Communities are sacred. They imply a level of connection, advocacy and energy on the part of those showing up. You're incredibly lucky if you have a passionate group of people with a sense of ownership to your product or service.

“True communities are simply groups of people who keep coming together over what they care about. The most vibrant ones offer members a chance to act on their passions with one another, to contribute to what is being made,” says co-author of “Get Together”,Bailey Richardson. “If you’re trying to discern whether you have a community… or merely a user-base, ask yourself: Is the group of people integral to realising the end product or the end impact? And if they're not, then it's not a community.”

The benefits of storytelling are two-fold: One, the community will seem more intriguing and appealing to those considering joining. Two, you highlight what top-notch participation looks like, motivating existing members to visualise how they can contribute more or deepen their involvement.

Identifying and and connecting with the people who care in the early days is essential to any fledgling startup’s survival. Richardson points to Courtland Allen who started Indie Hackers. “He sunk hours and hours into researching the first entrepreneurs to reach out to… people he knew would appreciate the space he built, and would show up for something new. He sent 150 thoughtful, personal emails to these folks, which isn’t exactly ‘scalable’ outreach.” Today, Indie Hacker’s community is more than 60,000 strong with 50+ meet-ups a month across the globe.

In Richardson’s experience, many founders find this to be a tough pill to swallow. “They don’t want to prioritise what may be a small slice of the future user base or invest in efforts that aren’t scalable. It’s easy to invest the bare minimum, focus on building the product, and hope it all takes off,” she says. “But when you have no momentum, the only people who are going to show up, download, or participate are the people who give a damn already. You need to focus both your product and your community strategy with that in mind.”

Spend your valuable, early-stage time pin-pointing your people. Seek out your allies who care about the same things you do. Even if there aren’t many of them, these first few you bring into the fold are consequential.

Ask yourself, who brings energy and enthusiasm? Who are the people who already engage, contribute, or attend? Rather than trying to conjure motivation out of thin air, start with those already keen and serve them well — they're the backbone of your community. This fledgling community will set the tone and direction for the future of your group.

Assuming your community flourishes, who will you keep? Cultivating a community is a long-term play.

Consider who your organisation’s future relies on (e.g., power users, loyal customers, key donors, passionate employees)?Who do you want to invest in?

“Ask yourself, what motivates our company and our most passionate users? Where do our incentives align?” advises Richardson. “Early, scrappy startups should think through what they could use help with, whether that’s customer support, getting the story out there, generating discussion or improving the product.”

Building relationships with the people who use your product or service is key. They are essential to your company’s growth. "When you're working on a product,” Richardson adds, “you're writing at the most fundamental ones and zeros, building this sort of shell. Without people contributing to it and adding to the stage, it's flat and lifeless.”

How can building community fit into your strategy? Imagine your product or service existing without it. “When YouTube started, for example, it might have been reasonable to assume that the website was the product,” says Richardson, “but in many ways, the product was the content, which was created by the community itself.”

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Thriving communities are able to answer the question: “Why are we coming together?” To ground your purpose in the needs of your members, consider:

• What do my people need more of?
• What is the change they desire?
• What are the problems that only we can solve together?​

When you have a strong hunch about who you want to bring in to your tribe and why you are gathering, you’re better equipped to decide what to do next.

Another common slip-up in nascent communities is the failure to bake dedication and repetition into its core. “It’s funny because tech companies are obsessed with user retention, but they often forget… a community can only grow sustainably if newcomers find value in their first interactions and then return,” says Richardson. Companies need to continuously track who’s coming and why. “We call these people the ‘hand—raisers. They’re the ones who always show up, bring others and eagerly contribute."

A one-off launch event communicates news but doesn’t create community. Organisations need to create experiences where their fans can show up for one another. “Monthly meet-ups, like Rapha Cycling Club's regular local rides, foster that kind of magical relationship building,” cites Richardson.

Giving potential community members the opportunity to show up again and again or to “raise their hands to take on responsibilities” establishes strength and engagement.

Whether you want to expand globally or locally, you've got to pass the torch. Leaders need to create more leaders. Empowering others to shape your company’s direction is what makes a community mighty. Spread out ownership by encouraging hand-raisers to lead in ways big and small by supercharging their efforts and celebrating their accomplishments.

URL experiences are easy to execute but in-person experiences create more powerful and impactful interactions. A 5 minute face-to-face conversation creates a more significant connection than an email -- why many companies opt to physically bring members of their communities together. Harnessing the power of human interaction can be your most effective customer to customer (C2C) marketing tool.

In person, sparks fly. Members can ask and answer questions about your product and improve their skills. Real life connections also serve to strengthen the emotional bond your users have with your product or service.

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