It was a train ride to my first meeting with Nick Sarillo, new client. We met over a pizza in his Crystal Lake restaurant — a rare experience. It felt like “going home.”

As Nick showed me around and told me about his restaurants, as I watched and listened, I realized this guy — whose social presence was basically a website — already had the keys to community and social media. I saw proof in the faces and the stories of the people who worked with him.

It’s been a pleasure to work with Nick and his team on their integrated social marketing plans. But this post is about what I’ve learned from watching what Nick has built and what he does.

10 Trust and Track Keys to Community Culture

1. Invest creatively, emotionally, financially, and personally in your commmunity. Care about the people who help you thrive. Realize their stories are your stories. Take a risk in favor of the folks who support you. The right risks show you are with them.
2. Intentionally attract amazing people. Set a standard or a process that makes them proud to be participate. Nick’s hiring process is strategically organized to bring in only the most dedicated employees.
3. Learn together and share rewards. Let everyone know what works for the community and what doesn’t. Let them participate in ideas. Reward and promote the folks who contribute in predictable and surprising ways.
4. Trust and be trustworthy. Trust people to be intelligent, responsible, and trustworthy human beings and live up to that standard. Make your trust visible in your actions and systems. Support structures and flexibility that build the community.
5. Know when to say “no” immediately. Deal with disrespect or destructive behavior as soon as it happens. Tell the hard truth in a careful, gentle manner. Protect the culture and the people who invested in it.
6. Value the input of experienced people outside the community. You can’t be inside and outside of a problem. You can’t have all of the new ideas. You don’t need to test out everything on your community.
7. Let people tell you the “bad news.” The most useful information is the hardest to find out. Make it safe and easy to share what’s wrong. Trust people to protect what they’ve helped to build.
8. Care more about their mission. It’s not what they do or say that’s important. It’s what they value. Build a culture around common values and let folks choose how to they use it.
9. Pay attention to what’s working and quickly lose what’s not. It’s easy to hand over all of the community direction once things are going well. But that brings us back to point 1, be invested in the community. You can’t neglect what folks love.
10. Take your time to build it together. Every great community started with two people and took time.

This month on the newstand issue of INC. magazine, Nick’s story is on the cover. Bo Burlingham did a brilliant job of capturing the client I’ve come to know. Do go read about him.

This is Nick’s story, but it’s my story too. It will be a long time before I forget him or how well he does what he does.

Can you share a story about a client or a customer who helps you thrive?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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