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👋 Community Padawans!
Really glad to see you all here. We are back in “class”, after launching our first episode of the ConnectDots podcast with Lais de Oliveira.
We have been together already for 5 weeks and, let me tell you something, week after week, I am more in love with this win-win mission: building my learning journey while looking to offer the best content possible, in a very simple way.
🟢 Let’s connect one more dot!? That’s what we all do, right?
Talking about making it simple, and having the goal of sharing the best tips, take-aways, stories, frameworks and thoughts about community building for startups, on this issue, we will make it all clear & simple in what regards having a community (let’s use the Defining Community Checklist) and since the main focus is ALWAYS your members, you may ask:
“But if I am building a community for my customers, what are the benefits for my startup/company?” It is all about the Power of Community!
Let’s dive in? Lezzzzz go!
Your Community Padawan ⚔️
Francisco
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CONNECTING THE DOTS ON DEFINING COMMUNITY
Community is not for every business
Ok, let’s start this week’s post by saying that: because community building is becoming a big trend, there is the risk of everyone wishing to have a community-centric startup or company. Keep calm! Breathe!
Yes, we are talking about a huge opportunity to have an unique and new competitive advantage but, community as a strategy, might not be a fit for every business, just like social media, for example, is not a mandatory strategy to put in practice in every business.
Be smart, do your own research, see if it all makes sense but don’t go all in to build a community, just because…it’s cool!
Community = More than having visitors
We all know that song from the band Extreme - More than words. There is a sentence saying: “More than words, is all you have to do to make it real.”
Ok, our turn now. Ready? All together: More than visitors and a Slack channel, is not enough to make a community real. (crowd screaming of joy) 👏👏
For some, to have a community is to set a slack channel with some people there or organizing events (remember the party effect?). We cannot stress this enough: community building is so much more than that.
Slack is just a platform where the community is gathered, facilitates the purpose of building a community. And organizing events is one of many ways for you to make community happen, another platform that will allow people to interact with each other.
To reach the “Community building point”, there is a long journey of getting your members connected through authentic interactions. Everything you do, is for the sake of connections, focused on your members, promoting trust on a vulnerable space. There is actually an incredible article from Bailey Richardson, from People & Company: you build a community with people, not for them.
CaaS | Community as a Strategy: helping companies with their goals
Members, Members, Members. But, what about the benefits for the startup or company on building a community? You may have heard already this question or “What are the benefits of building a startup focused on a community or building a brand around a community?
Actually, there are many. Let’s name a few:
Innovation: for example, on a early-stage, can you imagine having a community with engaged members willing to give feedback (for iteration)?
Or, community as a tool for co-creation with your customers?;
Talent: when building a community, you are also working to have a better internal culture. You are working to have a perfect match with your employees, and as a result of that, higher employee retention.
🤔 On the other side, you might also have the chance to create a “talent pool” with the members of your community;
Engagement: of course, this one is more obvious. Since we will put in practice a thousand ways to create interactions and connections, community will contribute a lot to get a better engagement, benefit customer acquisition and, ultimately, their retention;
Support: Is there any better customer support team than having your customers representing you, your brand, your values and your purpose? Don't think so.
Marketing: here, we are not talking about building a community to sell more. That's a result of all the connections that you facilitate, the way you help your customers with their needs. You get more visibility and more word of mouth.
That’s why, when you think about community with the goal of marketing your company, boost your sales, you are doing things wrong. It is totally the other way around.
What do you think about the benefits mentioned above? Tell us your opinion
👇
Community Padawans, with today’s topic, I really hope that is now more clear what is a community and what isn’t. You now have a “checklist” that can guide you in creating your community. And, if this strategy makes sense for your business, and if you make it throught (building a community is not easy), you know now some of the “gains” of having really connected members, passionate about your brand and your purpose.
Even not having a “one size fits all” framework to build communities, you have two things guaranteed:
1- We got your back on making this journey “easier” with the best content;
2- If you make it (and you will), you will be unstoppable.
| 🔮 Community Pledge: “Community-led companies are the future”. This is the starting point of a pledge launched by Commsor, signed already by inspiring companies such Hopin, Notion, OnDeck, Product Hunt who will work together to accomplish this mission. Sign it!
| 👀 Don’t validate ideas, validate visions: very short but straight to the point article from Rosie Sherry that will give you another perspective on building a business;
| 💻 The future of community is virtual: an interesting article by Aubrie Pagano about the growth of virtual communities, different models you can build and some real good examples of communities investing in this strategy;
Outseta: gives creators all the tools they need to launch and grow remarkably efficient subscription businesses;
Podia: everything you need to sell online courses, webinars, downloads, and memberships without worrying about the tech. ;
Mighty Neworks: bring together your content, community, online courses, memberships, and more all in one place
That’s it for this week’s Connect Dots.
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