Community Design is the FUTURE, start now!

Happy Friday EduCreator,

I started building online communities for non-profit clients during the pandemic. I was supporting a charter school founder during his pilot school year and the director of a non-profit that served inner city youth through art therapy. You can imagine how devastating it was for these community leaders to need to move to the online world, especially since they were serving a very needy population of children.

This was 2020 and 5 years later, I am so grateful that I was forced to learn the skill of building engaged and thriving communities online. In 2021, I started my first online community on Clubhouse, a wellness brand called Bliss House. Since then I’ve built 3 online communities in total and this is the ONLY reason I’ve been able to run an agency and design the life of my dreams, while being a toddler mama.

Today’s spotlight guest knows a lot about building community in Web3, which is the future of internet, marketing, and start ups. Vanessa (@banana_cultist) not only has one of the best personalities on X, she’s a pro when it comes to community marketing that is ethical and leads with integrity.

The 5 Principles of Community Design

I created these after building online communities for myself and my clients. These are the core principles I follow to build communities that are highly active and valuable to members.

1. The Big Purpose

What makes your community different from any other community? What will your members achieve and what kind of transformation will they experience from being in your community? This is your Big Purpose and will be the foundation.

2. High Value Content

I host daily (or regular spaces) and run this newsletter so that I am constantly providing my community with high value content. This is key to building interest in your brand, establishing credibility with your audience, and ultimately gaining loyal community members.

3. High Engagement

This is where most community builders struggle the most. High value content is not enough. This is where the human work comes in. You must build relationships with your members on a 1:1 level. Image each member as a brick when building the walls of your community. This is why I keep my Calendly quick chat link and the DMs highly active.

4. Ideal Member

Knowing who your ideal member is will lead to a level of clarity that will empower you to build the community of your dreams. Also, the most value your members will receive is making connections with other members.

5. Effective Communication

This is why I recommend every community builder have an email list and newsletter. Sending regular communication to your members and keeping them up to date on what is going on in the community, is so important. Without this, you simply don’t have an active community.

Upcoming Events 🗓️

What Web3 Can Teach us About Community w/ @banana_cultist | Friday, March 21 @ 12pmEST  RSVP

That’s all for now!

Christel