Welcome to The Dear Bri Podcast, an advice column for community conundrums, fiascos, and drama. In this episode, we’re hearing from Anxious in Atlanta. Our letter today deals with a private networking community. Our letter writer ran a test and now they are wondering how to go from this one-year discovery phase into their launch.

To better help Anxious in Atlanta, I invited Evan Hamilton — Director of Community at Hubspot — as my guest expert. He is sharing his strategy, thought process, and takeaways from being in the community industry for over a dozen years.

So, tune in to the many golden nuggets about community building and strategy coming your way as we talk about regrets, testing and experimenting, the importance of connection, and much more.

In this episode:

(07:04) The communitea: Anxious in Atlanta’s letter

(08:05) How to test your community concept

(13:58) Questions to ask when in the discovery phase

(17:17) Connection as magic that leads to an outcome

(21:38) 3 ways to shift member expectations and monetize your community

(27:20) How to curate a community for the right people

(31:03) The ongoing discovery phase

Expect: Online community building best practices and practical marketing strategy for communities.

Resources Mentioned:

📕 Check out the book Evan mentions: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

📩 Subscribe to Evan’s Newsletter Community Manager Breakfast.

❤️ Signup for Heartbeat. Bri’s recommended all-in-one community platform.

💛 Join Ember. The place for go-getter community creators building community-powered businesses.

Noteworthy quotes:

“I think if there's one piece of advice I could give to every community builder, it's: experiment. You should be testing things before you build.“ - Evan Hamilton

“At the end of the day, especially if the community is going to be a significant offer in your business, the most important test you can run is: “Are people willing to pay for it?” And the only way you can really run that test is to ask them to pay for it.“ - Bri Leever

Evan Hamilton

Evan has been building communities professionally for over 15 years at companies like HubSpot, Reddit, and Nextdoor. He has run everything from forums to conferences to global meetup programs and volunteer moderator programs with tens of thousands of members.

🖥️ Website

📱 Linkedin

Bri Leever

Bri got her start building a community and growing it to a multi-million dollar revenue stream for a social enterprise in Portland, OR. Now, she supports folks used to running their business on content, coaching, and consulting to create their community offer. She's a Community Strategist by day and a Campervan host by night on the Big Island of Hawaii and you'll usually find her on, in, or under the water.

🖥️ Website

📩 Newsletter

📹 Youtube

📱 Linkedin

And before you go…

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Want your story to be next? Submit an anonymous letter about your community conundrum, fiasco, drama, or other dilemma here.

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