manojbajaj95/gtm-skills/community-building

Community Building

Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: strategy/brand.md for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; about/me.md for personal voice; content/ideas.md and content/calendar.md for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md, and route durable learnings back to strategy/brand.md, about/me.md, or content/ideas.md.

Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.

Build communities that turn members into believers and believers into advocates.

Scope

Covers

• Community strategy (goal, members, value exchange, movement thesis)
• Platform selection: home base + outposts (Discord, Slack, Circle, Discourse, Telegram, Twitter/X, Reddit, Farcaster)
• Channel architecture, onboarding, and activation
• Programming/rituals and ambassador/champions programs
• Governance, moderation, and crisis management
• Holder psychology and retention engineering (crypto/token communities)
• Social community building across Twitter/X, Reddit, Farcaster, forums
• Measurement and community health

When NOT to use

• You haven't defined ICP/positioning (use brand-messaging-and-positioning first)
• You want paid acquisition (ads/creative) rather than community
• You want to spam/scrape DMs or manipulate members
• You need customer support ops overhaul (ticketing/SLAs) more than community

Community Philosophy

Great communities are built on three pillars:

1. Shared purpose — Members need a reason bigger than the product
2. Genuine connection — People stay for people, not features
3. Member empowerment — The best communities run themselves

Community vs Audience

Core Frameworks

The Community Flywheel

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                             │
│   ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐             │
│   │  ATTRACT │───▶│ ACTIVATE │───▶│  ENGAGE  │             │
│   │ (Reach)  │    │ (Value)  │    │ (Habit)  │             │
│   └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘             │
│        ▲                                │                   │
│        │          ┌──────────┐          │                   │
│        │          │ ADVOCATE │          │                   │
│        └──────────│ (Amplify)│◀─────────┘                   │
│                   └──────────┘                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Community Maturity Model

The 1-9-90 Rule

• 1% create content (Creators)
• 9% engage with content (Contributors)
• 90% consume content (Lurkers)

Goal: Move people up the engagement ladder, not force everyone to create.

Member Journey

Aware → Join → Lurk → First Post → Regular Contributor → Champion → Ambassador

Inputs

Minimum required

• Product + category + ICP (who it's for)
• Primary community goal (pick 1): support, activation, retention, advocacy/UGC, product feedback, moving upmarket
• Target members (roles/seniority) and where they already gather
• Resources: owner, hours/week, budget, moderators/SMEs
• Existing assets: email list, social following, events, partners
• Constraints: compliance/privacy, brand voice, moderation risk tolerance

Missing-info strategy

• Ask up to 5 questions from references/INTAKE.md (3–5 at a time)
• Proceed with explicit assumptions if critical inputs missing; provide 2–3 options with tradeoffs

Platform Selection

Platform Comparison

Platform Architecture

Discord (larger projects)

INFORMATION: #announcements #faq #roadmap #rules
COMMUNITY:   #general #price-talk #memes #introductions
ALPHA (role-gated): #whale-chat #og-lounge #team-updates
SUPPORT:     #help #report-scams #suggestions
VOICE:       General VC, AMA Stage

Telegram (token/crypto communities)

[Main Group]     — Public chat, price bot, welcome message, active mods
[Announcements]  — One-way official updates only
[Alpha/Holders]  — Token-gated, exclusive content, direct team access
[International]  — CN/KR/JP with local mods (if needed)

Essential Bots: Price bot, Buy bot (celebrate purchases), Holder verification, Anti-spam/scam, Welcome bot.

Social Platform Strategies

Twitter/X: Reach and real-time discussion. Twitter Spaces for live audio, threads for depth, quote tweets for community amplification.

Reddit: Long-form depth and discovery. Build a subreddit or participate in existing ones. SEO benefit from indexed discussions.

Farcaster: Crypto-native audience, frames for interactive content, native to web3 culture.

Forums (Discourse, etc.): Long-form async knowledge base, SEO-indexed, permanent resource for members.

