The Community Experience

#059 What happens if you stop participating in your community for a few days? Do your members step up in your absence? This is the ultimate way to test the environment you’re creating. If no one misses you, that’s the sign of a job well done! Although, you might need a good, ugly cry to get over it. Today’s guest, Mathilde Leo, is the Head of Community at Circle. She has made it her mission to equip creators with the most effective tactics for building thriving private groups. Mathilde and our host Jillian dive straight into crafting unique strategies tailored to your ideal members. They discuss metrics, events, managing time zones, and setting boundaries. This is also a great conversation for the community-curious out there. If you haven’t started yet, listen in to learn more about the easiest ways to add a profitable membership element to your business. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx059.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#058 Are you bad at your job? Many community managers struggle to measure the true impact of their work. But that’s changing! New tools and resources designed with online memberships in mind are finally coming out. Common Room is a community intelligence platform that helps you measure and deliver next-level experiences for your members. Rebecca Marshburn, Head of Community at Common Room, joins us today to share a behind-the-scenes look at the company and the game-changing tools they’ve developed. We dive into analytics, the best ways to measure membership success, and the value of using the right tools for the job. Rebecca gives us an inside look at Uncommon, a newsletter that has evolved into a private space where community builders come together to share their expertise. We also look at how SPI Pro has grown and changed and the elements that have made it successful. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx058.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#057 Is no one drinking anymore? Mocktails are on the rise, and sobriety is quickly becoming more mainstream. Even major corporations are jumping at the chance to offer high-margin no- and low-alcohol beverages. Imagine that! But is a sober dance party any fun? And what’s there to do in an online membership for people looking to change their relationship with drinking? In this episode, we discuss sober and sober curious communities with Molly Ruggere of Counterculture Club, Sam Diminich of Your Farms Your Table, and Robbie Shaw of the Champagne Problems Podcast and Eventide Recovery. For many people, the pandemic shed light on unhealthy drinking habits. With much of the in-person substance abuse support moving online, global digital communities now exist to aid in the journey to recovery. This is a fun and enlightening conversation that illustrates the power of online communities in bringing people together and forming life-changing bonds. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx057.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Richard Millington, founder of FeverBee, discusses the power of data-driven decision making in community management. Topics include user behavior analytics, paid vs. free communities, member surveys, and the return on investment of membership. The podcast also explores the evolution of community platforms and tools, as well as the significance of surveys in community building.

#055 How do you provide your online community with value? You get paid to do it, so you might think you have to be at the center of every activity. But what would happen if you got out of the way and allowed your members to collaborate and build something from scratch? Geraldine Wharry is a fashion futurist who runs The Trend Atelier community. In this episode, we find out all about Geraldine’s work and the collaborative project that has propelled her membership to the next level. She and Jillian discuss beta launches, events, pricing models, analytic tools, member surveys, and online communities with a mission. In keeping with the theme of futurism, this chat is a deep dive into a novel approach that points at how communities could evolve in the coming years. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx055.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What do you do if you want to provide your audience members with the value of community, but they're not all at the same level in their journey? We needed to come up with a solution for this at SPI, and by gosh, we’ve done it! Jillian is joined by two special guests today to talk about the launch of our brand new Learner Community. Matt Gartland is the CEO of SPI Media, and Mindy Peters is our Senior Solutions Manager. Together they’ll give you an inside look at how we’re now providing beginner entrepreneurs with the same level of support our SPI Pro members enjoy. This episode is a deep dive into the SPI community strategy. We talk about why we decided to create separate communities instead of having multiple tiers inside a single membership. We share what we've learned about migrating platforms, payment solutions, and enrollment options. Jillian, Matt, and Mindy also go through the tools and integrations we use to ensure our members have a fantastic experience. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx054.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#053 Sometimes tough love is the best kind of love, and it might be just what you need if your community is struggling right now. It’s not unusual to see activity slowing down during summer, but what are the hard questions you should ask yourself if your members don’t see the value in coming back? A lone rider for this episode, Jillian shares the steps you need to take if your online community is slowly becoming a ghost town. Now that things are opening back up in real life, memberships are dwindling, and the virtual tumbleweeds are rolling. So what should you do? Give up! Just kidding, but we do discuss the other opportunities available if you don't enjoy running your community anymore. Jillian also goes into the one-size-fits-most strategy you could use to get your community back on track and the exact recommendations she'd make as an outside consultant. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx053.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're taking a break this week (week two of two), so we decided to pull up one of our favorites from the back catalog. This is episode 016 with Kelly Roberts of Badass Lady Gang and you won't want to miss it! Here are the show notes:Have you ever wanted to join a club but never felt like you fit in? Like, there's an in-crowd, outfits, and a lingo you don't know? Maybe the members of the group even exhibit an intimidating level of physical fitness? That sort of thing could make a person feel unwelcome—but what if you took that feeling and used it as an opportunity to create something new and different? And along the way, you found that there were lots of other people just like you? That is exactly what Kelly Roberts did with the Badass Lady Gang, a running community for ladies who don't identify as runners. Kelly has intentionally designed her community as, well, a community first and a workout second—one that's confronting the constricting stereotypes of what a "runner" should be. Come for Tony's yoga studio story, and stay for the badass-ness that is Kelly and her awesome community.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're taking a little summer break for the next two weeks, so this week we're running Jillian's appearance on session 495 The Smart Passive Income Podcast with Pat Flynn! Here are Pat's show notes for the episode:The future of business is about community and connection. And, it's more than just creating Facebook or LinkedIn groups—now your entire business can be run like a membership site. That's exactly what we're going to be talking about today with Jillian Benbow, the manager of our membership community, SPI Pro. Jillian and I cover what it takes to create a thriving community where members feel welcomed and excited to engage and grow together. She's a pro at fostering connection and managing all the different facets of running a community of diverse people with all kinds of businesses and goals. We talk meetups, networking, AMAs, gamification, and much more—it's a wealth of information on how to manage a community, so don't miss it. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session495.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#052 What is your biggest risk as a community builder? You might not have given this much thought, but how people treat each other on your membership site might become your number one liability. So how do you write the terms of service and guidelines that protect you in court and create a safe space for your members? Today’s episode is all about the legalities you need to consider in your business and community. To help you get started, we’re interviewing Wesley Henderson of DraftedLegal.com and Henderson & Henderson in Charleston, South Carolina. We get into everything from how to set up a new business to moderating your community. Wesley even shares his fantastic cheat sheet for handling the poor behavior often disguised as “freedom of speech” online. Also, if you need an easy way to handle all the legal stuff without hiring a lawyer, our listeners get 25% off at Drafted Legal with the code SPI25. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/cx052.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.