Remember that at the end of the day, a community is for the people in it. Don't build community for what YOU want. Build for what THEY want. That's it. That's all there is.

What can we learn from @Shopfiy 's community building strategy? Set clear standards for admission of members AND content to find them. Then, keep raising your own bar!

Whether you’re building a digital product, a content strategy or an event calendar, it's the unscalable work up front that enables the scalable strategy down the line. - Review public message chains. - Send polls. - Have 1:1 chats! Get into the weeds.

Everyone knows @Shopify as the leader in ecomm SaaS. Not everyone knows that the Canadian tech darling also has a thriving community! Let’s go through how the juggernaut of D2C has leveraged its brand to bring people together time and again 🙃👇

Want to learn more about community building? Follow @CommunityHacked for daily tips, tricks, and lessons learned from industry experts and community pros.

(7/7) So what can we learn from Shopify’s community building? - Build admissions criteria! - Ship basic content quickly, scale from there. - Drive towards achieving a content formula that works. - Tie content to community values and business outcomes to stay on track!

(6/7) The work wasn’t without challenges. It’s hard to consistently produce fresh, engaging, and high-value content that ties back to the purpose of a community and its business outcomes. But they persisted, and continue to lean into their content-led community!

(5/7) Shopify preaches intentionality in using content to build and nurture community. They dove deep into finding a ‘magic formula’ that could be used to scale effective content.

(4/7) After an initial stab at basic content was set up and the ball was rolling, Shopify's community team began a more comprehensive strategy. It covered: - Blogs - Articles - Videos - Live streams - Test & analytics

(3/7) Once admissions were set up, the strategy and focus shifted to content. The team realized that it needed a content delivery system that would reliably and repeatedly engage members in discussion through posts and conversations.

(2/7) The team first built an admission process to ensure a high quality digital space. To set the criteria, Shopify defined the purpose of the community, as well as what qualifications a member would need to contribute to that purpose effectively.

(1/7) Background: Before the pandemic, Shopify was experimenting with IRL events that created space for merchants to level up together. When the world shut down, Shopify eyed a pivot to digital community 👀

Everyone knows @Shopify as the leader in ecomm SaaS. Not everyone knows that the Canadian tech darling also has a thriving community! Let’s go through how the juggernaut of D2C has leveraged its brand to bring people together time and again 🙃👇

Are you building with intention? Don't know? Ask yourself - what is the desired community outcome of that thing you're doing? If you can't answer with absolute clarity in 1 - 2 sentences, your efforts might lack intention. Micro or macro, build community with intention!

If the the 2000s were the golden age of the internet forum... And the 2010s were the years of social media... Then the 20s will be the decade of digital community! We’re just getting started 🙃💪

The difference between growing a traditional business and growing a community lies in the relationship with customers People come to a business for a typical exchange of value - money for a product or service People come to a community to transform by contributing and learning

Want to learn more about community building? Follow @CommunityHacked for daily tips, tricks, and lessons learned from industry experts and community pros.

Remember, businesses love scale, but community members don't necessarily love it. It can be overwhelming to expose them to it. It’s on you to do it right!

Create a culture where all the smaller things that are happening bring value back to the wider community. It becomes your responsibility as a community leader to fit these new spaces and experiences into the puzzle of the community as a whole.

Look for ways to replicate horizontally, such as localized or specialized meetups and small groups, rather than just increasing the number of people in one space. Keep the community vibe going on and make sure the culture stays intact.

If you do decide to scale because it’s the right call - great! Make sure as you grow in ways that prevent people from being eliminated from their spaces in the community.