How to Build a Strong Online Community: From the Perspective of a Competitive Cheerleader
“Community = a group of people that care about each other and feel they belong together.” (Pfortmüller, 2017) Pfortmüller could not have said it better—the traditional definition of community no longer works for the society we live in today. There are so many different ways to form and be part of a community: school, sports, shared hobbies and activities, and even online. I know the internet seems like the last place to form a real human connection, but online communities actually provide a great sense of comfort and belonging to many. In order to form a strong online community, we can mimic the essentials of a traditional, face-to-face community.
According to Online communities and Social Communities: A Primer (2020):
Online and social community marketing is about using the power of online communities to:
Build personal relationships and networks of trust.
Bring together people with common interests or profiles.
Engage these specific groups of people.
I am sure most of us have felt that sense of community one way or another and can pretty much agree that these three points hold true, no matter what type of community you are part of.
Growing up, my community came from competitive cheer. From the ages of twelve to eighteen, I was a competitive cheerleader at a gym located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Competitive cheer is a very dedicated sport—you are in the gym practicing your routine, tumbling, stunting, and conditioning almost every day of the week. Your team becomes basically family and a great community, with all of the characteristics mentioned above.
Of course, cheer, the common interest, brought our team together. We easily had something to bond over. Pfortmüller says, “A community = a group of people that care about the same goal.” (2017) Our team also built a community by working towards a common goal—of course, doing well at competitions was always fun, but ours was (as cliche as it is) to be the best we could be and always put our all into our routine every time it was performed.
Each season was about 10–11 months long, so it was inevitable that we would build strong relationships with each other. But most importantly, we built trust. In some ways, we had no choice—stunting required holding and throwing each other up in the air and trusting that you would always be caught and protected. But what I think is most important is the trust that we had in our team to always give 100% for each other. The sport is a team effort, after all.
Lastly, our team bonding was critical. We engaged on and off the mat. The words of encouragement to each other while practicing and performing got you through a routine. And we engaged off the mat to really get to know one another as a person and an athlete—it made all the difference in your teams’ dynamic.
Ultimately, anyone who has played or participated in a sport understands how valuable all of this is. Well, the same goes for online communities. Of course, the common interest brings people together, but the engagement, trust, and support one another provide actually create a strong online community. Community is community, no matter the medium.
References
Online communities and Social Communities: A Primer. i-SCOOP. (2020, June 4). Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://www.i-scoop.eu/online-communities-social-communities-primer/
Pfortmüller, F. (2017, September 20). What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter. Medium. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://medium.com/together-institute/what-does-community-even-mean-a-definition-attempt-conversation-starter-9b443fc523d0
