Great communities are born. Uncommunity #13

3 minutes read time

I know, I know. We’ve not been in touch since last month and we’re here now. Aren’t we?

First things first. We’ve been working on V2 of Uncommunity and we are so excited to announce it publicly within the next few weeks. If you want to take a sneak peek you know how to reach us. JUST REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. :D

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Great Communities Are Born!

When you authentically build for yourself, you authentically create a gravitational pull. You don't need then thousand you just need a few 100s. Find small dedicated believers who love your art for what it is. You don't have to market it or sell it hard. It just comes naturally. That's how great products are built. That's how great communities are born. 

Our 7th episode of Community Stories is live. I chat with John, Founder of Yen and creator of YEN.FM. He’s been building software for decades. John started his newsletter 10 years ago before it was too cool. This is an interesting episode for anyone who’s in their mid-20s and for people who are looking to start a newsletter, communities, or business. If you want to skip ahead to see what we discuss you can find the timestamps here.

Oh! And you can now listen to Community Stories on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

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What else we’re reading/listening?

• Deconstructing Among Us’ Twitter Strategy - A deep dive into the thoughts behind a community director’s social media work, Victoria Tran. Read the deep dive now.

  This is NOT a post about how I grew the Twitter account; a lot of the hard work was done from the game being a hit before I came to work at Innersloth, and their work managing a community before me! HOWEVER, I think this post will be helpful if:

  • You’re interested in the strategies, problems, and thoughts behind handling a enormous community — while still being a tiny indie team

  • Hearing all the weird things I’ve learned from suddenly inheriting a community of half a billion players lol

  Among Us game has 500 million monthly active users and only has 4 employees that’s 125 million players per person. 😱

• How to Win Friends and Influence People the book - The best summary from the blog Farnam Street which highly resonates for ANY community builder. Check the full article here.

  Six ways to make people like you:

  • Become genuinely interested in other people.

  • Smile.

  • Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

  • Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

  • Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.

  • Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

• Creating a Community Commitment Curve - One of the most common questions that community managers ask is: “How do I engage my community members?” Though this is one of the most common community questions, the truth is that it's usually the wrong question to ask. Incredible piece by Carrie Melissa Jones.

  That's because there is no single way to engage members. Oftentimes, those asking the question want quick tips and random ideas. But random ideas are just that: random. Your community is not just a random, general place for people to gather. It's a place where people gather to share a common purpose or identity. Therefore, all engagement must serve that common purpose.As a result, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to engaging communities, but there is a framework to create engagement and leadership for your specific community's purpose.It’s called the Community Commitment Curve.

  

• Ten tips for building a community from the ground up. This is a great piece by Ben Halpern who’s the creator of DEV.TO, largest dev community, and Forem, open source community-building platform. Read the full piece here.

  1. Allow for "single player mode"

  2. Be longterm-minded

  3. Love thy platform

  4. Think holistically about what community is

  5. Find ways to make participation easier

  6. "Growth hacking"

  7. Come up with cost-effective physical touchpoints

  8. Find colleagues and co-founders

  9. Don't sell out to the giants

  10. Be awesome and have fun

• Times have changed. Investors are serious about products focusing on communities.

  Alexis Ohanian Sr. 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ @alexisohanian

  LPs in 2018: "Why are you creating so much content? Are you sure community building /really/ is necessary for a VC firm?" LPs in 2021+: "What is your content strategy? Just how strong + engaged is your community?"

• Spend time with your people.

  Joseph P. Huber @JosephPHuber

  A tip for anyone that starts work on community building this year: you’re not a community manager or strategist or whatever. You’re a community member. Spend time with your people. Learn about the things you’re talking about. Have conversations with them. You’re one of the gang.

• Start small.

  Amanda Goetz @AmandaMGoetz

  Marketing 101: Building community How do brands build a loyal base? Which comes first, audience or product? Niche or broad? Which is better? A thread 🧵 //

• Companies are communities.

  David Spinks @DavidSpinks

  The word “company” is derived from the Latin words ‘com’, meaning ‘together’, and ‘panis’ — meaning ‘bread’. It originally described how merchants would gather, share stories, eat together, and trade. Companies are communities.

• What’s your favourite community?

  LATE CHECKOUT @latecheckoutplz

  Here's what successful communities have in common: 1. Filled with "addicts" 2. Weekly/daily habit 3. Community creates 99% of content 4. A sense of momentum; more new members than members leaving 5. A sense of pride; members will show & tell why they love the community

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If you would love a sneak peek of our V2 and want to find out about the latest changes, all our AMA and podcast episodes in one place just hit the reply button. Let us know what you think and if you have any suggestions DO TELL.

If you like this edition smash that ❤️ button and share this with your friends, closest virtual colleagues. :)

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thank you ☕

for joining us in our journey. We both have full-time jobs and we have built Uncommunity in our free time as we have been exploring ways to give back and support fellow community builders in their journeys.

If you are enjoying our curation and want to express your appreciation, please feel free to spread the word, buy us a coffee, or let us know your thoughts/feedback.