Whether youre starting from scratch or ready to turn your audience into a connected, thriving network, heres how to build an online community.
Ashley Fox was in her early 20s when she did the unthinkable; she quit her 6-figure, Wall-Street job to launch her own business.
Her vision? She’d provide financial education to the 99% of people Wall Street wouldn’t talk to.
The movement was thriving, Empify (EMPower + modIFY), reached over 20,000 people and got picked up by 50+ schools.
Today, The Wealth Builders Community has over 1,000 members–all of them people who didn’t grow up with wealth and want to break the generational cycle of poverty.
In fact, 80% of brands that run communties say it has a positive impact on their business and helps them achieve business goals. And every generation says they love joining communities around a brand they care about, with GenX being the highest at 62%.
This means whether youre looking for a powerful brand community, a side hustle, or something just for fun, online communities are unlike anything else.
This ultimate guide to building an online community will teach you what you need to know to get started, from the spark of an idea to your first (paying) members.
If you want more support in building your online community, come join OUR Mighty Community for free and meet other new and established community owners! We’d love to meet you. Join for free!
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Building an online community can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right strategy and tools, anyone can create a thriving, engaged community
In this ultimate guide, we’ll walk through the key steps for building a successful online community in 2023.
Why Build an Online Community?
Before jumping into the how-to it’s important to understand the “why.” Here are some of the top reasons to build an online community
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Connect with people. Humans are social creatures. An online community lets you foster meaningful relationships and connections around shared interests.
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Learn and grow together. Communities create built-in accountability and support systems for collective growth. Members motivate each other to learn new skills, achieve goals, and level up personally and professionally.
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Find your people. It’s tremendously empowering to find “your people” – those who just get you. Online communities let you surround yourself with like-minded individuals.
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Share knowledge and experiences. We all have unique knowledge and perspectives to offer. An online community gives you a platform to share your expertise while learning from others.
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Collaborate on ideas. Amazing things happen when people come together Online communities enable effortless ideation, feedback, and collaboration
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Make an impact. Communities united around a shared mission or purpose can catalyze real change in the world.
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Monetize your skills. Paid online communities represent a lucrative opportunity to monetize your knowledge, brand, or services.
The benefits are copious. Ultimately, online communities satisfy our human need for connection while enabling personal and collective growth.
7 Steps to Build a Successful Online Community
Ready to get started? Here are the key steps for developing a thriving online community that keeps members engaged over the long-term:
1. Define Your Purpose and Niche
Start by getting crystal clear on who your community is for and why it exists. The most successful communities are targeted around a specific interest area or niche.
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What will your community focus on? Coaching entrepreneurs? Supporting new parents? Connecting freelance writers? The more targeted your purpose, the better.
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Who is your ideal member? Get as specific as possible in defining their demographics, challenges, and goals.
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Why does your community matter? What transformation will it create for members?
With a razor-sharp purpose and target audience, you’ll attract people who are highly motivated to engage.
2. Choose a Community Platform
Your community platform or software is the virtual headquarters for your members. It needs to have the right features to support engagement. Here are key things to look for:
- Custom branding and design controls
- Easy content creation and sharing
- Member profiles and social features
- Chat and direct messaging
- Video hosting and streaming
- Private sub-groups or “spaces”
- Robust data and analytics
- Paid membership and commerce options
- Mobile apps
Choose a platform that empowers organic community-building vs. one that just offers basic forums or channels.
3. Set Up Your Space
Now it’s time to start building out your virtual space! Set up the key pages and infrastructure members will need:
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Welcome area: This is the first thing new members see when they join. Make it warm and inviting! Share who you are, what the community is about, and how to get started.
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Member profiles: Allow members to create rich profiles and bios to share about themselves. This adds a human touch and enables connections.
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Interest-based sub-groups: If your community is large or has diverse niches within it, create private spaces for more intimate connections based on shared interests.
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FAQ page: Pre-empt commonly asked questions to make members feel supported.
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Guidelines: Share community guidelines to keep conversations productive and positive.
4. Design a Community Roadmap
Plan out how you’ll engage members week-to-week and month-to-month. This roadmap acts as your content calendar, keeping things fresh and active.
Build in:
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Regular live events: Host live Q&As, workshops, or co-working sessions. These real-time experiences create energy.
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Themed months: Designate monthly topics or challenges to unite members around shared growth.
