A simple exercise if you're starting a community. 🍄

If you want to build a great community, then you have got to put the success of your community members first. What are the benefits that a member can take away by joining your community? What are the immediate problems you can solve for them? What is that you can do to help achieve their objectives?

Let’s do a small exercise and figure it out. We are now going to brainstorm together.
I put myself in the shoes of a prospective customer of yours. I am interested in joining your community for only either of these four possible reasons.

Meet new people, and I assume they and I have a shared interest so I can discuss some ideas, opinions and make new friends. Don’t underestimate this value, I for one will sign up for this if you got some great people inside your club.

The Content. If I see some amazing content (assuming the community is open for the public to see) being written by you, great ideas being discussed, podcasts, videos, articles, then I would like to join to learn more. But I may not sign-up if I can read without having having to sign-up. So probably you need to get some restrictions here, like hidden channels or control over the number of posts that I can see.

Exclusivity. Remember the movie scene where Jesse Eisenberg says, “exclusivity, Harvard.edu”?. There are millions of people around the world, and when you tell me I am going to part of a small exclusive club for something awesome, I am going to tweet about this. This is my bragging rights.

A community that is willing to help. I joined Indiehackers because I saw people helping each other. I personally never experienced that on subreddits. This is a BIG value, and if you do manage to provide this consistently, then your community is unstoppable.

I think I covered a majority of the reasons, and of course, If you manage to provide more than one of these benefits to me, then as a prospective member, I am delighted to join your clubhouse. But I suggest you pick one core value that you will never compromise, something that you promise to your members when they join.

I am writing you a few examples, post-reading write yours in the comment and check if someone in here will be willing to join your community.

Examples:

I make processing payments easier. My community is for freelancers. I want my members to exchange successful practices, guidance, and enjoy it being used by others.

I help developers solve their bugs quicker. My community is for front end developers. I want my members to ask questions and get reliable answers in less than 24-hours.

I sell pizza’s online. My community is exclusive to my store visitors. I want my customers to share their experiences, have fun, and enjoy their time together.

I teach marketing. My community is for technical founders wanting to learn more about marketing. I want my members to learn something new every day and develop skills.

Now go ahead, write what you do, who your community is for, and what is that benefit you are planning to provide in the comments. Check how many people are interested in joining your clan.

Let's grow side by side. Say hello in my website chat if you are there 👋