What can you learn from the top 10% of communities?

Key takeaways from the 2024 Community Benchmark Report

When it comes to community, bigger is not always better.

If you’ve fallen into any of these traps:

😣 Postponing your launch because you’re afraid to start small

😣 Thinking your community hasn’t “made it” because you don’t have thousands of members

😣 Feeling like your community will never be as “successful” as a well-known influencer’s community

Then I have some great news to share.

Circle recently released its 2024 Community Benchmark Report. One of the most encouraging findings: 76% of the most successful communities on Circle have fewer than 500 members.

Only 7% of these top-tier communities – what Circle calls Platinum Communities – have more than 5,000.

And how many of those Platinum Communities have a full-time community manager?

Less than half.

So if you’ve ever felt inadequate because your community is small, cheer up – you may be more successful than you think.

When you have a moment, I recommend digging into this report. It’s full of great insights and pulls back the veil on what’s really happening in communities that may seem more successful than yours.

I also love how Circle highlights their top creators, who share honest lessons they’ve learned in building their communities.

(One of those Platinum creators, Darnell Brown of Forge, is a founding member of my community-builders’ community, The Hive. It was a thrill for us inside 🐝The Hive to see him sharing his journey in the report!)

3 Keys to Community Success

You’ll find many great takeaways in the report’s pages, but I want to highlight three in particular.

1.      Successful communities welcome new members exceptionally well.

My followers know I am always beating the drum of exceptional onboarding. There’s a good reason for that.

New members come into the community excited. If their first experience is disappointing, it plants a seed in their mind that maybe joining this community wasn’t such a good idea.

They’ll start looking at everything the community offers through that filter – and now you’ve created a hurdle you have to overcome.

Circle’s Platinum creators get this. Their onboarding processes:

•  Are deeply empathetic

• Offer immediate value and quick wins

• Make new members feel seen and valued

• Make good use of automation

• Leverage existing members

When you build or optimize your onboarding process, try following the HELLO Framework. It will take you step by step through making new users feel happy about their decision to join.

2.      Successful communities delight members through events and programs.

Events are the glue that hold a community together. They connect members over a common experience and set the stage for people to meet and engage.

Every one of the Platinum Communities in the Circle report hosts regular events.

Not only that, they host more events than standard communities. And by taking care to make their events magical, they get more people to attend.

3.      Successful communities continuously invite new people and give them reasons to join.

If getting new members in the door is a challenge for you, you’re not alone. Four out of 5 Platinum creators struggle with the same thing.

Two interesting insights from the report:

• The most successful creators spend very little on recruitment. They take the slow, organic road to growth – sharing content, building members into advocates, and regularly sending invitations to join.

• Platinum creators prioritize retention more than the other 90% of founders the report surveyed. Top creators experiment more with re-engaging members who have gone quiet and with keeping current members active.

Recruitment is a long game, and it’s challenging for everyone. Pace yourself and get support from fellow community builders (like Darnell did when he joined The Hive).

Sharing your passion through a community is deeply rewarding. It can also be lonely and filled with doubt. There are very few resources out there that can tell you if you’re on the right track.

I really recommend reading the full report and digesting the insights. (Grab your favorite drink and get comfortable; it’s 80+ pages!)

And when you feel like you’re ready to connect with some deeper support and fast-track your progress, come join us inside 🐝The Hive.

Get on the waitlist now and be one of the first to know when the doors open in March.

Relax, you’ve got this,

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