Question 1

When should I start a community?

Accepted Answer

After product-market fit. You need enough active users to sustain discussions. Premature community = ghost town. Start with 100+ engaged customers before formal community.

Question 2

Which community platform should I use?

Accepted Answer

Circle: modern, clean, integrations. Discord: free, familiar to many, less professional feel. Slack: conversations, not async. Discourse: forum-style, SEO-friendly. Match to audience.

Question 3

How do I get people to join?

Accepted Answer

Invite best customers personally. Exclusive content or access. Integration into product. Email existing users. Make value clear. Start with quality over quantity.

Question 4

How do I keep community active?

Accepted Answer

Seed discussions. Regular programming (AMAs, challenges). Welcome new members. Recognize contributors. Share behind-the-scenes. Dead communities drive people away.

Question 5

What content should community have?

Accepted Answer

Mix of peer Q&A, tips/tricks, feature requests, success stories, job postings, off-topic connection. Balance structure and organic conversation. Let community evolve.

Question 6

How do I moderate community?

Accepted Answer

Clear guidelines. Lead by example. Quick response to issues. Empower super-users. Mostly light touch. Trolls are rare in paid product communities. Foster positive culture.

Question 7

What's the ROI of community?

Accepted Answer

Hard to measure directly. Reduced support volume, increased retention, user-generated content, product feedback, advocates, hiring pipeline. Community compounds over time.

Question 8

Should community be free or paid?

Accepted Answer

Free for most product communities—bundled with product value. Paid communities work for content businesses. Don't add friction to customer community.

Question 9

How do I identify and nurture champions?

Accepted Answer

Track who contributes most. Personal recognition. Early access to features. Advisory roles. Speaking opportunities. Champions amplify your message authentically.

Question 10

What about integrating community with product?

Accepted Answer

Link to community from app. Feature requests in community. Bug reports flow both ways. Community as extended support channel. But keep sales pressure out.

Question 11

How do I staff community management?

Accepted Answer

Start with founder/team involvement. Dedicated person when >500 active members. Part of customer success or marketing. Community managers need empathy and consistency.

Question 12

Should I use public or private community?

Accepted Answer

Private for customer community (exclusivity, safety). Public for open-source or broader brand (discovery, SEO). Hybrid: public content, private discussions.

Question 13

How do I handle feature requests in community?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge and aggregate. Voting/upvoting if tool supports. Close loop when shipped. Don't promise timelines. Transparency about prioritization.

Question 14

What are community metrics to track?

Accepted Answer

Active members, posts/comments, response rate, member retention, sentiment, support deflection. Engagement quality matters more than size.

Question 15

How do I integrate community with other channels?

Accepted Answer

Slack integration for notifications. Highlight in newsletter. Cross-post to social (with permission). Surface community content in knowledge base. Unified presence.

I need to build a community around my product

About This Problem

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Recommended Tools

Slack

Circle

Discord

Discourse

Mighty Networks

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