Let's Launch Your Community
Day 1: Identify Your Community
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Looking to launch a community around your brand or organization? You’re in the right place! Over the next seven days, I'll teach you how to organize brief educational events that will help you expand your email list and build a community.
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The Four Pillars of Community Building
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Before we dive in, let’s step back and take a look at the big picture. When we say that we want to build a community, what we are really saying is that we want to create a space where people with a shared interest can come together. Creating this type of space involves four central pillars:
- Â In-Person Events: This is often a large annual conference or festival, though some organizations produce these events more frequently.
 -  Virtual Events: Virtual events are best used as a supplement to in-person events, not a substitute. To build community, these virtual events must encourage real-time interactions among attendees.
-  Online Groups: Asynchronous online groups allow community members to continue conversations with people they meet at in-person and virtual events. You can create online groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, or a custom platform.
- Â Content: When it comes to building communities, new people are often initially attracted by the content, then return for the interaction with other community members. This content can take many forms: blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, webinars, white papers, and more.
 Putting The Pillars Together
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As you reflect on your own organization, you may realize that you already have some of these pillars in place. That’s great! Stick with me, and I'll teach you how to create a comprehensive community building strategy by combining the elements you already have with new ones. If you don’t have any of these pillars in place yet, don’t worry. I will also show you how to start from scratch.
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Why We Start With Virtual Events
Whether you have some pillars in place already or not, I always recommend that people start with virtual events.
Here’s why...
- Â Virtual events will build up your email database: Your email database is probably the single most important tool in your arsenal when it comes to building community. If you have a big email list, you can invite people to your events, encourage them to participate in your online group, and guide them to your content.
- Â Virtual events can create content. I will teach you how to host virtual events in the next week. These events will create content that can be reused, giving you double the benefits.
- Â Launching a new in-person event can be expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, I suggest focusing on other pillars before pursuing this option. Instead, prioritize building an email list. Wait until you are certain that your email list can generate sufficient attendance before organizing an in-person event.
-  Online groups require critical mass. Creating online groups is simple on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, but it requires effective moderation to make them active and engaging. It also takes a lot of members. That’s why I recommend waiting until you have a sizable email list before focusing on creating an online group.
What is a Social Workshop?
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Over the next seven days, I will show you how to host a specific type of virtual event called a “Social Workshop.” A Social Workshop is a short online gathering where people can learn and, most importantly, interact with one another. It’s easiest to think of Social Workshop as the next evolution of webinars. With traditional webinars, attendees all watch the main presentation, and the interaction, if any, is limited to text chat.
By contrast, while a Social Workshop still has a main presentation, it also allows attendees to network with each other through video conferencing. By creating a space for the attendees to connect with one another, Social Workshops build community in a way that traditional webinars do not.
Host Social Workshops at regular intervals.
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Social Workshops are most effective when they are held on a regular basis, such as monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly. Don’t treat your Social Workshops as special occasions. Instead, set a regular cadence, such as “the first Tuesday of every month,” to establish a pattern for your attendees. This will get them in the habit of attending.
Social Workshops have proven to be incredibly successful in terms of return attendance. The chance to reunite with familiar faces while also fostering new connections makes these workshops a truly irresistible opportunity for people. To maximize this return rate, establish a pattern with the timing of your workshops.
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How much time does it take to produce Social Workshops?
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Your first Social Workshop will take the most time to produce simply because you need to set everything up. It can take 15 to 20 hours, depending on what you already have in place and how tech-savvy you are.
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After that, each Social Workshop only takes about five hours to produce:
- One hour to prepare for the interview and check the technical setup.
- One hour for the interview presentation
- One hour to set up the workshop
- One hour to promote the workshop
- One hour to conduct the workshop
Of course, the more workshops you host, the faster you will become at producing them. You will eventually discover shortcuts to save yourself time, such as recording multiple interviews in a single day.
