Community Building Strategy

When to Activate

Use this skill when:

• Building an online community from scratch
• Improving engagement in an existing community
• Choosing the right platform for a community
• Developing community rituals, content, and culture
• Scaling community management
• Creating a user-generated content (UGC) strategy
• Measuring community health and ROI

First Questions

Before building a community, clarify:

1. What is the community's purpose? (Support, learning, networking, co-creation, entertainment)
2. Who is the ideal member? (Demographics, psychographics, shared identity)
3. What value does a member get that they cannot get elsewhere?
4. What platform(s) will the community live on?
5. What resources are available for community management? (Staff time, tools, budget)
6. Is this a free community, paid community, or hybrid?
7. How does the community connect to business goals? (Retention, advocacy, feedback, sales)

Core Rules

1. Community is not an audience. An audience consumes your content. A community creates its own. The moment members talk to each other (not just to you), you have a community.
2. Value first, ask later. Provide 10x more value than you ever extract. The moment a community feels transactional, it dies.
3. Small and engaged beats large and passive. 100 members who show up daily are worth more than 10,000 silent followers.
4. Culture is set in the first 50 members. Those initial members define the norms. Recruit them intentionally.
5. Rituals create belonging. Recurring events, inside jokes, shared language — these are the glue.
6. Moderation is culture enforcement. What you allow, you encourage. What you remove, you discourage.
7. Community managers are the most important hire. A great community manager is worth more than a great marketing campaign.
8. Communities die from neglect, not conflict. Silence kills faster than arguments.

Community vs Audience: The Distinction

Attribute	Audience	Community
Communication	One-to-many	Many-to-many
Value creation	Creator only	Members + creator
Identity	"I follow X"	"I am a member of X"
Engagement	Passive consumption	Active participation
Switching cost	Low (unfollow)	High (relationships, identity)
Growth driver	Content	Belonging
Metric	Followers/subscribers	Active members, conversations

The Engagement Flywheel

Community engagement is a self-reinforcing cycle:

New member joins
      |
      v
Sees active discussion + welcoming culture
      |
      v
Makes first contribution (comment, question, share)
      |
      v
Receives response/validation from members or moderators
      |
      v
Feels belonging — returns and contributes again
      |
      v
Becomes a regular — welcomes and validates new members
      |
      v
[Cycle continues — the community sustains itself]

How to Kickstart the Flywheel

1. Seed conversations. In the early days, you (the founder/manager) must start every conversation.
2. Respond to everything. Every post, question, and comment gets a response within 24 hours. In the first 100 members, within 2 hours.
3. Spotlight members. Feature member stories, wins, and contributions publicly.
4. Lower the barrier to first contribution. Polls, intros, simple questions — make the first step easy.
5. Introduce members to each other. "Hey @Alex, @Jordan asked a question about X — I think you'd have great insight here."

Conversation Starters

Daily/Weekly Prompts

• Monday: "What's one goal you're working on this week?"
• Wednesday: "Share a win from this week — big or small."
• Friday: "What's one thing you learned this week that surprised you?"
• Weekend: "What are you reading/watching/listening to?"

Engagement-Driving Post Types

1. Hot takes: "Unpopular opinion: [controversial-but-not-offensive take]. Agree or disagree?"
2. This or that: "Remote work or office? And why?"
3. Ask me anything: Feature a member or expert for a Q&A session.
4. Challenges: "30-day [skill] challenge — post your daily progress here."
5. Advice threads: "You can only give one piece of advice about [topic]. What is it?"
6. Show your work: "Share what you're working on. No polish needed."
7. Resource sharing: "What's the best [tool/book/course] you've discovered recently?"
8. Storytelling: "Tell us about a time when [relatable experience]."

Avoiding Engagement Killers

• Don't ask questions that can be answered with one word
• Don't post prompts you wouldn't respond to yourself
• Don't reuse the same prompt format too frequently
• Don't make prompts about the brand — make them about the members

User-Generated Content (UGC) Encouragement

Making UGC Easy

1. Templates and frameworks — Give members fill-in-the-blank templates to share their version
2. Branded hashtags — Create a hashtag and actively reshare content that uses it
3. Challenges — Time-bound creative challenges with clear parameters
4. Features and spotlights — "Member of the week" programs that reward contribution
5. Co-creation opportunities — Let members vote on products, content topics, or event themes

UGC Best Practices

• Always ask permission before resharing member content
• Credit the creator prominently
• Make submission easy — clear instructions, low effort required
• Showcase a variety of members (not just the loudest voices)
• Respond to every UGC submission, even if you don't feature it

Community Rituals and Traditions

Rituals turn a group into a community. They create predictability, shared experience, and identity.

