The Four I's of Building a Social Community!

A pivotal step in the successful social media marketing process is to effectively create a community! We're going to focus on four main principles of community-building via social networks: The Four I's of Online Community Creation!
There are numerous variations on the "Four I's" in marketing, but we feel like these are most important for today's purposes. They are:

1. Invite - Businesses and solo entrepreneurs must promote their social presence and actively encourage their audience to follow them! It's not enough to simply have the accounts; you need to get the word out!
2. Inform - Once you've attracted your following, keep that growing community informed about upcoming promotions, exclusive discounts, new products and so on!
3. Involve - As you probably already know, a successful community of followers is founded on participation and involvement! Businesses should invite involvement from their social audience by opening discussions, holding contests, creating polls...think of the possibilities!
4. Influence - Some marketers use this interchangeably with "impact," but whichever you prefer, the goal is nearly the same: to have a long-lasting and clear community-wide effect. This can be a call to action in the form of making a purchase, of course, but in the social/community-oriented marketplace, it can just as easily be related to a cause that's important to the business or solo entrepreneur. Think beyond your business...it's the best way to foster social network communities!