Do you want to launch your own online community? What’s stopping you?
For most of us, the idea of running an online community is great, but taking our community from a great idea to launch can feel incredibly daunting.
I’ve helped thousands of community builders and believe me, most people feel overwhelmed in the early stages. Going from no community to launch can feel like a huge leap!
So, I want to give you five practical steps to help you to launch your online community.
Step 1: Decide what kind of community you want to build
Before launching your online community, you need to consider what type of community you want to run. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the key purpose of the community? Why does it exist?
- Who is this community helping?
- How will it help them?
- Do you know how many members you want to serve?
- Is the community paid, freemium or free?
- Is it open or closed? (Can people join anytime, or do they need to go through an application process?)
These are big questions, but crucially important.
Running a free community serving 30,000 members is a totally different experience versus serving ten people in a close knit, paid community.
It’s also so important to be clear on your “why.” Why launch this community? What is your core mission?
If you’re feeling stuck with some of these questions, I encourage you to go and explore other existing communities. Take notes on what you like and what you don’t. What resonates? What inspires you? I’ve found it tremendously helpful to learn from other communities over the years.
If you have an existing audience, it’s also invaluable to listen to their needs. I recommend a great little book called The Mom Test to everyone, as it’s a masterclass in how to conduct audience surveys and feedback calls. The book teaches you how to speak less about your offering and, instead, focus more on learning about your audience’s pain points, challenges, motivations, and goals.
We recently did an extensive user survey at my company, using the frameworks shared in that book and it triggered so many great ideas for how to better serve our people. Listening to your audience can give you clarity on how to build the best community for their needs.
Do you want to launch your own online community? What’s stopping you?
For most of us, the idea of running an online community is great, but taking our community from a great idea to launch can feel incredibly daunting.
I’ve helped thousands of community builders and believe me, most people feel overwhelmed in the early stages. Going from no community to launch can feel like a huge leap!
So, I want to give you five practical steps to help you to launch your online community.
Step 1: Decide what kind of community you want to build
Before launching your online community, you need to consider what type of community you want to run. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the key purpose of the community? Why does it exist?
- Who is this community helping?
- How will it help them?
- Do you know how many members you want to serve?
- Is the community paid, freemium or free?
- Is it open or closed? (Can people join anytime, or do they need to go through an application process?)
These are big questions, but crucially important.
Running a free community serving 30,000 members is a totally different experience versus serving ten people in a close knit, paid community.
It’s also so important to be clear on your “why.” Why launch this community? What is your core mission?
If you’re feeling stuck with some of these questions, I encourage you to go and explore other existing communities. Take notes on what you like and what you don’t. What resonates? What inspires you? I’ve found it tremendously helpful to learn from other communities over the years.
If you have an existing audience, it’s also invaluable to listen to their needs. I recommend a great little book called The Mom Test to everyone, as it’s a masterclass in how to conduct audience surveys and feedback calls. The book teaches you how to speak less about your offering and, instead, focus more on learning about your audience’s pain points, challenges, motivations, and goals.
We recently did an extensive user survey at my company, using the frameworks shared in that book and it triggered so many great ideas for how to better serve our people. Listening to your audience can give you clarity on how to build the best community for their needs.
