Ep 41: Do I have to have a community in my course or membership?
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Do I have to have a community in my course or membership?
Do you have to have a community for your online course membership or group coaching program? Well, the answer may surprise you.
First off, we just need to get on the same page about one thing. Community doesn't equal a Facebook group or any other community platform. And then secondly, no, you don't have to have a community for your online program.
Online Communities are Very Beneficial, But Not Essential
In fact, I don't really have a community for my core community training program. You don't have to have anything inside of your business. That's the beauty of running your own business. You get to do what you want, how you want in a way that you think best serves your customers.
But when you hear me say that, you're probably thinking… “Okay, Shana, I get it. I can do whatever I want. That's not helpful. I want you to tell me what's best. What do I need to be doing to achieve success? Is not having a community going to prevent me from being successful with my online program - my course, my membership, my group coaching program, etc.”
Although having an online community is proven to retain customers, it really isn't essential. The community person just told you that a community isn't essential. Well, not exactly. A community isn't essential by default just because it's a box that you need to check. In fact, nothing is. Everything that you do inside of your business needs to be done with intentionality.
Have a Clear Purpose for Your Online Community
You need to have a specific purpose that helps you meet the business objectives for that particular program. Your community should serve a very specific purpose. You shouldn't have one just because you think you should, or other people say you should.
Chances are, if you do, you're gonna doubt the value of it. You're gonna give it a pitiful effort. You're gonna start ghosting your people. You're not gonna get results. You're gonna feel like the community is dead, and it's just gonna be a vicious cycle. You're gonna have a self-fulfilling prophecy of an ineffective community.
If you're going to have a community, I want you to be really clear about the purpose. I want you to really understand how it's going to impact the results of your customers and how the more results you get, the more referrals you're gonna get… or the longer they're going to stay with you… or the more they're going to ascend into your higher level program or your continuation program… or the longer they're going to stay inside of that recurring revenue program.
You've got to be really clear on the purpose the community serves and how it's helping meet your business objectives. So make sure your community has a purpose.
Possible Purposes for Your Online Community
The purpose of your online community could be to create connection. Connection is a very important key when it comes to retention. It is 100% a factor for retention. So having a community to create stickier connections among community members and with you and your team is definitely valuable.
Your community may also be an opportunity to offer support or provide coaching to people inside of your programs. It's another way for them to get the result faster because they're able to ask questions that go beyond the training. They're able to understand how to apply the training more. They're able to see what other people in the community are doing with the training and how they're implementing it inside of their life or their business so that they can learn from each other as well. Which leads to more results.
It could be another communication method for you. I know a lot of us are struggling with email communication and getting people to open those emails, but people tend to check Facebook a lot. Or if you have another community that you've really trained people to go to, it can be another way to communicate with them important announcements to help them take advantage of and consume the content that you have within your program.
And then obviously, implementation. Communities are really great ways to support in taking a training and moving them from training to accountability and implementation.
These are all intentions and purposes behind a community, and I'm sure there are a hundred more. The thing is, you've just gotta get really clear on that purpose and how it supports the outcomes and objectives of the program and the business overall.
Choosing a Community Platform
So do you have to have a community or a community platform for your online program? No, you don't. But you do need to get really clear on the purpose your community serves, and use that purpose to determine the platform(s) you'll use to bring your community together, whether that's a Facebook group, live event, a Zoom call or something else.
Get intentional about the purpose, how it serves the outcome of the program, and the bigger objectives of the company. Use that to determine the various platforms that you may use to create and cultivate community. It's not just your Facebook group, right? It could be Zoom calls, it could be live events, it could be accountability groups, it could be something else.
You determine all of those factors based on the purpose and making sure that community is working to achieve that purpose.
Have a Clear Purpose for Your Online Community
If you don't have a community for your online program and people have been annoying you and bugging you and telling you why you need to have a community (maybe even me) I want you to at least ask yourself these questions to get really intentional so that when you tell people why you don't have a community, you have a very clearly defined answer for it that you feel confident in.Sit solid in that decision and move on to growing your business.
