How To Make A Great Group (Even If It's Small)

I asked 160 of you how to make a great engaged small community. Your responses were incredible. So I synthesized everything into a simple checklist.

// Level 1: 0-10 members

If your group just exists to sell people, they will smell those intentions a mile away. Starting with the right intentions is key. @Raymond Gonzalez Ingles says “I interacted with them before I ever even mentioned or invited them to join my community.” If you’ve spent more time optimzing your ‘free group funnel’ than you have making your group great, this is probably for you. Make the group great on its own and the opportunities to monetize will appear naturally as a way to provide more help.

@Calvin Hollywood says “starting with the right people” is one of the most important steps to building a great community. Start by deciding who your groups is for, what the goal is and how you will help them get there. Then DM friends or connections who might be interested in that inviting them to participate.

Stop spending hours building your classroom. Instead, prioritize building relationships by starting a weekly call. @Aidan LaBreche found that “one weekly networking call was the best way to turn strangers into friends”. And great relationships are the key to a great community.

Action steps:

✅ Start with the right intentions

✅ Decide who your group is for and invite 3 fitting people to be part of it

✅ Start a weekly call in the calendar to build relationships

// Level 2: 10-100 members

There are 3 types of community members. Newbies who just joined, Lurkers who watch but don’t participate, and Regulars who are the elders of the community. You don’t need a huge group. The best communities I have been in just had 10 core elders uplifting everyone. @Ryan Schrope says “when you are small, being up close and personal is one of the biggest advantages.”

Lead by example, and people will copy you. Be the person you want to see in your group. Do this by making your first post in the community and encouraging your members to post too. @Evan Momcilovic says “gives people a reason to post and comment” by reaching out and rewarding the high value posts you want to see. If they had a win, encourage them to post it. If they DM you a question, encourage them to post it. Position posting in the community and joining calls as valuable to them.

Not only that, @Ryan Schrope shared that “It also came down to giving them what THEY wanted, not what I wanted. I didn't create a bunch of courses etc. Each week I literally would ask them what they needed help with, then do a training on that thing.” Create value posts and training based on what they want. Pin those posts and trainings to the classroom as your first course.

Action steps:

✅ Welcome newbies and activate the lurkers in the DMs to get 10 Regulars

✅ Lead by example. Make your first post and encourage members to post too

✅ Create posts and training for what people want and pin them to the classroom

// Level 3: 100+ members

@Irina Kauffman builds her community by getting members to “support each other and encourage each other on their posts.” If the only thing bringing your community together is you, you don’t have a community. The goal of level 3 is to promote your elders, master moderation, and finish building your group so you can keep it high quality, fun, and growing fast even if you aren’t there.

Your elders are the lifeblood of the business. Ask them if they would be interested in being promoted to moderator. Start a leaderboard system to continue to reward and incentivize people to stay active. We have found level 2 is important to get members started, level 4 is important to build the habit, and level 7 is important to reward your best contributors.

But leaderboards alone might motivate people to overshare low quality posts and comments. That’s why moderation is key. Reward the behaviour you want to see and punish the behaviour you don’t want to see. @Dan Harrison says he “spends 90% of his time helping and listening to members” to keep the quality and connections high.

As you do these things you will learn more about your members problems and desires and slowly find community market fit. Don’t rush, when the opportunity to create a paid group or offer comes take it.

Action steps:

✅ Promote your Elders and set up your leaderboard

✅ Master moderation with punishment and rewards

✅ Finish building your group

Start building your free group