Community Spotlight: Glucose Guide Diabetes Support
Ever wondered what goes into the making of an engaged, transformational, and profitable community? Look no further.
Our spotlight series dives into the behind the scenes of some of the most successful and creative communities on Circle, uncovering how their community is set up, what their growth and monetization tactics are, and so much more.
Take a tour of Glucose Guide Diabetes Support, a community crafted by Mila Clarke to offer Evidence-based support to individuals living with diabetes and their loved ones. As a Circle Plus customer with a custom mobile app, Mila has designed a dynamic and supportive community, offering many resources from health and wellness coaching to a specialized recipe library.
The community breakdown
đź“Ť Community: Glucose Guide Diabetes Support
đź‘‹ Founder: Mila Clarke
🗓️ Launched in: May 2023
🌟 Size: 475+
🎯 Purpose: Evidence-based support for individuals living with diabetes, a nonjudgmental space with open discussions and practical resources.
đź’°Pricing model: Membership is free; the community relies on sponsorships and regular member donations
Core community offering
Mila has built an engaged audience through her podcast, YouTube channel, website and social profiles, by dishing out diabetes advice and support for free. By building this trust up front, she’s been able to turn her audience into a thriving, transformational community.
Mila’s community members gain access to:
- Educational resources: A ton of educational materials, including articles, videos, and courses.
- Live cooking classes: Step-by-step instructions for cooking glucose-friendly meals. Videos can also be viewed on-demand!
- 1:1 and group coaching: Personalized guidance and a tailored plan from Mila, a certified health coach.
- Member support: A vibrant community where members can connect with like-minded individuals, share experiences, and find the support they need to stay motivated.
How it’s organized
Mila structures her community into a few key buckets:
- New Member Hub: A start here space, as well as a discussion area for introductions.
- Health and Wellness Coaching: A variety of helpful content, like courses, playbooks, group coaching chat, and more.
- Recipes: A library of recipes, ranging from daily meals to tactical glucose advice.
- Glucose Guide Community: Chock full of spaces that encourage member engagement, like diabetes news, events, ask the community, share your wins, daily blood sugar check-in, and more.
- Community Challenges: A collection of events, along with associated check-ins, and group chats.
You can explore the live community space here.
The Glucose Guide community can also be accessed via Mila’s custom mobile app, available on both iOS and android. Having a fully branded app really puts Mila’s community front and center, giving her community members a premium experience. The best part? As a Circle Plus customer, the app was built for her in under 6 weeks, including strategy support, and custom design assets that perfectly matched her brand.
How it’s monetized
The Glucose Guide community is run on paid brand partnerships and a “pay what you can” model for members. Mila relies on these partnerships and individual member subscriptions—starting at $1 a week, $5-$50 a month, or $100 for a one time all-access fee—to stay active and keep providing Evidence-based resources and virtual diabetes health and wellness coaching.
Although all of the content in the community is public (aka free to access), member donations help her provide low-cost coaching, diabetes-friendly recipes, and assistance with diabetes to everyone who needs it.
The community team
Mila is a mighty team of one! She handles community management, content creation, and more all by herself. This actually has an upside. Not only does being a one-person-show allow Mila to save more money, but she’s also in a better position to gain valuable insights and deeper connections to her community.
In fact, in a recent survey to 682 community pros, we found that around 60% of communities are run by one person teams. You can dig into the full report here!
Mila’s top community building tips & tricks
đź’ˇ Engage with tailored content: To boost member engagement, Mila curates content specifically for her community's needs, such as a detailed food and recipe library. She compiles resources that directly address her members' interests, making them both informative and interactive.
💡 Use Circle workflows to personally welcome every new member: Mila's strategy focuses on building a supportive community in a scalable way. She’s developed interactive features that foster a nurturing environment, like welcome messages that automatically send out to new members, and daily affirmations and health check-ins.
💡 Educate through flexible learning: Mila offers a free, self-paced diabetes management course in her community. This method allows members to learn at their own speed, catering to different knowledge levels. It’s a way of incorporating educational content that's accessible and appealing for all community members.
Mila's friendly community exemplifies a thoughtful approach to community building, combining expert knowledge with practical tools to create a supportive and educational environment. She also proves that it’s absolutely possible to run a successful business and community as a team of one!
If you want to learn more about Mila’s community, watch her full Show & Tell session below.
