INTRODUCING C·UP’s new community!
I am so excited to introduce you to the community that I have been working hard on creating here at C·UP.
Upon starting in the business program I’m in, I narrowed my ideal person I’m looking to serve to being a Remote Worker in their 20s-30s.
From there, I’ve spent the last few months and more recently the last few weeks in piecing together how I would get this community started.
I have 5 years of experience in Community Management, but I have never actually started a community from scratch! So it has been a fun and educational journey that I’m excited to share with you.
A few months back, I had been looking to try and join other communities that would be similar to what I was looking to create.
What better way to learn how to do something, than to participate in a community that is closely aligned with the goals you have for your own?
Well, what I mostly found were just a bunch of groups that were for Remote Worker Job Listings. Not an actual community, but just groups where anyone could post job listings for remote jobs.
Very impersonal and most were what I would consider spammy.
So without having an example to lead me, I then jumped towards researching “best practices” for starting a community.
I love to read and consume content when it’s towards learning a new skill, so I was sure I’d be able to find some good stuff out there.
However, it was actually quite challenging to find what I was looking for.
There were lots of articles and videos on which community platforms to choose from, and the pros and cons to each…but that’s not what I wanted nor needed yet.
I wanted to go all the way down to the root of what makes a good community, and how do you get that same community started.
Finally, after many attempts at trying to find what I was looking for, I stumbled upon a site called Commsor.
I was not sure what exactly they all did, but I started clicking through their articles until I found one titled 6 Steps to Building Your Community Strategy for 2023.
This was EXACTLY what I was looking for, and I was so excited to finally find a site and business that was all about Community Management and all it has to offer.
From that same article, they had linked a Community Engagement Playbook (which I highly recommend you download if you’re at all interested in having a business of your own).
The playbook is around 70 pages, and I spent a week in reading through the chapters during my lunch breaks at my morning job.
There was so much great content loaded in there, and really was exactly what I had been looking for in regards to starting a community from scratch.
All while I was doing this research, I had narrowed my community platform down to being one that is on Slack.
I’ve heard a lot about this platform in the past, and even had it recommended to me by past members of the community I managed.
We never got the chance to use it in that community, so I was just now getting the chance to look through it and see what it was all about.
I was most looking forward to using it due to its fast and quick conversational style that it encompassed and brought to its users.
Though this was some of the cons of the site, which I heard on a YouTube video I was watching…that it was too conversational…that key element was exactly what I was looking for!
How do you make friends? How do you quickly get to know people? How do you make quick as well as long lasting connections, bonds, and relationships?
I’d say it all starts with talking! Conversing. Sharing about your life with others.
And really, the Facebook group I had initially started for coffee lovers, and even the one that I’m in for the business program feels very outdated, old, and stale. Low engagement and low excitement all around.
The users I’m looking to have in this community aren’t necessarily even on Facebook anymore. But, as a remote worker, they most likely are already on Slack and know how to use it swiftly and competently.
For myself, I’m having to learn how to use it–but I’m up for the challenge and excited to start building it out!
Bringing you up to current speed, this past week I was able to get some content videos created and posted on the C·UP Instagram, which was huge!
If you want to hear my initial introduction to RWC and all that it’s about, you can check that out here.
I’ll bring you another article that goes a bit more in depth with all of the details of RWC, but thought this article was a great start to getting things kicked off.
I also created this video that talks about my thought process of piecing together this community and the steps I had to take.
Ultimately I talk about how it’s all so that I can start creating content on Instagram for Remote Workers and to draw them in…so I do think it’s pretty fascinating to hear!
But for you to know in this article, here’s the thought process I’ve had to work through:
+I need to start creating and posting content to build a community…but I need to know where I’ll send these people to and where this community will live.
+I then research different platforms and decide on using Slack for my community. This was a big win and very exciting! But…I still need to do research on how to start a community from scratch.
+I finally find the Commsor website, article, and playbook which fills me with tons of ideas and a great starting point at how to structure and build everything within Slack and the coming community.
+I go ahead and create a Google Form sign up for RWC so that people can start signing up if they’re interested in joining. (If that’s you, follow the link and SIGN UP!)
+I then think I should be ready to start posting content videos…but then I realize that I want to have some sort of call to action to add the end of each video. This means I need to spend time on creating a short clip that I can use for it!
+I end up creating around a 30 second clip, that is almost an advertisement of sorts. This means I’ll have 1min in each video to share applicable content, and then add the call to action video at the end of each. (Instagram Reels right now are set at 1:30min)
+Now that I have the community platform figured out, an idea at how to start the community, a sign up form, a call to action clip to add in…I am FINALLY ready to begin.
Man, that really seems like a lot now that it’s written out. And I mean, it sort of is!
Starting a community is a big deal and something that I want to do in the very best way I can.
Of course, it can’t all be perfect and I’ll be learning lots along the way–but I do like to set everything up that I can and to the best of my ability.
From here, my next steps in the coming week will be to start planning out different content videos I can create, and then…start creating!
It feels like it’s been a long journey just to get to something so simple. But at the same time, I don’t think the content creating will be simple either.
I do love to be in front of a camera though, so that will not be a problem.
But, I need to figure out how I want the majority of the videos to be done and try to find which way will be received the best, as well as reach the most people.
It’ll definitely be a challenge, but I am ready for it and prepared to dive right on in to it all.
Community building and strategy is super exciting for me, and I can’t wait to build my very first community with RWC.
I hope you’re as excited as I am for this, and that you’ve enjoyed this inside look at what it’s taken so far to get here!
All the best to you, and be sure to follow us at @coffeedupcup to stay up-to-date and current with all things.
Michael White
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