3 ways to be a trustworthy tribe leader with Andre Eikmeier.

Almost everyone who has a business with an online presense talks about the importance of their community. But very few people are talking about ways to nuture their community or the role of community custodian and how important that is in doing great business online. Today, I talk to the passionate, driven and generous co-founder of Vinomofo – Australia’s digital wine guys, Andre Eikmeier. Being a ‘tribe leader’ as he calls it is something he takes VERY serisouly, and in episode one of Be The Drop Podcast, Andre shares with us his 3 tips for being a trustworthy leader for your online tribe.

Stand for something

While it seems simple in concept, standing for something as a business is a critical part of creating a trusted online tribe. Think about those people you trust most, you know who they are, their motives, where they came from and why they are doing what they are doing. You understand them and accept what they say as fact far more openly. This is exactly what you want to create withint your online tribe. Andre talks about this in this episode of the podcast, about how Vinomofo etched out their niche in the wine industry by being honest, open and candid with their followers.

Love them

Love your tribe, and they will love you back. I love the way Andre talks about his community as a tribe, not just a database. It’s this familiarity and endearment of his community peaks through in everything they do – and their tribe love them for it. Look for ways to love your community, maybe you give them an effectionate name, or give them special offers you give no-one else. Find out what your community want most, and give it to them.

Interact

Interacting with your community is the number one way to create a trusting and mutually beneficial relationship. Understanding what your people want (our Customer Persona Tool might help with this) and giving it to them in the way they want it is VITAL to inspiring action. Andre and the whole Vinomofo team have this interaction down pat, ensuring they are where their customers are throughout social media. Whether its Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook, Vinomofo go out of their way to ensure they are able to interact with their tribe in a meaningful way. Andre touches further on why this is so important in the podcast below.

To hear these tips expanded upon and more great communication tips from Andre, you can listen below. Be sure to Subscribe in iTunes, or your favourite Podcast app.

Warning: this episode contains some strong language. We have included the language as it’s authentic to the way in which Andre communicates with his tribe. If swearing is not your thing, I recommend that you wait until episode 2 which will be released next Monday.

About Andre

Andre launched online wine site, Vinomofo with brother in law Justin in 2011. They wanted to “do something cool and useful for the wine industry”, and it’s grown to be one of the most successful wine sites in the country, winning a host of business awards including Deloitte’s Fastest Growing Tech company in 2013, BRW’s Best Employer in 2014 and ORIA’s Online Retailer of the Year 2015. In four years, the company has grown from two founders in their garage to 90 staff, nearly 400,000 members, an annual turnover of $50 million, and they’re now taking Vinomofo to the world. “We want everyone to be able to experience good wine, we want to be proud of what we do and our impact on the planet, and we want to have fun. That’s our mission,” says Andre.

In next week’s episode of Be The Drop podcast, I interview Sarah Jensen, online business coach and host of Rock Your Goals workshops. To access the weekly podcast episodes as they are released:

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Enjoy! Amelia xx

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