The top 8 ways to monetize a community
No two communities are alike, but they all share the same mission—bringing together people with a shared interest, passion, or goal. As a community builder, you’re creating content and connections that keep current members engaged, and hopefully attracts new members.
Wherever you are in your community-building journey, you’ve likely invested time, money, and energy. A lot of time, money, and energy. You’ll eventually (probably now, since you’re reading this) reach a point when a voice inside your head says, “I think it’s time to monetize this.”
😬 Monetizing your community can be a scary proposition. We get it. You’ve built something from the ground up that people care about, and making money from it might feel strange.
Don’t panic. You’re not the first community builder to face this hurdle and you won’t be the last. The good news is there are more ways than ever to monetize your community in a way that matches your community’s brand and values.
In this post, we’re going to look at the reasons now is the time to monetize
your community and give you real-world examples from community builders who’ve
done it—and done it well.
Why should you monetize your community?
It’s easy to look at a community with thousands of members and think that’s what success looks like. The reality is that the success of a community isn’t defined by how many members are signed up. Success is engagement and value, and there’s more of both in communities that are monetized.
How do we know? We asked the experts and looked at the data to create our 2024 Community Benchmark Report.
Our team spoke with 682 community professionals—creators, entrepreneurs, and influencers—to understand their strategies to attract and retain members. That’s just the start. We then dug into our data to identify communities that demonstrate the highest level of membership engagement and the lowest level of churn, which we call Platinum communities. Last but not least, we interviewed select Platinum community builders to get on-the-ground stories of how they put strategy into action.
👉🏼 You can read the full 2024 Community Benchmark Report here. It’s a must-read for any community manager looking to grow and monetize their communities.
What we learned surprised us. A lot goes into a thriving community, but one thing stands out: monetized communities are the most successful. When we looked at the data, we saw that:
- Paid beats free. 21% of standard communities are free compared to only 7% of Platinum communities. That’s right—93% of the communities we identified as being the most successful have some type of monetization.
- Bigger isn’t better. Having more members doesn’t make a difference when it comes to success. 76% of Platinums and 82% of standards have 500 members or fewer. Only 7% of Platinum and 6% of standard communities have over 5,000 members.
Speaking with our experts, we heard time and time again that paying members have a higher level of commitment to the community. This commitment leads to greater and more valuable engagement, which leads to higher retention and helps attract new members. Members value your content when they see you value it, too.
🃏 Like The Joker said in 2008’s The Dark Knight—“If you're good at something, never do it for free.”
How to monetize a community
If you’ve made it this far, you’re either convinced it’s time to monetize, or we’ve at least piqued your interest. The good news is that there are many ways to monetize your community, and you don’t have to limit yourself to one, either.
1. Paid community space
Paid memberships are the bread and butter of monetization strategies. Your members have already found your community. They’re engaging with you, each other, and your content. They know the community has value. So, how do you move from free to paid? Anna Tyire, Founder of English Like a Native, says she focuses on providing value on her social channels and promoting the additional value available for paid members.
2. Coaching and mentorship
Communities centered around building knowledge or skills can offer coaching and mentorship opportunities as part of a paid membership or as paid add-ons for free members. These options can include:
- 1:1 coaching. If you want to run a marathon, you find yourself a coach. The same goes for your members looking to improve their skill sets or make a significant life change. Dedicated coaching helps create accountability and is a great way to demonstrate the value of your community through testimonials or word-of-mouth.
- Group coaching. Coaching doesn’t have to be 1:1, either. Group coaching can help take multiple community members on a shared improvement journey.
3. Brand partnerships
Depending on the nature of your business, brand partnerships can be a very
lucrative way to monetize your community.
Some examples of brand partnerships include:
- Sponsored content. Offering a spot in your newsletter for promotions, and/or creating content in your community that features another brand.
- Events. Partnering with a company on an event in your community, covering a topic that might relate to their offering.
- Affiliate marketing. Sharing custom discount codes for other products or services, and in return getting paid for the leads/signups/deals generated from your link.
💡Tip: Make sure that the partnership aligns with the vision and mission of your community. Otherwise, this style of promotion can come across as inauthentic and salesy.
