It is important to remember that there are all different kinds of conversions. Some will be big (like making a purchase) and oth- ers will be very small, such as opening an e-mail or visiting your website. The trick to getting people to make those big conver- sions is getting them to make a series of much smaller ones along the way. One of the smallest, but most important, conver- sions is getting them to join your community. Doing so will also help pave the way for bigger conversions further down the road. Building a Community of Fans, Followers, and Subscribers Every content factory needs an online community to support it. By converting your target audience into fans, followers, and sub- scribers, you are effectively earning the right to communicate with your targets directly. For that reason alone, it is important to encourage your target audience to like your Facebook page, follow you on Twitter, join your LinkedIn Group and, perhaps most importantly, sign up to receive your opt-in e-mails and e-newsletter. Here are some tips and best practices to help get you started building your community: 1. Start small Focus on just one area at first. You will be much more successful concentrating your efforts on building a community on Twitter, for example, than on trying to simultaneously build one on LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinter- est. Build a successful community on one platform before tackling the next, and make sure to leverage your existing community to help build others. Once you have built a good following on LinkedIn, for example, you can convert that community into subscribers for your e-newsletter. It Takes a Content Factory! | 41