The biggest source of growth isn’t going to come from within the community, but from outside the community.
It’s easy to forget this. You can spend vast amounts of time trying to optimise rewards and tweak the technology. But, ultimately, the biggest source of possible members are those interested in the topic but don’t participate in your community today.
- How do you reach them?
- What do you tell them?
- How will you persuade them to ask a question?
These are the critical questions.
A while back I purchased a Hubitat hub. It was tricky to figure out how to set it up, so I went to Google and landed on a community post.
Up until that moment, I hadn’t noticed Hubitat had a community (despite it being a homepage navigation tab!).
When I got stuck again, my first instinct was to search Google for an answer.
Why didn’t I ask in the community?
These are the critical challenges right now to growing a community.
Do members know you exist?
Do they see the value of your community?
Do they believe the community will deliver on that value?
How are they getting that value if not the community?
Why is there not a link, message, or QR code in the Hubitat box inviting me to join the community, ask questions, and get help?
Why did I not receive an email inviting me to join the community and a specific mentoring group for newcomers?
Why was I not sent a list of regular questions/issues people have along with links to top influencers in the community (and the ecosystem) I should follow?
If you want to grow rapidly, you have to work more outside of your community than within it.