Make sure that you are comfortable with the time commitment that Social Workshops require before embarking on this journey. Speaking of which, let’s talk about the other…
Pre-Requisites: A Reality Check
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Social Workshops are a fantastic way to launch a community, but they aren’t right for every organization. Here’s what you should have in place before attempting to undertake this endeavor:
- A Website: Can you host Social Workshops without a website? Yes. Do I recommend it? No.
- An Audience: This strategy is most effective if you already have access to the people you want as members of your community. Ideally, you have an email list, a social media following, or foot traffic through a physical establishment. I have even seen people build communities using just the power of their existing personal relationships. But if you don’t currently have any access to your potential community members, this will be difficult.
- A Modest Budget: The tools I suggest aren't very expensive, but if you prefer free options, this won't be suitable for you.
- Patience: Communities are not built overnight. Your first Social Workshops will be small. To grow them, you will need to be patient and consistent. If you’re not in it for the long haul, get out now.
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If you’re still with me, let’s begin…
STEP ONE: Define your community's mission.
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Building a new community is rewarding and exciting, but it requires careful planning before any work can begin. The first and most important step is to define the community's mission, which is the shared purpose that drives all members of the community towards a common goal. Without a clear and concise mission, a community can quickly become scattered and lose its focus. It is essential that this purpose is shared by all members of the community, not just the organizers.
For example, Podcast Movement, an annual podcasting conference, has built a community of podcasters who gather to improve their craft. They view each other as peers, celebrate each other's successes, and support one another through challenges.
The objective of the Podcast Movement community is clear: to improve their podcasts and provide better content to their listeners. Note, however, that the community's mission is not to sell more tickets to the Podcast Movement conference. While boosting ticket sales benefits the community organizers, but it is not the mission because individual podcasters who take part in the community do not share this goal.Although each podcaster has their own unique goals, they recognize that their success is closely linked to the success of the community as a whole. A shared purpose is what holds the community together.
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An effective formula for stating your community's mission succinctly is this:Â
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"We are a group of X who gather to do Y so that we can accomplish Z.”
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Try stating your community's mission by substituting the variables with the appropriate details.
Exercise:
Craft a mission statement for your community utilizing the formula, "We are a collective of X who come together to engage in Y in order to achieve Z.”
STEP TWO: Establish personas for your community members.
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After determining the mission of your community, the next step is to identify potential members who will join. A good way to do this is through the use of personas. Personas are fictional characters that represent typical members of your community. By creating personas, you can easily identify who your ideal community members are and what their needs might be.Â
When creating personas for your community, think about the different types of people who may join and their reasons for doing so. For example, if you're building a gardening community, you may have some members who are new gardeners, while others may be experienced green thumbs. You can use these different types of people to create personas, such as "the beginner gardener", or "the advanced horticulturalist.”
Once you've created your personas, it's important to understand their motivations for joining the community; what do they hope to gain from it? Knowing this will help you craft content and activities that are tailored to your members' needs.
Here are some important considerations when crafting the personas for your community members:
1. Understand the social identity of your community members.
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Social Identity plays a key role in community building. Social identity refers to how individuals categorize themselves and others into social groups based on shared characteristics or affiliations.
Take, for instance, the classic example of individuals wearing "Harley-Davidson" jackets. When someone dons such a jacket, they're not just wearing a piece of clothing; they are signaling their membership in the Harley-Davidson community. This conveys to others that they share a particular interest, lifestyle, or passion. It's a way of saying, "I belong to this group, and this is a part of who I am." In essence, social identity is about finding belonging and expressing it through these affiliations and symbols.
Being a part of a community is more than just attending meetings and events. For many people, it is a way to define their social identity and connect with others who share their values and beliefs. As a community organizer, understanding the importance of this connection is key to creating a strong and inclusive group. When individuals choose to join your organization, they are saying something about themselves and their priorities. By recognizing this, you can create a space that fosters growth, learning, and a sense of belonging for all members.
