How to choose a community platform 🤔

Hi friends,

Let’s talk about how to choose a platform for your community.

We’ll explore some pros and cons to different platforms, but the first point to remember is this:

There is no de facto platform that everyone should use. No one-size-fits-all solution exists.

Traction vs. Features

Your community’s health is ultimately at the mercy of habit-building 

So, when launching a community, you often face a critical choice: 

Traction or features. 

Many people are already on platforms like Slack or Facebook groups, making it easier to gain traction. 

However, these platforms often lack robust community features. 

It’s the first tradeoff we’ll need to make, but it’s maybe the most important.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have the time and ability to encourage my members to build a new habit on a brand new platform that they’re not currently using?
  

• Are “traction platforms” (Facebook and Slack) missing features that are 100% crucial to the function of my community?

If the answer to either of those questions is “Yes”, it might be worth exploring some of the more feature-heavy community platforms.

If not, you might want the leg-up that existing traction will give you 🏃

The Feed-Forward Advantage

Let’s say you go with traction. Here’s a hot take:

If I had to choose between Facebook and Slack, I’d actually go with Facebook!

Why? Because your community platform should be feed-forward, not chat-forward.

Slack is chat-forward and synchronous—when a conversation is over, it’s gone. 

Members who check in later are unlikely to scroll up and catch up. On the other hand, Facebook’s feed-forward nature means high-engagement posts resurface, allowing for ongoing discussions. 

Valuable conversations aren’t lost to the wind, and new members get to see the most active discussions right when they join.

The Data Dilemma

Another couple of important questions to ask: 

1. What data do you want to own? 

2. And what data do you want to measure? 

On Facebook, you don’t own a list of your members. You can’t download their emails. 

On platforms like Circle, you can. 

Social-first platforms like Facebook and Discord offer limited metrics around community health. 

In contrast, platforms like Mighty Networks or Circle provide much deeper insights. You can better understand what works and what doesn’t.

Features to Think About

Finally, if you’re going for a more feature-rich platform, consider the features your community needs.

Not every community requires the same tools. 

For my community where coaching other community-builders is a big feature, live calls are essential. 

That might not be the case for a community of NFT collectors, but they might want gamification features that I don’t need!

That being said, some key features that I might consider when looking for a platform include: 

• Native live streaming and event hosting

• Automated onboarding

• Leaderboards and gamification

• Topic channels

• Course material integration

• Brand customization

• Role/badge assignments.

Think about which of the above are non-negotiables for what you want to accomplish in your community, and prioritize accordingly.

Looking to build a world-class community?

You’re in luck!

For the next six months, I’m coaching a small cohort of operators through the building of their entire community roadmap.

We’re going to cover the ins-and-outs of:

• How to select the right platform for your goals 🧑‍💻

• How to grow your membership and get new members excited to engage 📈

• How to efficiently monetize your community 💸

And SO much more.

Applications will close on August 10th, so right now is the best time to apply.

Until next time!