Types of Rituals

1. Welcome ritual — How new members are greeted (intro thread, welcome message, buddy system)
2. Regular events — Weekly live chats, monthly AMAs, quarterly meetups
3. Celebration rituals — Acknowledging milestones (100th post, member anniversaries, achievements)
4. Inside language — Community-specific terms, acronyms, or phrases
5. Shared challenges — Monthly or quarterly group challenges with shared progress
6. Annual traditions — Yearly events that members look forward to (awards, retrospectives, summits)

Creating Rituals That Stick

• Start simple — one ritual at a time
• Be consistent — same day, same time, same format
• Make them participatory, not performative
• Let rituals evolve based on member input
• Document rituals in a pinned post or welcome guide

Moderation at Scale

Moderation Philosophy

• Be transparent about rules — post them prominently
• Enforce consistently — same rules for everyone, including power users
• Escalation ladder: Warning, temporary mute, temporary ban, permanent ban
• Assume good intent first — most rule-breaking is accidental
• Private correction, public praise — address violations in DMs when possible

Moderation Structure for Growing Communities

Community Size	Moderation Approach
0-100	Founder moderates directly
100-500	Founder + 1-2 trusted member moderators
500-2,000	Dedicated community manager + volunteer moderators
2,000-10,000	Community manager team + moderation tools + volunteer team
10,000+	Full team + automated moderation + escalation protocols

Essential Community Rules (Template)

1. Be respectful — disagree with ideas, not people
2. No self-promotion without context and value
3. No spam, affiliate links, or unsolicited DMs
4. Stay on topic for the community's purpose
5. No sharing of private conversations without consent
6. Ask before DMing other members
7. Report violations — do not engage publicly with trolls

Platform-Specific Community Features

Discord

• Best for: Real-time conversation, gaming, tech, crypto, creator communities
• Strengths: Channels, roles, bots, voice chat, stage channels, threads
• Tips: Create clear channel structure, use role-based access, set up welcome bots, create an onboarding flow
• Challenge: Can feel overwhelming — limit channels to 10-15 to start

Facebook Groups

• Best for: Broad audiences, older demographics, local communities
• Strengths: Large user base, familiar UX, events integration, units for learning
• Tips: Use Group rules, admin assist for auto-moderation, welcome posts, topic tags
• Challenge: Declining organic reach, algorithm changes, platform perception

Reddit

• Best for: Topic-focused discussion, anonymous communities, niche interests
• Strengths: Threaded discussion, upvoting, wiki, flairs
• Tips: Set clear subreddit rules, use post flairs, create a wiki, engage actively
• Challenge: Anti-brand sentiment, requires genuine value (not marketing)

X Communities

• Best for: Topic-based conversation among X users
• Strengths: Integrated with X feed, easy to join, public or private
• Tips: Post daily conversation starters, cross-promote in tweets
• Challenge: Limited features compared to dedicated community platforms

Slack / Circle / Mighty Networks / Geneva

• Best for: Professional communities, paid communities, course-based communities
• Strengths: Focused experience, membership controls, content organization
• Tips: Combine async discussion with live events, create a content library
• Challenge: Requires members to adopt another platform

Choosing the Right Platform

• Where does your audience already spend time? Go there first.
• What type of conversation do you want? Real-time (Discord/Slack) vs. async (Facebook Groups/Circle)
• Do you need ownership? Platform-owned (Facebook, Reddit) vs. self-hosted (Discord, Circle, Mighty)
• Is monetization a goal? Paid community platforms (Circle, Mighty) have built-in payment features

Community Metrics

Health Metrics

Metric	What It Measures	Healthy Benchmark
Daily Active Members (DAM)	Engagement depth	10-30% of total members
Posts per day	Content generation	Growing or stable trend
Response time	Community support	Under 4 hours average
Member retention (30-day)	Stickiness	40-60% monthly active
New member activation	Onboarding effectiveness	30-50% post within first week
Member-to-member conversations	Self-sustaining indicator	More than creator-to-member
NPS or satisfaction score	Overall health	40+ NPS

Vanity Metrics to Deprioritize

• Total member count (without activity data)
• Pageviews (without engagement context)
• Social media followers (not the same as community members)

ROI Metrics (Business Impact)

• Customer retention rate for community members vs non-members
• Customer lifetime value (CLV) difference
• Support ticket reduction
• Referral rate from community members
• Product feedback and feature requests generated
• Brand advocacy (reviews, testimonials, social mentions)

Scaling Community Management

The 3-Layer Model

1. Core team (paid) — Community managers who set strategy, create content, and manage operations
2. Super members (volunteer or incentivized) — Active members who moderate, welcome newcomers, and spark conversations
3. General members — The broader community participating at various levels

Identifying and Nurturing Super Members

• Look for members who consistently contribute quality content
• Invite them to a private group or advisory council
• Give them recognition (badges, titles, early access)
• Include them in decision-making
• Never exploit their goodwill — offer genuine value in return

Tools for Scaling

• Moderation bots — Auto-flag spam, enforce rules
• Welcome automations — Onboarding sequences for new members
• Content calendars — Plan prompts and events in advance
• Analytics dashboards — Track health metrics consistently
• Knowledge base/wiki — Reduce repetitive questions

Quality Gate

Before launching or evaluating a community, verify:

• Is the community's purpose clear in one sentence?
• Is there a value proposition that members cannot get elsewhere?
• Are community rules posted and accessible?
• Is there an onboarding flow for new members?
• Are there at least 3 recurring rituals or events?
• Is there a response time target (and is it being met)?
• Are conversation starters being posted regularly?
• Is moderation consistent and documented?
• Are community metrics being tracked monthly?
• Is there a plan for identifying and nurturing super members?
• Does the community feel member-driven, not brand-driven?