4. Donations or pay-what-you-can
Similar to paid communities, opting for a donation or pay-what-you-can model allows people to pay for their community membership. But, instead of having a very rigid, set price, they have the flexibility to choose what they pay.
This model isn’t always the ideal monetization option, but it can still be
effective. Particularly if you have a very devoted, tight knit membership who
clearly sees the value your community brings to their lives. One great example
of a pay-what-you-can model is Mila Clarke’s community, the
Glucose Guide.
Mila’s community is run on paid brand partnerships and member donations. Most of the content in her community is free to access, but to join and become a member (and get access to some private areas in the community), people have to pay-what-they-can. Member subscriptions start at $1 a week, $5-$50 a month, or $100 for a one time all-access fee.
You can learn more about the Glucose Guide community here!
5. Courses and workshops
Nearly 25% of the community experts we spoke to listed self-paced courses, boot camps, and workshops as some of their members' biggest sources of value. We all understand the value of learning, and community members see that value when you offer courses or workshops in your community.
The best part about this monetization strategy is that you can tailor how you deliver it to the different ways your community learns best:
- Live courses. AKA “synchronous learning,” live courses are great for your tech-savvy community members with flexible schedules for when they can sign in.
- Pre-recorded courses. Community builders and creators all dream of passive income—and pre-recorded courses are one way to make that happen. Pre-recorded courses are great for community members who may take a little longer to get started or who prefer learning at their own pace. Pro-tip: you can record your live courses and offer them as pre-recorded courses to maximize your investment.
- In-person courses. Communities that get together IRL can often build stronger bonds and connections in your digital community. Offering in-person courses for members near you can help add more value to your membership. And like live courses, you can record them as pre-recorded content for members who couldn’t make it in person.
6. Event tickets
Paid events can be a great way to monetize your community. In our research, 100% of Platinum communities hosted virtual, in-person, and hybrid events. Clearly, events are a great way to keep your community engaged!
You can either offer your events as a part of your paid community membership, position them as an add-on (like a subscription to access to all events), or sell inpidual event tickets.
7. Merchandise or swag
Nothing says value like a good hoodie. Or a tote bag. Or a branded Stanley mug. Merch promotes your brand to potential new members and gives your existing members a sense of belonging they can carry around with them.
If you have die-hard fans in your community, or have built up a significant following on social, selling branded merch can be a great avenue to increase your revenue. But there are also other ways to leverage merch to increase your member LTV!
You can offer community-branded merchandise for:
- Paid membership. Provide your members with a selection of branded items they can choose from when they become paying members.
- Renewals. Sometimes, you need a little something extra to get members to renew. For yearly subscriptions, you might consider sending out some branded merch 1-2 months before they are set to renew.
- Member engagement. If you’re tracking the most engaged members in your community, a great way to show them you value their dedication is to give out branded swag when certain milestones are hit!
8. Digital products
When it comes to monetization, offering digital products is a strategy with a potentially higher margin than any other. Digital products allow you to provide value to your community with something they can use in their everyday lives, whether it’s a time management checklist or a list of prompts to use with generative AI tools. Here are a few examples of digital products that community creators offer today:
- Adobe Lightroom presets. People join photographer communities to improve their skills and increase their earning potential. Successful photographer community creators will include Adobe Lightroom presets as part of a paid membership. These presets help up-and-coming photographers improve their skills and they’ll often share their progress on social, leading to more membership signups.
- Templates and checklists. Communities focused on improving home life or business can offer templates as part of a membership or sell them as add-on products. Templates and checklists can be for anything from planning a wedding to figuring out how to retire by 55.
- Travel itineraries. Many travel influencers sell some form of itinerary downloadable, highlighting things like: optimal road trip routes, recommended restaurants and attractions by location, and so on.
Best practices for monetizing a community
Knowing how to monetize your community is just the start. Putting these strategies into action means taking a little bit of risk. But as the saying goes, “No risk. No reward.”
