Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back. In this episode of the Community Stratetgy Podcast, host and author Deb Schell read excerpts from the newly released book Creator to Community Builder: FInd Calm While Building Your Online Community.
Creator to Community Builder offers time-saving tips for struggling entrepreneurs to establish and scale online communities, enhancing business growth and client connections. Community Strategist Deb Schell shares insights from aiding 60+ business owners, offering stories, strategies, and practical tools to launch thriving communities, ultimately saving money and time.
A note to readers: There is no audiobook version, which is why this particular season offers audio experts of the book. To get a PDF digital copy for free, click here. (LInk expires 1.1.24)
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back takeaways:
Rosie has spent twelve years building thriving communities by understanding the member’s experiences. She first started a gathering for fun and turned that into a seven-figure business.
Adrian says the key to retention is knowing your most valuable people and consistently providing them with value.
Céline reviews the community data to inform Canva of the latest successes and challenges within the community.
Well-run communities have transformed my own life. I know firsthand the value of being a member of a thriving community.
As a journalist-turned-podcaster, I’ve investigated what makes online communities flourish. Since starting my journey, I’ve contacted and interviewed over 100 experts, colleagues, and leaders who have built online communities for years, even decades.
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
I always ask them to share what has worked as they have built, launched, and grown their online communities. I’m fascinated to discover what brings members back again and again. In this chapter, I’ll share my key findings from interviews with experts who have built thriving communities.
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
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Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back What makes a community successful?
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
Rosie Sherry has been in the community-building space since 2006, when she started connecting with others during meetups.
In 2010, she founded a co-working space as a software tester. She tested software for fun during her first few years in this role. Over time, she developed skills that she turned into a community-focused business. Rosie built the Ministry of Testing community from the ground up.
At our interview, her community had brought in more than seven figures and had over 75,000 members. Rosie has also launched Indie Hackers, a community of over 32,000 creators, where she hosts events.
Rosie’s business revenue includes event and membership dues in addition to sponsorships. The income enabled her to hire a team that manages the day-to-day operations.
When we spoke, her communities had run without her daily oversight for over three years, yet they were the projects she was most proud of building.
She also shared that eighty percent of her team was recruited from the community, so they knew the value and purpose from the start. They have a passion for helping their fellow community members not simply to survive but also to thrive.
When she stepped back from the operations of Indie Hackers, Rosie challenged herself to build, launch, and grow yet another online community. “In the beginning, I had doubts that I could do it again, but I realized the transferable skills I already have, and I know what I’m doing! I’ve done it before!”
She had seen other community builders struggle after skipping the discovery phase, so she knew she needed to find validation before committing to her new concept. Once Rosie realized she loved community building, she continued and developed more! Now, she has several spaces where she helps fellow creators, founders, and community builders. One is The Independent Community, a private Slack channel to ask Rosie anything, so long as they participate in the community in return. She boots them out if new members fail to engage within their first six months.
She also offers Lurk as a Service (LaaS), which provides organizations with monthly consulting services. This evolved from her previous role as the founder and community executive officer at Roseland, where she hosted ticketed events. Originally, this venture brought in seventy percent of her revenue, mainly through in-person meetings. After the pandemic, she added online courses, curated community content, and offered consulting services.
Rosie makes the case that putting people first is the key to building thriving communities:
“Finding a balance between the members’ needs, aligning them with the business values and goals. It is important to keep members happy, but increasingly, I am trying to think of ways that the business can thrive while bringing value to the community. If we (community builders) put people at the heart of what we build, this is how to become successful.”
She says community builders who aren’t confident can find it challenging to make decisions and act. Rosie said she focuses on talking to members individually to learn about their needs but always makes decisions with the business and heart of the membership in mind. Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
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Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
Strategies for Getting and Keeping
Your Most Valuable People
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
Adrian Speyer, author of The Accidental Community Manager, has over a decade of experience in the community industry. At our interview, he was head of community at Higher Logic Vanilla, a SaaS community platform. Adrian has worked with top brands to teach community builders best practices and practical frameworks for impacting organizational goals.
“Episode 96: Becoming an Accidental Community Manager with Adrian Speyer”
In The Community Strategy Podcast episode, Adrian discusses what leads to a flourishing B2B Community. “The return on investment for communities is more than just increased revenue; it could be increasing brand awareness or improving the customer experience.”
As Adrian points out, any community professional will make mistakes, but the key is to learn from them while staying connected to your members. He says the members are your “most valuable people,” so it’s your job to consistently provide them with value. He reiterates that community building takes care and intention, and success depends on developing a strategy related to the community’s goals and mission.
Céline Riemenschneider is the community lead for the German Canva Creator Community, which supports over 850,000 designers across thirty-seven private communities. Under Céline’s leadership, artists based in Germany create localized designs for Canva customers to fill the growing number of categories.
In running this community, Céline reviews its data to inform Canva of the latest successes and challenges for these German creators. Céline says that the key elements to a thriving community for Canva include workshops, networking, member-led and inspired events, and improved search engine optimization to support creators from beginner to advanced.
“After our workshops, we get great feedback from members who tell us that the training was valuable and that they are excited to try what they’ve learned. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget about their experience, and it’s a great reminder to be grateful to the members who develop skills and learn new things with the community’s support.”
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
From Publishing to Community Powerhouse:
How a CEO Used Community to Shift her Magazine
into a Connection Company
Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
What started with a whisper and a few women connecting in 2012 has turned into a 3,500-member community of women supporting each other to be more of themselves. Shannon Crotty, founder and CEO of Polka Dot Powerhouse, started a local women’s magazine in Wisconsin. She knew she needed a sisterhood after moving to the area and not knowing many people.
Two years earlier, her sister, Tina, passed away. While sitting in her car, missing her sister dearly, one day, she said, “Tina, I need your help and guidance.” Suddenly, the name “Polka Dot Powerhouse” came to Shannon, and a movement was born.
Since then, the “Dot Sisters,” as they are called, have connected in meetings worldwide, in chapters from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. I learned about them a while ago, but it wasn’t until a friend invited me to attend a local chapter that I discovered how valuable this group of women is for my life.
Now, with over eighty chapters in the U.S. and Canada and over 3,500 members, this amazing community has grown over a decade to become a compelling place to find a supportive group of women who aren’t interested in pretending to be someone else.
“When asked about my goals, I tell people that I’m not trying to reach a specific number of members, but it’s about aligning the vision and focusing on the mission. I want to ensure we are giving the members a good experience,” Shannon said.
After the story Shannon shared, and with many women holding napkins from tears about her journey and challenges, I asked her the question I’m facing now, “How do you keep going?”
What Shannon said was so powerful. “If you can trust the distance of light provided by car headlights (approximately 300 feet) to shine a path in front of you, you will be shown the next steps, but when it’s time, and when there is a reason. Keep going; you can’t deal with challenges unless they are correct before you. Don’t worry about the next month or year; worry about the next few hours, days, or weeks.”
Polka Dot Powerhouse’s vision is to reach every woman who needs support when needed and understand that not all women will need their help, and they aren’t a fit for every woman. Shannon is the CEO and believes it’s essential for the CEO to understand the mission and vision of the community. Since this community is the business, the core objective is to keep memberships and encourage growth. “I wanted to be a great CEO, and if a CEO can’t visit with their members, it isn’t a sisterhood!”
I have enjoyed the smaller group that the evening meetings tend to host, which offers a cozy atmosphere. It helps that we have a fantastic director, Jackie Orth. She has been a welcoming host from the beginning of my journey with the Polka Dot Powerhouse Lancaster Chapter. Chapter 10: Keep your members coming back
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