Building Community Around Shared User Interests

I often see people who misinterpret social media as a community building tool. It can be used as such, but very tough to do. (and most people who think they are doing it right are just building another distribution outlet — which is great, but different from building a community) It requires a slightly different approach than the average social strategy. Social Platforms (like X & LinkedIn) • Open networks • Content dependent • Great because people are usually spending lots of their time there • Tough to stand out since you’re competing against the algorithm, other creators, brands, and everyone else in the feed Community Platforms (like Discord, Slack, Circle) • Usually closed networks • Dependent on user engagement • Great for consolidating your core group of members • Very tough to maintain over time since you need people to come back to your specific group (even tougher if engagement is declining) Ok, so how do you use social platforms top build an online community? 1/ Define your community 2/ Share it on your social accounts, in your bio, etc. 3/ Align your content around this community and what they love 4/ When you create your content, keep this specific community in mind 5/ Share updates publicly just like you would within a Discord channel 6/ Allocate a good chunk of time per day to community management 7/ Nurture your most engaged followers by supporting their content 8/ Make introductions directly in the feed wherever possible 9/ Use your platform to elevate others in your community 10/ Introduce group language that people can use How do you know when you’re doing it right? • People will use your account to discover others with similar interests • People will use your language and phrases in their posts • People will use the comments section of your posts like a forum • People will host meetups or connect with one another IRL at events • People will often tag you in content related to your community In closing, Yes, you can use social platforms like X & LinkedIn to build an online community. But it requires much more effort than just posting content about your brand or the problem you solve. You’ve got to constantly keep the community you’re serving top of mind, put in the time to nurture your members, and be consistent over a long period of time.

Social media is not the megaphone you think it is. 9/10 of brands collect followers, blast promotional content, and wonder why engagement stays low. We took a different approach with Nailboo. We created a space where people could share their nail journey (weither they were using our products or not). And that approach actually pushed buyers CLOSER to our brand than if we just tried to hard sell at every touchpoint. Community happens when customers feel ownership. When someone posts their first successful dip manicure, dozens of other members rush to congratulate them. When someone struggles with application, experienced users share detailed advice. The community has taken on a life of its own. It's positive feedback loop: → New customers join the community → Get support and succeed → Become dedicated advocates → Help others succeed → Strengthen the community The results speak for themselves: Our community members have 3x higher lifetime value than non-community customers. The brand doesn't belong to us...not fully. At its heart, its a movement of people who believe everyone deserves salon-quality nails at home. What's your experience building communities around products? How do you measure community health beyond just numbers?

The way brands create communities these days feels incredibly fake to me. ❌ What they do: Community members get discounts and referral codes, but to stay qualified, they need to create consistent content for the brand. The reason you build a community is to have a trustworthy, safe space for customers to ask questions and see how others use your product. If you stuff it with creators you pay to use your product, it’s going to feel fake. ✅ What you should do: Find people who are already fans. Those that are: → Repeat purchasers → Talking about your brand organically → Naturally supporting because they love it Create a closed community of these super fans on any platform (FB, Whatsapp, Discord, etc.) to build intrapersonal connections. This doubles as a UGC source. People share authentic testimonials about your product so there’s built-in content. Plus there’s a natural constant loop of community building. When you approach it from this angle, it's more sustainable. Obvi for example (a health and wellness collagen brand) has a Facebook community of 100,000 members filled with success stories, recipe ideas, and shared experiences. They’ve been building it for the last 5 years and it’s grown on its own. They don’t use it as a sales pipeline—purely as a safe space for their customers. More brands need to follow this. Think about building a place where people love to share experiences, not just identifying creators who can speak to your brand’s value props. Otherwise, your community won’t stick or grow in a healthy way.