Author and speaker Jeff Goins recently joined #bufferchat to share some awesome expert tips on building your online tribe.
Read on for the highlights, or catch the full Storify recap here!

What does it mean to build a tribe online?
From Jeff:
- Building an online tribe means finding your true fans, the people who will help your work spread.
- Something I’ve learned about building a tribe is that it’s not who you know, it’s who you help.

More great advice:
- “Finding people with whom you share common interests, but also who you can share with and learn from.” @martinlieberman
- “Building a tribe means building a group of like-minded individuals who support each other (community).” @YouTooCanBeGuru
- “Create a community that supports each other and you. ” @kimreynolds
What tools do you include in your workflow to stay connected to your tribe?
From Jeff:
- Buffer (of course)
- Slack for team communication
- Byword for blogging
- Scrivener for long form writing
- Evernote for ideas
More great tools:
- SproutSocial
- Tweetdeck
- Iconosquare
- Latergramme
- Slack
- Hootsuite
- Commun.it
- Rapportive
- Sidekick
- Mailchimp
- Feedly
- Jive
- Google Docs
- OneNote
- SharePoint
What is most effective to authentically connect with your audience?
From Jeff:
- Share a struggle, some pain point you’ve having. Be vulnerable in an uncomfortable way. People connect with humanity.
More great advice:
- “Talk to them. Take the time to engage one-on-one with your community. Make them feel special – they deserve it.” @cbarrows
- “To connect you need to be genuine, offer valuable insights & appeal to your community’s needs.” @liliholl
- “I like what @annhandley says, you need “pathological empathy.” Always be thinking about your audience’s needs” @mikehale
- “Respect the medium, complement your goals. Do Instagrammy things on Instagram. Do Pinteresty things on Pinterest.” @andymci
What do you strive for: more community members or more engagement?
From Jeff:
- Can I say both? ? More engagement. Doesn’t matter if you get more eyeballs if they’re not looking at you.
More great advice:
- “I like to focus on more conversations, connecting more people that share a common purpose and passion!” @iSocialFanz
- “Vicious cycle. More engagement leads to strong community members, and stong community members lead to more engagement” @AaronFriedman
- “Engagement is also much more fun than simply counting the numbers.” @kid53
- “A bigger community brings new ideas and doesn’t lead to a stagnant rehash of old topics. And I love meeting new people.” @Ares_0926
What do you know now that you wish you knew at the start of building your tribe?
From Jeff:
- I wish I would’ve been prepared for the fact that people wouldn’t like my work & there’s nothing I can do about that.
More great advice:
- “Providing value is what it’s all about. If you provide value to the tribe, they’ll spread it for you. Have to give to get” @mcartertweets
- “Always support and be positive and try to help.” @PetrPinkas
- “Actually I embrace all of the missteps along the way. Social Media is all about experimenting, & it’s the best way to learn.” @lifeofrileyNYC
- “You don’t always need to be the “starter.” You can get as much traction by being an engaged member of someone else’s comm.” @bberg1010
Best books on building your tribe:
- Tribes by Seth Godin
- Shut Up and Tweet by Phil Pallen
- Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
- The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
Thank you so much for everyone who joined in on this great chat! Catch #bufferchat each Wednesday at 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern and join our Google+ community for the latest news.
Do you have any comments or answers to these questions? Leave your thoughts in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!