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Weekly prompts: Drop discussion questions, polls, or icebreakers to spark conversation.
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Spotlights on members: Feature member profiles, stories, or projects to celebrate community.
5. Produce Valuable Content
Seed your community with great content to set the tone. Share:
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Your expertise: Teach what you know through long-form articles, courses, videos, guides, etc.
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Member stories: Interview members about their experiences. This builds trust and connection.
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Crowdsourced wisdom: Ask members questions and collate their responses into content.
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Discussion prompts: Pose thoughtful questions to activate conversation.
Make content creation an ongoing habit. 85% of communities that regularly publish content see increased member engagement.
6. Promote Your Community
Now it’s go-time! Start inviting ideal members to your community:
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Share across your social channels and email lists.
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Reach out to micro-influencers in your niche to help spread the word.
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Offer free community access or trials to build initial buzz.
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Run contests, challenges, or giveaways to incentivize sign-ups.
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Ask existing members to share community invites with friends who’d benefit.
Promote consistently over time to achieve a critical mass of engaged members.
7. Engage, Moderate, and Evolve
Communities require ongoing nurturing. As the leader, you play an active role in shaping the experience:
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Welcome new members warmly.
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Spark conversations by replying to comments, asking follow-up questions, highlighting insights, etc.
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Monitor discussions to ensure they align with guidelines. Address issues quickly and tactfully.
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Survey members quarterly to identify opportunities to better serve their needs.
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Evolve your programming based on feedback and growth.
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Automate repetitive tasks when possible so you can focus on high-value community-building.
When members feel cared for, heard, and supported, engagement naturally thrives.
Key Tactics to Improve Community Engagement
As your community grows, employ these tactics to take engagement to the next level:
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Spotlight active members. Recognize valuable contributors publicly or in a members-only area. This motivates participation.
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Assign member roles. Let members become moderators, ambassadors, or mentors. This amplifies community leadership.
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Offer exclusives. Give active members access to special perks like programs, events, or swag.
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Create friendly competition. Keep things fun with leaderboards, badges, teams, and contests based on participation.
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Share beyond the community. Promote exceptional member content and wins on your main platform. This accelerates exposure and personal brands.
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Facilitate real-world gatherings. Arrange local meetups or retreats to deepen bonds.
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Collaborate on group projects. Organize book clubs, co-created guides/reports, playlists or anything members can work on together.
The more creativity you apply, the more your community will thrive!
Monetizing Your Online Community
Many online community creators end up earning a full-time living from their engaged member base through:
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Paid memberships – Offer premium access to certain areas or perks for a monthly/annual fee
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Selling courses and workshops – Community is the perfect prerevenue sales channel for digital learning products
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Affiliate marketing – Recommend products or services relevant to your niche and earn commissions
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Advertising and sponsorships – Invite brands that align well with your community to sponsor content or events
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Merchandise sales – Sell branded physical products like t-shirts, journals, etc.
The key is adopting a revenue model early so you can eventually sustain yourself doing meaningful work. Start small, deliver massive value, and incrementally introduce monetization over time.
Real-World Examples of Thriving Online Communities
To see these strategies in action, explore these diverse online communities making an impact:
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Cup of Jo: A warm community for women focused on life, style, and relationships
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Mighty Networks: A community platform empowering creators to launch their own branded communities
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Indie Hackers: Connects developers building profitable online businesses and products
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Scribd: The world’s largest digital library with over 1 million paying members
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FlyLady: Provides organization and household management resources to over 1 million members
Each has cultivated highly engaged, high-value communities with content, connection, and commerce.
Ready to Build Your Online Community?
Done right, your online community can enrich lives, ignite change, and even grow into a thriving business.
Follow this guide to get clear on your purpose, choose the right tools, engage members meaningfully, and evolve your offering over time
Why community is the ultimate business
Building an online community has become a powerful business model, with McKinsey identifying “community flywheels” as the best growth business for the 2020s.
So yes, creators can use community to earn more per follower than any other monetization method.
But for brands and businesses, launching customer communities will take your business to the next level.
We believe that the next generation of high-growth companies are going to be the ones that can convert customers, users, subscribers into members. These are brands that take people out of the transaction mindset and help them belong.
Membership is the ultimate relationship. It’s at the top of your value ladder. So evolving your brands relationships from customers, to subscribers, to users, to members.
Thats where the magic happens: member-led growth. Or, as we like to say, a business that builds itself.
