The beginning is the heavy lifting. You have to scream and put yourself out there. Sometimes you hear your own echo because at times it feels like you’re screaming into the void. - Anamaria Dorgo

The building blocks of a successful community

First things first, let’s talk about what it takes to build a great community. This chapter has all the best practices and tips by Anamaria Dorgo, Head of Community at Butter. Here’s what she has to say:

🗣️ Talk to people. In the early days at Butter Anamaria spent time talking to everyone and anyone. Establish the foundation of the community and ask the most fundamental questions. Why now? Will this community have any value? Where do you see the community in 5 years? Once you have your purpose, don’t be afraid to ask for help! The right support system can make or break your efforts.

🔨 Build in public. Everyone should be welcomed to your community but the only metric should be their interest, which lies solely in the person's hand. As long as people are interested in your community, welcome them with open arms, especially if your community is fairly new.

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🏋️ The beginning is the heavy lifting. You have to scream and put yourself out there. Sometimes you hear your own echo because it feels like you’re screaming into the void. And there’s no other way to do it. Do a lot of experiments without expecting anything, just be hopeful that something might resonate with people gradually.

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🔬 Experimentation is key. Host community events as much as possible. Eventually, you will see people returning to those events and start networking. When you meet the same people, again and again, there’s a sense of familiarity that binds them to the community. Such experiments or events are also a great way to see which members are consistent and most engaging.

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🤷‍♂️ There’s no secret sauce to keep people around. Some drift away, that’s fine, but ask them what they were there for and did they find what they were looking for? What is that they liked before about the community that isn’t fun anymore? What can be improved moving forward? You can’t force people to be in a community but what you CAN do is offer value, and learn what can be improved.

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🗓️ It is important to engage daily. Even if you don’t post something every day, make sure your drop in your reactions, like their comments, and respond to them. Lead by example and make people realize that you genuinely care about their presence in the community.

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🫂 Surround yourself with the right people. Connect with people who resonate with the culture that you’re trying to build. Sometimes people don't really need an incentive to join a community. Some people join to really learn and grow as a professional. They take up projects individually and nothing ever needs to be forced.

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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Give the people what they need. The best way to encourage conversations is to entice curiosity. And how you do that is by offering content that the people would care about. Also, maintain a content calendar if possible. Another great way to start conversations naturally is by crowdsourcing ideas. Being asked about a certain topic that people would care about is a great way to facilitate engagement.

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☺️ Being passionate is more important than having the right education. Most people who are community builders don’t have a formal education in community building, they’re doing what they’re doing because they love it. Even the skills you need for community building depend on the community that you’re building. If you truly care about a cause, and you have a natural flair for helping people then you have nothing to worry about! But the one thing is that you have to learn to love data.

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About the expert:

Anamaria Dorgo is currently the Head of the Community at Butter. She is also working with other talented Learning and Development professionals to turn "L&D Shakers" into a safe space, enabling and guiding L&D professionals to connect, grow and take bold actions every day. She also works as a freelancer and partners with companies and NGOs to question, rethink, explore, design, implement and showcase learning experiences that are impactful and memorable.

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