How to Start a Successful Meetup Group — 30 Days Growth Challenge

So you want to start a meetup group.

Well, I am sure you want to start a meetup group because you want to look after your local community, or you want to raise more leads for your business.

Either way, it is very important to run a thriving community online.

So what it takes to run a successful community group online?

Well, three things.

1. What is your community niche?
2. How much time and effort did you put in, to make it successful?
3. How do you convince people to join your community?

But what if I tell you, that if you follow my instructions for 30 days you will be able to not just create a meetup group online but also grow it by 100 people guaranteed within 30 days.

How I am so sure about it?

Because I used to run meetup groups in London and Newcastle which grew to more than 1000 members within a few months.

And I have followed exactly the same steps which I am going to share with you.

I am not going to tell you that you have to figure out your audience or do marketing etc., I am going to provide you clear step-by-step tangible instructions like:

Search for your niche on Facebook with query (niche + location )

And then join the group

So my email looks something like this:

If you are interested, you can subscribe to my 30 days challenge for community growth here.

Alright, so now let’s proceed.

Finding Your Niche

Photo by Liam Read on Unsplash

First thing first, you need to find your niche.

Now, this is a tricky one. Because you can argue why you need a niche. You can just start a meetup group and invite your friends.

But do you realise you just created a meetup group for your friends who live in your city. So basically you are targeting a niche i.e., people living in your area or city 😊

So unconsciously, or consciously, you actually require a niche and always want to operate inside that niche.

This will not just help you to target your persona for your meetup group. But also help you understand what kind of members will add value to your community.

persona example

Once you define your persona, you are ready to go forward with the next step.

Starting a meetup group Reddit

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

Now, the next step is to create an online identity for your meetup group. You can use any available platform, but based on my personal experience. I would strongly suggest the following platform.

These platforms will help you gain more visibility fast as well as they will provide you with all the necessary features to operate your community with ease.

1. Facebook (free with limited features)
2. Odd Circles ($12 a year with all features)
3. Meetup ($320 a year with all features)
4. Reddit (free with limited features)
5. Twitter (free, but features are not that great)
6. WhatsApp (free but does not have any events feature)

Now let’s move to the next step.

Start a meetup group for free

Photo by Nicolas Lobos on Unsplash

You must be wondering, I just mentioned to you above that it cost more than $320 a year for starting up a meetup group.

But what if I tell you that there is a way, you can create a meetup group for free? Yes!

If you want to learn more about it. Here is an article about how to start a meetup group for free.

How to start a meetup group for free? Really!

How much does it cost to start a meetup group UK

Photo by Katie Harp on Unsplash

Well, just to reiterate, it will cost you more than $320 a year to start a meetup group.

So if you are in the UK then you will end up paying around £265 a year.

Here is a simple conversion screenshot for you:

Said that you have many alternatives if you want to start the meetup group on a different platform.

For example, Odd Circles. It will only cost you $12 a year, which is more than 10 times.

How to become a meetup organizer

Photo by Nkululeko Mabena on Unsplash

Now you have created a meetup group. So it’s time to shine and rise.

Yes, becoming a meetup organiser is not easy.

You have to do everything and anything in order to make your meetup group successful.

Let me list the responsibilities of a meetup organiser:

1. Look after the meetup group members.
2. Moderate the communications between members.
3. Host events for your community members consistently.
4. Make sure your community members feel welcome at all events.
5. Keep the vibe alive in your events.
6. Consistent communication to keep updating members.

And trust me, this is not an exhausting list. There are zillions of more things which a community host has to do in order to make your meetup successful.

How to invite someone to a meetup group

Photo by Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash

Once you have created a meetup group. It is very easy to invite your connections to join your group.

Let me list a few ways you could do that:

1. Copy your group online link and send it to your friends and family via a message, email, or WhatsApp.
2. Click on the invite members button on your meetup group and invite friends via email.
3. Share your group link on Facebook groups so that people can find it.

So this is just a very high-level overview of how you can start a meetup group successfully.

If you have any suggestions or queries, please feel free to comment on this article.