Weâre in the middle of community discovery. Weâve had some good conversations with our target audience and started running some event tests, but we havenât yet hit on a format or niche that makes people really excited. Obviously failure and iteration are part of the process, but theyâre the worst part.
Weâre trying to figure out how we can move a little faster. One approach weâll likely take is ads targeted at our audience promoting different event formats and niches, to see which get the most clicks and help us narrow things down.
Anyone have any other tips on moving faster? Once we have fit Iâm not concerned about the time investment it takes to build connection and engagement, but the discovery part is killing me a little bit.
For community discovery, is it about having enough discussions to develop personas? It almost sounds like by discovery, youâre really describing experimentation. And when these experiments (ie events) have low turnout, you are discovering what is working/what isnât. Is that accurate?
Weâre a much smaller community, and I kind of feel like weâre always doing some form of discovery. I personally treat the digital questions and conversations as an opportunity to learn more about whatâs behind the question/share.
Recently, I took a question from a member about what others are doing with champion programs, and ended up bringing more folks into the thread from both within the community and those that hadnât yet joined. Then we turned it into a live discussion and shared the notes out. It was one of the more âsuccessfulâ things weâve done in the value it provided, the buzz for others to see, and the ability to produce lasting content.
I feel like for us, experiments occur when there is some build up / pattern emerging, and you capture it and turn it into something. For us, itâs about making the âexperimentsâ small enough to where you donât feel like itâs a huge undertaking. Then measuring somewhat objectively to determine if it can become a âprogramâ
Is the bullseye framework on your radar? Itâs from the book Traction. While targeted at Startups I imagine the framework would be useful for community discovery.
Iâve only ever used it in a startup context and not in my community context â I happen to advocate for a very well established community. Yet the principle of âpick three approaches and run with them all in to experiment and learnâ could be useful.
Iâd look to see what you have access to as a competitive advantage.
Your company is big and likely has many resources to tap into. People that can do favours, that have insights, that would want to be associated with your brand.
I often think about how community discovery is about identifying gaps that exist for your niche too. What isnât being served well?
Also, itâs totally valid to do discovery by observing what people are doing now in the open, what is being written about, what kind of topics gain interest, what approaches other niches are taking that you can be inspired by.
Iâm feeling the same. Iâve been trying to find good words for it and keep having response drafts left open as I get stuck (and distracted).
Itâs hard - if it (community and any kind of business) were easy, then weâd all be succeeding. And yes, I can imagine the pressure of the business reputation making it even harder.
Following this. Iâm in a similar place. I feel I have the persona reaaaasonably nailed, some validation, but finding more of these people is challenging.
I read an interesting post recently on knowing when to quit and knowing when to grit. I.e. just because your audience doesnât immediately jump all over it doesnât mean itâs not valuable to them - itâs just genuinely hard conveying something effectively and building trust that they want to join it, even if itâs offering the right value to them.
For me personally, Iâm considering more direct approaches like youâve mentioned - actual ads, very specific partnerships with publications that align with the persona well, and even direct messaging on occasion.
Not sure if youâre in a similar boat or not - but broadly Iâd say your approach is well worth trying, and Iâd be keen to know any other routes you try!
Community discovery is like any other type of discovery - youâre trying to build the A in AIDA (Awareness or Attention - the other steps being Interest, Desire and Action) which is a sales / marketing principle and it applies to campaigns of any size IMO.
So to get the awareness or attention you really need to know your target audience. If you are finding it challenging to know how to reach them, maybe go back a few steps and think about how you identified them in the first place, which might throw up a few answers.
I think we may actually be in I. We have a lot of access to these folks - weâre just trying to get their attention better than standard marketing, and we havenât yet landed on something that interests them enough. Helpful framework to consider though!