Workflow (8 Steps)

1) Intake + Pick Primary Job-to-be-Done

• Inputs: User prompt; references/INTAKE.md
• Actions: Confirm ICP, define primary goal, identify where community already gathers, list constraints
• Outputs: Context snapshot + assumptions/TBDs list
• Check: You can finish: "In 8–12 weeks, this community will _____ for _____, measured by _____."

2) Define the Movement + Value Exchange

• Inputs: Product POV, category beliefs, member motivations
• Actions: Write community thesis: worldview/philosophy, what you stand for, what you're "against." Define give/get value exchange.
• Outputs: Community thesis + value exchange
• Check: Thesis is non-generic (can't fit any random company); value exchange includes concrete benefits and contributions

3) Choose Community Model + Map Member Journey

• Inputs: Primary goal, member needs, resources
• Actions: Choose model (support, learning, networking, advocacy, co-creation). Map journey with "first win" moments per stage.
• Outputs: Community model + journey map + metrics
• Check: Each stage has a designed "first win" and a measurable signal

4) Go Where They Already Are (Home Base + Outposts)

• Inputs: Where members already are; moderation/capacity constraints
• Actions: Select home base for 6–12 months. Define outposts (social, events, partner spaces). Create influencer/social-graph shortlist.
• Outputs: Platform plan + outpost playbook + influencer shortlist
• Check: Every outpost has a value-first contribution plan and an owner

5) Seed the Community (Cohort, Onboarding, Content)

• Inputs: Platform plan; existing assets; member criteria
• Actions: Design initial seed cohort (25–100 members). Create onboarding flow, welcome messages, starter threads, seeding schedule. Draft outreach scripts.
• Outputs: Seeding plan + onboarding checklist + outreach scripts
• Check: The "empty room problem" is solved — content, prompts, and people lined up for week 1

Onboarding ritual (first 48 hours):

1. Welcome DM with "Start Here" guide
2. Prompt to post in #introductions
3. React to their intro post (human touch)
4. Share one quick win they can get from the community

6) Program Rituals + Events (4–8 Week Calendar)

• Inputs: Member journey; thesis; capacity
• Actions: Build recurring rituals (AMAs, office hours, show-and-tell, challenges). Mix staff-led and member-led moments.
• Outputs: Programming & rituals calendar + event templates

Weekly engagement calendar:

Daily loop: Morning greeting + poll → Midday content + news → Evening recap + tomorrow's preview.

7) Launch Ambassador/Champions Program (Optional, Recommended)

• Inputs: Early active members; desired scaled behaviors
• Actions: Define qualification criteria, responsibilities, recognition/perks, feedback loop. Keep lightweight (v1), ethical (no pay-for-spam).
• Outputs: Ambassador/champions program spec (v1)
• Check: Incentives align to desired behaviors (helpfulness, creation, referrals), not vanity metrics

Recognition system:

• Public shoutouts for helpful members
• Badges or roles for milestones
• Leaderboard or "Member of the Month"
• Early access to features or beta programs

8) Governance + Measurement + Quality Gate

• Inputs: Draft pack; references/CHECKLISTS.md; references/RUBRIC.md
• Actions: Define rules, moderation workflows, escalation paths. Create measurement plan + weekly ops cadence.
• Outputs: Final Community Building Pack

Moderation & Governance

Community rules (keep to 5–7):

1. Be respectful — no harassment, hate speech, or personal attacks
2. Stay on topic — keep discussions relevant
3. No spam or self-promotion without permission
4. Share knowledge freely — help each other
5. Protect privacy — no sharing others' personal info
6. Report issues — use report function or DM mods

Enforcement ladder: Warning → Temporary mute → Permanent ban.

Moderator responsibilities: Daily check-in (15 min), respond to reports within 24h, escalate edge cases to community lead.

Crisis Management (Especially for Token Communities)

FUD Response Levels