Key Question:
When people join your community, what are they trying to say about themselves to others?
2. Identify the milestones your members will achieve as they pursue their goals.
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As you dive into the process of building a community, identifying the milestones that your members will achieve is crucial. A milestone is essentially a significant accomplishment that marks the progress of an individual or group towards their ultimate goal. For example, for a community of stand-up comedians, milestones could include:
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- Getting paid to perform for the first time
- Securing a spot in a comedy festival
- Being invited to perform your first headlining gig
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Different communities will have different milestones. Understanding what these milestones are, and supporting your community members in reaching them, will go a long way towards building a thriving and supportive community.
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a community organizer is seeing your members achieve these milestones and succeed in their goals. As community organizers, it will be important to develop an effective system for recognizing such accomplishments to ensure that members feel appreciated and valued. Celebrating those wins is not only a great way to boost morale and motivation, but it also helps to establish a sense of community among your members. We’ll talk more about how you can recognize community members when they hit milestones down the road.
Exercise:
Brainstorm a list of milestones that members of your community hope to achieve.
3. Think about gatekeeping in the community.
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A community is not just a random group of individuals coming together and sharing a common space; it’s an entity that needs to be carefully crafted and nurtured. To ensure the success and sustainability of a community, gatekeeping plays a crucial role. This is the process of carefully selecting individuals to join the community, and also rejecting some people who may not fit the community’s established culture or values.
Some people might think that excluding certain individuals goes against the very nature of creating a community. However, in reality, it’s essential for the community’s survival. By keeping a strict check, gatekeeping helps ensure that everyone in the community feels safe and respected. This is important because if people don’t feel safe, they won’t participate.
However, it is crucial to remember that gatekeeping should be based on people's actions rather than characteristics they are born with. It is unfair to deny someone entry to a community simply because of their race, gender, or other innate qualities. Instead, admission criteria should be based on an individual's actions and achievements. This ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to become a member of the community.
Key Question:
What will people need to do to become a member of your community?
4. Anticipate the formation of subgroups within your community.
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As a community organizer, it is important to anticipate the growth and evolution of your community. The exciting thing about communities is that they are made up of individuals with unique backgrounds, interests, and needs. As your community grows, subgroups will inevitably form based on these differences.Â
For instance, within a community of mobile app developers, it's possible that developers specializing in different operating systems will form separate subgroups. By being attentive to these shifts, you can ensure that your community continues to thrive and grow in a positive direction.
Exercise:
Brainstorm a list of subgroups that might form as your community grows.
STEP THREE: Reach out to people you already know.
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Once you've identified the qualities that make someone a good fit for your community, it's time to start reaching out to those you already know who meet those criteria. Talk to them about the four aspects of your target community members above and get their feedback. You may be surprised to learn about some factors that you have not considered. These discussions with real people who are potential community members can validate your efforts.
Exercise:
Set up appointments with potential community members to gain their insight.
STEP FOUR: Check for similar communities.
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Now that you understand who the members of your community will be, it's important to do your research and see if something similar already exists. This will give you an idea of what's already out there and how your community can differentiate itself. Checking popular online platforms such as Google, MeetUp.com, Facebook Groups, and LinkedIn is a great place to start. Take note of the size and engagement levels of existing communities and compare them to your goals. It's worth double-checking that another community isn't already meeting the need you aim to fill.
Key Question:
Are there any other communities that already fill the needs of the members you hope to attract?
Your Homework Assignment:
- Define the mission of your community.
- Create personas to represent your community members.
- Schedule conversations with people you know who fit the profile of your community members.
Up Next: Setting Up Your Email Database
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When we meet next, I’ll show you how to set up your database to capture all the information you need from your community members. This step is crucial, because it helps you grow your email list in a way that will build your community.
Need More Help?
Need more help producing your Social Workshops? I teach an online course called “How to Launch a Community Using Social Workshops.” I am also available for one-on-one consulting to help you get your workshops up and off the ground.
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