Because it really does happen. And its mind-blowing when you see it! Imagine…
- your members making sales for you
- members answering other members product questions
- members telling you what they want from your brand
- instant feedback on new products OR product ideas
- effortless selling
As McKinsey says, brand communities see effortless selling in a community built around their brand story, and thats unlike anything else you can do in business.
These are some of the real examples weve seen from brands building an online community.
- A faith-based community expanded to 470 leaders in 67 countries.
- An entrepreneurship organization launched to 5,000 members in 2 ½ weeks.
- A health-focused launch to 100 high-ticket members added $40,000 in ARR.
- An author & speaker launched a 4-week promotion and saw an additional $30,000 in revenue.
- A podcaster and author sold 5,000 seats to a $997 course in 10 days.
- One community launched a 13-week add-on course and generated an additional $100k in revenue in 2 months.
- One social impact SAAS company mixed Pro with their regular conferences and saw a 70% increase in contributions & engagement.
These are the success stories we see again and again with brands that build online communities. If youre not, youre missing out.
Considering selling paid memberships as part of your online community building?
Here are some of the numbers weve seen in our paid Mighty Networks that PROVE its the ultimate business model:
- The average community with membership fees charge $48/mo. A community of 1,000 members is earning at least $48,000 A MONTH!
- Paid communities earn on top of memberships: things like events, coaching, or courses. 90% of paywalled Mighty Networks are making sales on top of the membership fee.
- Only 27% of our top 250 revenue-generating Mighty Networks offer a Free Trial.
- 82% of paid networks have made a sale in the past 90 days
- Some of the top revenue-earning Mighty Pro Networks charge up to $125 per month per Member.
Choose a platform
At some point, every community needs a platform. And it should be a proper community platform. (Facebook groups can be good for very small friend groups or very broad fanbases, but they suck for engagement).
Today, a new crop of community platforms are putting the creator or brand front and center, letting you build YOUR brand around YOUR members to share YOUR content. No fighting algorithms.
You should be able to connect community, courses, content, and payments under your own brand across every platform, including your own native mobile apps and spot in the app store.
That’s why you should build your online community on a unified member platform. Well get to that below.
Its pretty simple, really. Many platforms have some of the features below. But a world-class community platform has ALL of them. These are the features that make your brand amazing.
Admin Features The tools to manage and even automate your community:
- Member management
- Create plans and bundles
- Get detailed analytics
- Access powerful automations and AI tools
Branding features The tools you build YOUR brand, no someone elses (and especially not a social media companys)
- Customize to look and feel like your brand
- Light & dark mode options
- Create personalized experiences
- Host on branded apps
Engagement features The tools to serve and engage your members in pretty much any format you choose.
- Get custom activity feeds & notifications
- Host exciting virtual events
- Livestream to your members
- Chat & messaging
- Host rich discussions
- Sub-divide your community into Spaces
- Run email campaigns
Content options The features that let you AND YOUR MEMBERS create amazing content and share it. This is what makes a community thrive.
- Share posts, s, and videos
- Create polls and discussion questions
- Automate discussions with icebreakers
- Build rich new member sequences
- Teach what you know with a course
- Share long-form content (like an article)
Business tools
- Sell products & memberships
- Collect payments in different currencies
- Create plans & bundles
- Build landing & sales pages
How To Build An Online Community (Complete Guide w/ Tom Ross)
Why should you build an online community?
Whether you’re an online course creator, eCommerce store owner, B2B business, or a Fortune 500 company, learning how to build an online community is invaluable. Of the many benefits, online communities can drive traffic to your website, strengthen your relationship with customers, and increase your business’ revenue.
Are online communities a good way to make money?
Nearly 50% of online community members are actively engaged, more than 10 times the engagement rates seen on traditional social media. Full-time creators are more likely to make money from recurring revenue systems like communities than part-timers. Tiffany Aliche’s online community is an excellent example of a learning community in action.
How to build community online?
Encourage them to introduce themselves and invite the community to welcome them. The key to learning how to build community online, is learning how to build engagement. The more engaged your community is, the better your results will be. Start by setting the tone for your community early and sparking opportunities for members to engage often.
How do you build a community?
Share on social media. If you have followers on other platforms, chances are they’ll be interested in the exclusivity and value of your community too. Let them know where to go! Encourage members to invite others. What better way to add to your community than tapping into the existing connections of your current members?
