My Failed Attempt at Building a Community

When I was in college, building a community felt pretty easy. Have some event, get free food, people come, people talk. Maybe they will bring some of their friends. This happened all the time – campus events, weekends at the bar, over the summer. So I thought building a community online would be similar. Easier even! There are no geographic boundaries. I would just invite people to come to my community, and they'd go and hang out.

But that didn't happen. In fact, my community was a baron wasteland. And in July, I decided to shut down that aspect of my membership. So what went wrong? Well, I think there were a few reasons...and that's what we'll talk about in today's episode.

Top Takeaways:

• Think about community as you start a new endeavor. I thought about mine too late and most of my students were already done with my content and had no reason to come back.
• You need to help your members with the habit of going to your community every day. You can do that by doing more events, or even having content exclusive to your community platform.
• It’s up to you to drive the community. People won’t just go to an online community and start conversations at the beginning.

Show Notes:

• SPI 603: The Secret to Building the Best Community Online with Drew Dillon
• Circle
• Join the Creator Crew

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