6 Myths about building a thriving online community
Have you ever wondered what goes into building and scaling a successful online community, and what the most common traits are? Maybe you think…
- They have thousands of members—and a really big team to handle all that engagement.
- They’re probably not charging much, if anything; how else could they get all those people to sign up?
- Their budgets must be massive; running ads to bring in new members adds up quickly (and they’re surely running ads, right?).
The team at Circle was curious, too. Which is why we analyzed product usage data from 10k+ communities running on Circle, and ran a survey to 682 community pros—10% of which were identified as the top “Platinum” communities—to find out exactly what it takes to run a thriving community. (Here’s the full benchmark report if you want to dig into the data).
It turns out that communities can take on a lot of different shapes, but the best of the best do tend to have a few things in common…
Myth 1: The best communities have tons of members
The bigger the community, the better the results, right?
Absolutely not. ⛔
Some of the most engaged and profitable communities are made up of a tight member group that is highly aligned with the vision and mission of the creator and/or brand.
People often focus on numbers of members as an indicator of success because it’s easy to measure. But it’s more about having rich relationships and engagement, rather than more people to fill the metaphorical “room”.
Of the 682 communities we surveyed, we found that 76% of Platinums have 500 members or fewer, and only 7% have over 5,000 members.
Myth 2: If the community isn’t free, no one will join
Sound the alarm... 🚨
This one even surprised us:
Only 7% of Platinum communities are free, compared to 21% of standard communities.
The most successful communities are often monetized through one or both of the below methods:
- Charging members directly for access. Think of it like a gym membership. The cost of the membership actually drives people to show up and take action.
- Offering the community as an add-on to another purchase/product. Like an additional benefit to becoming a customer (much like what we offer at Circle).
And then there are of course more ways to make money, like additional products (1:1 coaching, bootcamps, courses, etc), or having tiered membership plans.
It can be uncomfortable to put a number on what value you feel your community provides, or move from a free community to a paid one, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Myth 3: The most successful communities are run by large teams
Is it actually possible to run a community as a team of 1?
Of course! 🥳 We found that nearly 3 in 5 respondents don’t have any full-time help, and that’s true for both Platinum and standard creators. About the same number of respondents employ two or fewer part-time or freelance staff members to help manage their community.
Running a lean community by yourself is hard work, but investing in the fundamentals can take you pretty far. And that’s the joy of it—it’s your community. By keeping your team small, you’re often in a better position to develop close, meaningful connections with your members, which fosters a deeper understanding of your community and their needs overtime.
With Circle, you don’t have to do it all manually. For example, you can:
- Leverage our Community AI feature, co-pilot, to help you brainstorm and repurpose content, automate webinar transcripts, track member activity trends, and much more.
- Build out workflows to automate repetitive tasks like: sending out new member welcome messages and bulk event invites, creating triggers to encourage participation or award members with badges, moving members from one space to another, and so on.
So, to sum up…
Don’t feel intimidated to manage a community on your own.
Do leverage AI, workflows and more to reduce manual work.
Myth 4: Growing a community costs big bucks
Great news for those of us starting out: More money doesn’t necessarily mean more members.
And platinum creators are even less likely than standard creators to spend tons of money on new member acquisition, with more than half spending no money on it at all.
Only 16% of platinum creators leverage paid social and only 5% leverage paid search. So while it’s nice to have the budget to invest in ads, you don’t need ads to grow your community or business.
What’s their secret to success? They use significantly more acquisition channels than standard creators, including social media, email, and YouTube. But they’re also using those channels a little differently.
🎯 Some of the common growth tactics Platinum communities invest in:
- Referrals: They leverage existing members to grow their community through inexpensive or unpaid marketing tactics.
- Partnerships: They partner with “amplifiers”, i.e., brands and professionals that are already trusted by their audience and cater to their target customer.
- Content creation: They invest in high-quality content that establishes them as an authority in their field, attracts the right people, and filters out those who aren’t a good fit.
- Consistency: They focus on consistency (core themes and repeatable formats), knowing it will pay off in the long run.
- Self-promotion: They shamelessly self-promote whenever and wherever they can.
A side benefit of using various acquisition tactics is reaching different segments of your audience. Why not diversify your marketing efforts in 2024?
Myth 5: You need a bunch of expensive tools to manage a community
That’s a hard nope.
Have you ever suffered from complicated tool fatigue? 😕
It’s the overwhelming feeling of managing multiple complex tools to run your community. You might find yourself saying, “I haven’t launched my community because I’m struggling with complicated tool fatigue.”
In fact, the more tools you use, the less effective you use each one. A more simple tech stack means less time juggling tools, and more time creating an incredible community experience. So it’s better to select tools that can do more for you, saving you both money and time.
Myth 6: Online workshops and webinars are dead
We have a doozy of a stat for this one. 🥴
It turns out that 100% of Platinum communities (yes, all of them) run events. And not only that, they run more types of events, too
Our data tells us that the power of running live events is indisputable.
Online workshops and webinars are far from dead—they’re actually thriving. And it’s a tactic everyone should absolutely experiment with in their community.
To recap, here are some event types to try in your community:
- Small group discussions / roundtables
- Workshops / webinars
- Office hours / Q&As
- Member showcases / success stories
- Onboarding / orientation
- Celebrations / milestones
- Summits / conferences
Events might seem intimidating, but you don’t have to try them all at once. On the contrary—we advise starting with a “flagship ritual,” like a weekly member showcase. This then becomes something members can learn to expect (and get excited about). From here, once you’ve got a steady rhythm and have the bandwidth, you can begin experimenting with different styles and themes of events!
Quick Community Building Checklist
Even the most experienced community builders struggle to say with certainty whether they're doing a good job, or what "good" even means in the world of community building. So hopefully this list of myths helps to clear up common misconceptions or assumptions you might have had, too!
To recap, here are a few things to consider when building or reshaping your community strategy:
- Define your ideal member size
- Explore various monetization methods and decide what works best for your community
- Streamline your community management with automations where possible
- Try 1 low/no-cost acquisition tactic
- Invest in a few key tools that allow you to do many things (like Circle 😉)
- Experiment with events, starting with a recurring flagship ritual (weekly webinar, etc)
Communities are like onions: they’ve got tons of layers
Every community is made up of custom layers; including how they’re built and run, what the member experience is like, how they’re monetized, and so on. There’s no one size fits all approach, which is also what makes communities so special—they’re unique, often quite niche, and can have profound transformational effects on their members.
Don’t get us wrong, building an online community is hard work. It takes time, experimentation, and tons of effort to really make it into something worth joining. But it’s also super rewarding, and can be quite lucrative.
And it turns out, Platinum communities don’t have more money, employees, or hours in the day. What they do have is a deep understanding of their members that they pair with creative, smart tactics. 👏
Curious about creating an online community, or reshaping an existing one? Give Circle’s 14-day free trial a whirl. You’ll also gain access to our own thriving community of community builders, where you can ask questions, learn about how others have built their communities, explore exclusive resources, attend live workshops, and so much more.
