Using A Community

There is a difference between building a community and using one.

Building means creating conditions for people to connect with each other, not just with you. Investing in relationships before you need them. Showing up when you have nothing to sell.

Using means treating community as a resource to extract from. Showing up when you have something to promote. Measuring the community by what it produces for you.

Most organisations use communities. Very few build them.

Communities that are used eventually notice. The engagement drops. The comments thin out. The advocacy disappears.

Communities that are built compound. Each genuine interaction makes the next more likely. Trust accumulates. The community becomes self-sustaining.

The test is simple: if you disappeared tomorrow, would the community continue? If yes, you built something. If no, you were using something.

Build. Don’t use.