A community can be a strategic moat for your business.
In web3, your community can invest in your project by buying tokens. For many other businesses, an active community can help acquire users, retain them and gather insights for what to build next. Communities are becoming critical for most businesses.
Here’s how you build one effectively.
Find a common purpose
It’s easier to bring together a group of people with a common purpose.
A shared purpose sets clear goals for what members of the community should contribute, and expect to gain from the community. It's better to start with a niche and then expand if you need to.
Start with a core group
Don’t open the gates until you’re ready.
Start small. Find core contributors for your community before opening up. You’ll want to find members who contribute actively in the beginning. They will help you manage and grow the community.
Keep it active
Like marketplaces, communities suffer from a cold start problem.
New members will want to see content before they contribute. It’s important the core team seeds the community with content. And this is where the common purpose helps keep conversations on track. With time, members will contribute content but it will need curation.
Great onboarding
Get your new members settled in.
Communities can be overwhelming for new users. Guide them once they join and point them to areas of activity. The faster your members start contributing, the more likely they are to stay.
Start now
If your product or service could use a community, it's one of the best investments you'll make.