How to build a niche community
Learnings from once building a niche patient community online.
Members
Authenticity is key. Keep it real and stay personal. Build a voice and tone guide that reflects how you talk and act.
Ask members, listen to their wants, and let the community feel that they are part of determining the direction and new features.
If building a community to a group that you’re not part of by nature, you should include community representatives in everything from overall concept to specific wording in your prototype.
Content
Member generated content IS the community. Find a way to create/hustle a decent amount of interesting content ready from day one.
It’s crucial that new members experience swift (positive) feedback from other members. Never leave a post unanswered.
Influencers
Determine key influencers and keep them happy. They will feel more important and stay loyal if they experience special status and access to people in your organisation.
Hire community managers from the existing member base. They’re already fans and can relate to member challenges because they share their experiences.
Determine external influencers within the subject and reach out. Some will want to get onboard or spread the word in their existing channels.
Marketing
Organic growth is hard in niche groups that people don’t necessarily want to identify themselves with. Sharing is limited and it’s hard to use existing communities to spread the word.
Boosted personal member content produce lower CAC due to greater authenticity. Paid advertising on sub-topics leading to specific member posts within the subject normally outperforms “general community USP’s”.
Focus on long-tail SEO on a variety of curated/automated theme pages. Prompt signup on content that’s determined interesting enough to block full access, thus entitling a membership hook.
Community building is a hard and lengthy process. It takes patience and budget to build from scratch. Do not underestimate.
