Over the past two years, Jason Dominy, Director of Training and Knowledge/Store Development for Dilworth Coffee, a local specialty coffee roaster, has helped to build a vibrant community of coffee lovers around his company brand and personal passion.

Jason and I have been friends for a while, so when I heard that he would soon be leaving Charlotte for a new gig in Atlanta, my first thought was this – I have to interview him!  Partly because it was Jason who introduced me to Twitter and social marketing in the first place.  And partly because I’ve watched his talent and passion at work in the Dilworth Coffee community, and I knew that his story was worth sharing.

Here is my interview with Jason about the triumphs and tribulations of community building.

1. How did Dilworth Coffee begin using social media?

Initially, we set up the Arabica Labrica Facebook group to tell our story and to encourage people to get to know Dilworth Coffee as a business.  Our Facebook fans engage with us through photos, videos, and comments; and we can respond to their content.  We also started to use Twitter.  The @DilworthCoffee account is more of a straight marketing channel, which we use to inform customers about roastery events, what we’re brewing in the shops, etc.  I use my personal Twitter account, @jasondominy, to interact with customers because it is transparent and helps to put a face to the business.

2.  Who makes up the Dilworth Coffee community?

Our community is made up of three groups – current customers who are actively engaged, new customers who have just found us or been introduced by friends, and our staff of baristas.  My job is to help engage all three.

3.  How did you approach building Dilworth Coffee’s community?

Like an entrepreneur.  Most entrepreneurs don’t start a business because they think “I’m going to open this business and instantly, I will make a lot of money.”  Instead, they start a business because they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  We approached our social marketing strategy the same way.

Dilworth Coffee is about educating people about how good specialty coffee can be in a local environment.  I made this my personal quest, so I started there.  Instead of viewing our community as potential buyers of our product, I view them as participants in our journey.  They will always be more apt to sign up for that.

4.  Once people find out about your community, how do you encourage them to become involved?

The best way to do that is to help your customer understand that they are a partner in what you do.  It’s not just a business transaction.  The whole experience becomes a thing that they are involved in, which requires their input and feedback.  People love to be a part of something that makes them feel good.  The more you can create something valuable that people want to share with you and with their friends, the better off your business will be as a result.

5.  What are some challenges that you’ve faced along the way?

One of the toughest challenges in community building is to keep people actively engaged in the conversation.  It’s easy to start a conversation with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter.  The challenge comes once you begin engaging – to keep them motivated to continue talking to you.  You always have to be providing something of value.  You always have to be thinking of ways to keep that conversation current and vibrant.

6.  Once the engagement starts, how do you maintain customer interest?

We focus on taking the conversation from online to offline by creating events where those real conversations can take place.  We’ve had classes, tastings, barista competitions – things that offer something of value to our community members.

I know that if I engage with someone on the web, they may share my message with their friends.  But if I can get them into the building, then I can build a customer for life.  The more real life engagement, the better the outcome.

7.  How to do measure the impact of your efforts?

A lot of our measurement is centered around events and participation.  That is the easiest way to get hard numbers.  For example, with what Amelie’s French Bakery did with their Facebook Friday giveaway, they could measure how many people came in as a direct result of Facebook and how much their fan base grew as a result of the event.  When friends introduce friends to your company, sales grow exponentially because of that connection.

8.  What advice do you have for someone who is starting to build their community (business, individual, etc.)?

First look to see what other people are doing and how they’re using it.  Spend some time listening.  I noticed early on that other people were becoming successful in social networking just by being authentic and putting their ideas out there.  Be real about who you are and what you’re passionate about.

Don’t get discouraged.  Even though you won’t always see the support for the things that you do, there are a lot of people out there who will see what you’re doing and will support you, even if they don’t ever engage with you directly.

Finally, keep in mind that quality is a better measurement than quantity.  I judge how effective my social media efforts are by how strong the relationships that I’ve built have become.  I know that I’m a part of a revolution of communication and technology merging into one big cloud – this thing is bigger than I am.  That’s why it’s so exciting.

[For more on Jason Dominy, check out Crystal Dempsey's post Authentic: Jason Dominy and Jason's blog Musings of a Coffee Ragamuffin]

Tagged as: Chemex, coffee brewing, community building, Dilworth Coffee, Jason Dominy, social media, workshop

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