Before we get into best practices, there’s one thing you need to know. None of these strategies will work unless you’re already demonstrating value to your audience. Launching a new community with paid access will be met with the sound of crickets. Tammie Bennet, Founder of The Show Up Society, uses her podcast to connect with people and help convert them to paid membership.
“After listening to a few episodes, they become very familiar with my coaching style, so they know whether or not they are a good fit for my community,” says Tammy. Her subscriptions start at $111 monthly.
Investing in high-quality content is key. It’s a preview of what awaits people once they become members, and it helps filter out people who aren’t interested in what you’re offering.
“Give your audience value and allow them to experience wins along their free journey with you. Then they will know that the solutions you are offering are legitimate and will trust that paying you to help them will give them even better results.”
Dr. Amy Hoyt, Founder of Mending Trauma
1. Know your worth
You started on the community-building path because you knew you had something to offer your audience. But for many of us, it’s hard to put a dollar figure on what our time, content, and insights are worth. Kelsey Rowell, Founder of Whole Life Nurse, was at a crossroads with her membership fee. She wanted to start offering more to give more time to each member, but that meant charging more for membership.
“I decided to increase the cost of my community to $79 per month from $35 per month. Everybody told me that it was too expensive for a membership. Since then, my membership has gone from an average customer lifetime of 3.5 months to 7.4 months. Because I was able to add more of “me,” I charged more. Charging more allowed me to make more, which allowed me to invest more, show up strong, and ultimately it increased retention.”
Kelsey Rowell, Founder of Whole Life Nurse
2. Experiment with your pricing model
Every community and monetization strategy has an almost infinite number of pricing models. A monthly paid membership might work well for one community, while it falls flat with another.
Don’t worry. You might not get it right on the first go, and that’s okay. Every business experiments with pricing to see what customers are willing to pay. Everyone laughed when Netflix announced they were launching a paid streaming service. Today, you’re probably paying for 17 of them.
Monthly subscriptions:
- Can be a great way to monetize your community because they have a limited commitment time frame for your members. But that’ll bite you since your members have a monthly reminder asking if they still get value from your community.
Annual or lifetime memberships:
- This model requires more work to convert but can create a higher sense of value and reduce community churn. You just need to make sure that you can commit to providing your members with value for a very long time!
Stephanie Cartin, Founder of The Enterprenista League, offers lifetime memberships in time-boxed windows. It’s a unique way to combine FOMO and value in one monetization strategy.
“We offer a Lifetime Access Membership—once you’re a member, you’re in for life. We transitioned from a yearly recurring membership model to lifetime access in 2023 to ensure our members could grow with us and have access to our resources and community support at all stages of their business journey.”
Stephanie Cartin, Founder of The Enterprenista League
3. Understand your audience
Going back to our report, Platinum creators are twice as likely to have an attendance rate higher than 50%. How do they do it? Simple—they ask their members what kind of events they want, and that’s what they deliver.
Mandy Ellis, Founder of Freelance Writer Wealth Lab, says she always creates events based on what her community asks for.
“Make the event exactly what your members ask for. It doesn't matter if it's more Live Q&As or more masterclasses or classes on topics they're asking for or instructors they want, if you listen to your members, ask them questions, and make what they want, they energetically show up often.”
Mandy Ellis, Founder of Freelance Writer Wealth Lab
4. Put community first
No monetization strategy will work without a strong community. Be transparent, be open, be willing to listen. When you focus on building genuine connections and authentic engagement, your members will be primed for whatever monetization strategy you choose.
Ready to take your community to the next level?
Monetizing your community doesn’t have to be scary—unless you’re running some kind of horror-themed community. Then it probably should be. Anyway…
When you’re ready to monetize, remember to:
- Show the value of your community on free channels like social media, newsletters, and in-person events.
- Be transparent and open about what your community offers.
- Know what your time and content are worth—and charge accordingly.
- You don’t have to choose one model! Many communities combine multiple monetization tactics to further increase their revenue.
Community pros choose Circle.
👉🏼 When you’re ready to monetize your community, Circle is here to help. Start your free 14-day trial today to see why community masterminds like Mandy Ellis, Kelsey Rowell, and more choose Circle.
