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Community-Led Growth: A Way to Sustainable Development

Apr 25, 2023

In the form of a Substack blog in 2022 Anu Atluru, the former head of Community at Clubhouse was interviewed about the journey she took to take an online social media company from just a handful of founders to a staff of 100+. In the post, she outlined a key lesson for entrepreneurs and businesses seeking sustainable (and rapid) expansion:

    "Traditional product-led growth (PLG) involves creating an excellent self-service product that is able to attract and keep users. This is a direct product-to-user sell and also an "best product wins" strategy. The concept of community-led growth (CLG) involves people in the process and allows for a "best recommendations win" method."

Through the use of their community atluru and her team have been able to open a new way of growth that was far better than the traditional, product-driven methods.

In this article, we'll dive deeper into the black hole which is known as community-led development as well as the role that of online education in this process, as well as the actions your company could adopt to develop your individual CLG strategy. Additionally, we'll provide examples of the most successful companies who have adopted this growth strategy.

Skip ahead:

Understanding the power of community-led growth

At its core, the growth of communities is a method to increase the number of users in your base and drive organic and sustainable revenue through word of mouth. It's a process of iteration that begins with understanding the needs and wants of your users, after which you use that data to design content and experience designed specifically for their needs.

The reason CLG has such a positive impact is because it helps create an environment where users are actively involved in making value for themselves as well as other people. When companies focus in promoting its community of users that it creates an "ecosystem" where customers become promoters, evangelists, and even co-creators.

 A few examples of businesses which have experienced community-led growth

A company that is focused on providing product utility - like a tool manufacturer would be inclined to go after PLG and try to "build an improved mousetrap." It's not going to work for everyone.

Here are some successful growing examples of community driven growth:

   LinkedIn  

No better illustration to illustrate this point than professional networking huge LinkedIn. To increase its users, the company used its members to give suggestions and endorse other users.

This created an environment where people were more likely to register (and remain) in the web-based platform because they trusted their peers more than the product's description or advertisement.

   HubSpot  

HubSpot has a team of experts. HubSpot team has been focused on content marketing to drive growth for the business and build a community.

HubSpot has built a library of education materials - which include online classes, an webinars, whitepapers, ebooks and more - which educated users on the inbound marketing process and helped them understand the way HubSpot could benefit their businesses.

The HubSpot Academy was wildly successful and helped the company increase its customer base leaps and leaps and.

   Hootsuite  

They created forums as well as opportunities for their clients to communicate with each to exchange ideas and opinions. It also helped create an ethos of belonging among Hootsuite's customers, which led to a greater organic growth rate for the business.

The significance of online education in driving the growth of communities

Education online is an essential element of any community-led expansion strategy. When you create informative content to help users to better comprehend your product, you're providing them with the information they need to become advocates for it.

This in turn leads to an increase in organic growth because individuals are more inclined to suggest your products or services to family and friends - suggesting the education resources to open the door.

 Benefits of online education for businesses

Beyond community growth, online education can also offer your company other benefits:

  • Building relationships with your customers and ensure they are engaged.
  • Upselling and cross-selling items is possible, because customers be more aware of what's on offer and the steps that they must take in order in order to be successful with your product or service.
  • Learn more about patterns of behavior among users. This will give you details on who the target audience is.
  • Make customers feel valued by the company because they'll be able to feel valued and appreciated if they have access to exclusive educational material.
  • Differentiate your product from competitors, as you offer more than just the essential features.

They also provide benefits to the members of the community to spread the word among their networks, further driving organic growth.

Guidelines to help drive community-led expansion for your company

Interested in implementing community-led growth within your business? Here are the steps you should follow:

 Step 1: Define your target audience

Before you can create online educational content that is tailored to your target audience, you have to know who they are. Spend some time understanding the demographics of your customer base. You can then utilize that information to create buyer personas and target audience to help you develop your community-led growth strategy.

 2. Determine the gaps in knowledge and skills within your targeted viewers

Send out surveys or conduct interviews with users, or examine customer support tickets to gain information.

 3. Design quality educational web content

Do not try to speed up the development of educational content. Quality over quantity is the primary goal. Develop a comprehensive and detailed piece of content tailored to your target viewers' needs and preferences.

 Step 4: Provide the education content via the internet via channels

It's not enough to hope your customers find the educational content you create. It is important to make sure you distribute your content via channels that people are already familiar with, like emails, social media platforms, and even live webinars or occasions.

Inspire users to share the information with other users in their networks, or offer incentive incentives for referrals to encourage more spread of the word.

 5. Create an online community for the educational content you create

After they've selected an option, they shouldn't just be thrown into the existing user pool. Instead, create an exclusive community where they can connect with other graduates to ask questions and discuss the best practices. This exclusivity will help foster a sense of trust and dedication to the product.

 Sixth Step: Promote participation and cooperation from the community

Do not allow your community to care by itself. Encourage engagement by providing incentives, hosting contests and competitions for your clients and members of the community and even giving them the opportunity to create their content that can be shared within the community.

This can keep them active and returning because they are investing in the people, not in the product.

 Step 7: Measure the impact of your online education programs

Nothing is worth doing if you can't measure its effect. Make use of analytics to measure the results of your community-driven expansion initiatives, and then adjust your plan accordingly in order to get the best results. Does a specific online course lacking in follow-up involvement?

Do more people sign up to a specific online course than the rest? These insights can help you refine your CLG strategy and ensure it is as effective as possible.

Study of a case

 Entrepreneurs on Fire

What can you do to leverage a podcast audience? Sure, it's possible to fill the airwaves with corporate sponsorships, charge extra fees on the exclusive channel, or even sell merchandise.

The idea was to build an online educational platform that was specifically designed for entrepreneurs which would allow them to access classes covering finance, marketing as well as sales and leadership at the convenience of their own homes.

The key here was that these courses were inexpensive for everyone who wished to take a course, but were also of high-quality enough to benefit those who are looking for a comprehensive learning experience.

It began with a complimentary course, which served as an introduction for the content to follow, and then went towards creating more comprehensive lessons that were available for purchase at a low fee. The company even added exclusivity to their offering by creating a members-only portal known as Fire Nation, where subscribers can access exclusive content as well as get personalized help with the help of their team.

The result? A highly engaged group of entrepreneurs passionate about learning, growing, making a more positive tomorrow for their own. Entrepreneurs on Fire has generated over $1.5 million in revenue from its programs, and the podcast has exploded thanks to a dedicated network and now has over 100 million listens.

Conclusion

Community-led growth is becoming increasingly sought-after by companies to drive sustainable, organic increase. Through leveraging the power of customer engagement and investing in online learning and training, businesses can implement an "best recommendation wins" strategy that results in greater word-of-mouth recommendations and a higher levels of customer satisfaction.

If you're seeking an opportunity to create sustainable growth for your business, invest in community-led initiatives like online learning.