5 things I've learned about community building.
I've been building Indie Worldwide now for a bit over three years. We currently have over 2,000 members. I'm still learning new things constantly, but here's a few things I've figured out so far.
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This was really well written and the garden analogy was especially useful.
Can you tell me a bit more about #4? You mention something about giving your members a flag to wave. Could you share some examples of that? I've always been interested in how to build pride and evangelism with a membership base.
Some questions which can help you narrow things down:
What is your community for and what is it against?
What do members of your community believe that most people don't?
If your community was embodied as a single person, what would they be like? What's their personality? How would they communicate?
Thinking about these things can help you find the spirit of your group. Most founders will default to designing a community which is similar to them in many ways. That's okay!
It's helpful to figure out in what ways your community's spirit is similar and different from your own.
After that, things get a bit more literal.
You want to create a full brand for your group that matches the spirit and attitude you identified above.
Now we're talking about logos, typography, colors, copywriting etc.
These should be used consistently everywhere your group operated.
You might literally create a flag to wave.
So well written! Thank you. Especially your line "what do members of your community believe that most people don't?"
Thanks again for the insight.
Thanks Zack.
To be fair, Peter Thiel said that first.
"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
I've just expanded it to apply to communities.