Claudia Gharai

Everyone says building a community around your product is important. They help you spread the word, support you in your launches on PH and similar platforms, and give you feedback on new features you add to your product . Which are all the great things you would want for your product to happen, right?  But how do you actually get started? Tell us in the thread below UPDATED Thanks to everyone for their contributions to this thread . Summarising the discussion. Checklist for Community Building To Start: Identify your target audience Before you start building your community, it's important to understand who you want to target. This will help you tailor your content and messaging to the right people and ensure that you're reaching the right audience. You can look at how I m positioning the value to the community for my SaaS as a reference https://t.me/+UQ7bDtzlyaphNGRl Choose the right platform There are a number of platforms you can use to build your community, including chat platforms, forums, social media groups, and online discussion boards. Choose a platform that aligns with your target audience and offers the features and functionality you need to support your community. To Grow: Create engaging content Once you have your platform in place, focus on creating content that will engage your audience and encourage them to participate in discussions. This could include blog posts, videos, podcasts, or other types of content that provide value to your community members. Foster participation and engagement Encourage participation in your community by asking questions, starting discussions, and responding to comments and feedback from your members. You can also use incentives and rewards to encourage engagement, such as offering exclusive access to new features or discounts on your product. Promote on Public platforms There are various communities out there that might be interested in what you have to say or what you are building. Find what works for you. For SaaS products generally, some of the worthy platforms are:  Product Hunt, Hacker News, Indie Hacker, Reddit, Beta list, Beta page, Clrt Alt, Owwly, Micro startups, Startup base, Beta bound, Slant, SaaSHub, SaaSWorthy, StartupStash, AppSumo Creating a Freemium version The audience that you want to reach probably doesn t want anything to do with you. They are not your customers today. You need to convert them into your fans. One of the time-tested models to do that is Freemium. Many of the legendary SaaS companies that we know today leverage this tool to give people a taste of their product and then those people became their ambassadors to grow. Lastly, don t forget to:  Monitor and manage your community  Regularly monitor your community to ensure that discussions are staying on topic and that members are treating each other with respect. If necessary, take action to remove disruptive members or delete inappropriate content.  I hope this thread helped you learn something new.