In this episode of the Community Strategy Podcast, Benji Vaughan, Founder of Disciple Media, shares his experience transitioning from a music producer to founding a community platform.
Benji shares, “As a musician, I had my community of fans and followers. I didn’t have my own space to grow and manage that community in the way that worked for me. So, I set out to create that space. Along the way, I found a lot of other community managers with the same problem.”
Disciple supports a wide range of influencers, creators, wellness coaches, YouTubers, politicians, and celebrity chefs looking for a platform that empowers community hosts, unlike Facebook or a website. Disciple fills a need and provides a way to build, manage, and control their private social apps. Over 700 customers trust the platform in over 20 industries and across the globe and support influencers from Bollywood to Croatia. He’s worked with the most prominent musicians in the world, including The Rolling Stones and Luke Bryan.
Click here to learn more about Disciple Media.
Show Notes
3:04 Benji starts the conversation by explaining how his career as a music producer shifted to building Disciple, a community app, and that the Grateful Dead is an excellent example of a community built from the people who enjoy that music. They were the first to give their music away for free and later learned how to monetize a community.
4:07 The entrance of Facebook to society offered a way for musicians to build a community by finding fans and connecting with them. When Facebook transitioned and changed the dynamics, shifting to force businesses into paying for advertising, Benji saw an opportunity to create an app for musicians. He shared about the app’s first version, which has a small paid membership model.
5:45 Benji shares that he’s worked with the most prominent musicians in the world, including The Rolling Stones and Luke Bryan. He learned from working with these musicians to understand the relationship between music and community better. In 2018, he knew that the messages he’d been crafting for musicians had led to changing the platform to fit many kinds of creators and serve many different audiences and a wide variety of creators.
12:06 Benji speaks about the value musicians create with the communities they can build around shared experiences. That was how he realized musicians and other creators wanted to create a community that offered a way for those gathering around weird and exciting things.
14:44 There’s an importance for both in-person and online communities, and there are many things that are niche and that can’t be found locally so that global community fits. Benji shares how online communities can be a lifeline for some individuals who can’t participate in an in-person experience such as a concert.
16:45 The creators, coaches, and influencers who don’t feel that the Facebook model fits them are how Disciple Media provides a platform they own and can customize to their brand. They focus on business owners with an existing audience and help them intentionally craft a community online.
20:34 Online communities offer a safe place to convene and discuss challenging topics. The disruption of social media has been escalating since 2014, and Benji sees that this gives way to a new online social network that provides containers for niche communities to gather.
23:32 Benji says that the online community is not the turnkey solution for online connection, but it has been transforming for several years. He says that when customers come to Disciple Media, it works in tandem with building an audience on social media. Don’t let social media use you; you can use it and bring people together to your app, not make it on their platform.
26:51 Disciple Media wants to double down on community-led businesses and wants to continue to support creators and influencers online with their app. The focus for the next year is to provide a complete one-stop shop for community builders with a marketplace to connect the hosts of online communities with community professionals, including consultants and managers who they can hire to support their community-building efforts.
29:10 The most significant pain point that Benji has learned about community building is the challenges around creating the online community with a team and support. We want to give community professionals and community hosts access to connect. This is going to be a game-changer for community leaders. It takes time to build an online community. The beginning is, by far, the hardest, Benji says.
34:57 Monetizing a community is a psychological hurdle for many musicians and creators, Benji says, that requires a shift in mindset. “It feels weird because we are used to charging people to consume, not contribute. Humans get more out of contributing than consuming. This world needs more contributions and less consumption of content. If it’s rewarding and giving value to people, you should be rewarded for creating that. In 10 years, some of the largest businesses will be community-led.”
36:45 One of Benji’s messages for new community builders is that the largest companies in the world are shifting towards community-led in all kinds of industries. The divergence of hate online and how, in 5-10 years, the idea of an online identity will be solved, but we face these challenges today.
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