Building a Community That Shines

A community can be a gold mine or a ghost town

What kills a community

- No mission
- No memes
- No milestones
- No easy ways to contribute & get fast feedback
- Lack of rituals
- Lack of sense of belonging
- Lack of vibes
- Negativity

🧵 How to build a community that shines:

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

I'll explain by an example:

In 2018, the r/WeddingPlanning subreddit was struggling to gain traction. Despite having over 50,000 members, it was a ghost town

Members weren't engaging with each other, and the community was fizzling out

A community needs connection to thrive

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

The mods investigated and learned the subreddit was suffering from a lack of direction

Members didn't have a clear idea of what the subreddit was about, or what they could gain from being a part of it

Point: without direction, we lose our way

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

To fix this, the subreddit moderators crafted a clear mission statement that outlined the subreddit's purpose, values, and goals

They shared the mission statement with members and asked for feedback

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

The mission statement resonated with members, and they started to get excited about the subreddit's potential

All of a sudden, they began to feel a sense of belonging, and engagement starting ticking up

Point: A clear purpose inspires active participation

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

But the subreddit still needed something else to keep members engaged. The moderators realized that members needed something fun and easy to engage with.

That's when they introduced a weekly thread for members to share their wedding planning memes

Memes rule!

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

Here's what happened:

Members were creating and sharing memes about their wedding planning experiences, and engagement skyrocketed

Members began to compete with each other to create the funniest or most relatable memes, and the subreddit's vibe became more playful & welcoming

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

Next up, the mods introduced milestone posts, where members could share their progress in their wedding planning journey.

Members began to celebrate each other's successes and offer advice and support. The subreddit became a true community, where members felt seen and heard

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

With a clear mission, a playful vibe, and easy ways to engage and share, the r/WeddingPlanning subreddit went from a ghost town to a gold mine

It now has over 400,000 members and continues to thrive as a go-to resource for couples planning their wedding

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

This is a mega-valuable community

There are hundreds of businesses to be built around this subreddit and the mods get to be at the center of it

Pretty cool...

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

To recap:

A thriving community is built on purpose, engagement, belonging, and positivity.

Keep these pillars strong, and your community will shine like gold 👑

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

Bonus community tip:

The 90-9-1 rule says that 90% of your community will be passive, 9% active, 1% power

Passive users are powerful, important parts of your community. Let them read. Let them hang out. Focus on the 10% generating power...it’s a symbiotic ecosystem pic.twitter.com/G1LooInUlz

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

There are ~5000 subreddits where you could make at least $1M building businesses for those subreddits

If this thread interests you but you want to go deeper

1) Join LCL (a free community) https://t.co/NJbO6hsIcH

2) Join Community College (course)https://t.co/WEgMKM5GJD

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

I also have this free guide to unbundling of reddithttps://t.co/YAISeGltDu

But if you read it, how about you subscribe and share this thread with others?

Thank you =)

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

I'll end with this wonderful quote by @briansolis

"Community is much more than belonging to something; it's about doing something together that makes belonging matter." - Brian Solis

Here is the thread to like/RT to share with your audiencehttps://t.co/mWauyyssbN

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023

I just wrote this down on a sticky note and put it on my desk:

mission
memes
milestones
easy ways to contribute & get fast feedback
rituals
sense of belonging
vibes
positivity

— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) March 3, 2023