your move on VKontakte.
  • Send out an invitation to join your VKontakte community using the "Tell friends" button.
  • Form a content plan and start systematically adding posts on VKontakte, as you did on Instagram before.
  • Set up targeted ads to reach your potential customers and increase brand awareness.

Moving from Facebook to VKontakte

  • Install a VPN and go to the company's Facebook page.
  • Click on the triangular icon in the upper right corner - go to "Settings and privacy" - "Your information on Facebook" - "Download profile information".
  • To get a file with contacts of friends and followers, you need to separately select the "Friends and followers" option when downloading profile information, and also specify a date range.
  • You can check the downloaded file in the "Available files" section. This way you will get profile information and a list of your subscriptions and followers.

Further steps are repeated: design, filling the community and attracting an audience there.

We will help you transfer business promotion from Instagram to VKontakte: we will set up and arrange the VKontakte community to receive the first applications.

Learn more