It hurt. They say no pain, no gain.
Well, it turns out that something good did happen from ending a Slack group I grew for 2 years.
Here's what grew from the community's death ☠️ as well as some things I learned along the way.
Consistency - post every day even if there is no engagement at the beginning (or anytime things begin to lull). You gotta just do it and look the other way. Don't get all emotional about no one engaging. You'd be surprised at how many people probably saw your post but didn't "engage" with it.
Creativity - try different types of posts and ways to engage with others. Polls, questions, news updates, gifs, videos, links, etc. You can always ask people directly about what resonates with them, too.
Clarity - be clear about guidelines and be super honest with people if they aren't helping. Like the obvious - no spam.
Community - duh. But seriously. It's not about you. It's about others. If there's a new member, reach out directly and say hello. Get to know them. Ask questions.
Call - whenever it makes sense, set up a call with an engaged member. You'll learn more from a quick 15 minute call than you could ever know.
It makes sense. People showed up for your community. They invested in what you started, you can invest in them by finding another community or some other place to continue if they want.
I was lucky.
Turned out an acquaintance of mine had just launched a no-code community that appeared to have the same goals and values as mine.
My community was called "Build Anything." @gregoryjohn started "Buildcamp."
We connected and I pointed my members his way.
BTW, I ultimately ended the community because I wanted to focus on building products. A community is a lot of work. Just ask @rosiesherry.
I simply told people that they could email me anytime (gave them my personal email) and I if they wanted to see what I was up to, I asked if they'd be willing to subscribe to my blog.
My blog subscribers grew 28% that day.
Subscribers/followers can be a vanity metric sometimes, I get that.
But the great thing about the growth is that it doesn't feel arbitrary. It's the right people, who I know and who know me, following along.
I'll take that. And I appreciate it.
It's cliché, but gosh darnit I got to know some great people and got to know them well. And that just ain't always the case in our internet age!
I met once a month with a great guy diving into no-code in Vietnam. His ideas are awesome. He's working on taking action on them!
I was able to support a granola business run by a mother who had a knack for using no-code tools to run her business. She inspires me.
I got to know a guy from the UK using no-code tools to help support the delivery of food to the poor.
The list goes on. I am blessed to know these people.
Let's face it, community is at the core of who we are as people. You can shake your head at yet another community launching, but the truth is that we all crave relationships.
So if you start a community and it ends up dying one day. That's totally okay.
In fact, my hats off to you. We need more of you.
I am so glad our paths crossed!! Thank you for everything!
Yes! Likewise, Hope!
it was nice to meet you Bryce and to be a part of your community. I am following you on your personal journey anyway.
Thanks, Stefan! Hope all is well on your end.