Having a community and being a community guide are two totally separate things.
Having a community is having the property, having the people, having the connections, and all the other tactical pieces of a community.
Being a community guide is a mindset, a process, a vision drive to see people guided to something more.
My challenge to you here is to fully embrace the role of a guide (and not just a host or admin). The most successful communities are the ones where the leader(s) take on the role of a guide and work to steward their community down a path and toward a goal that betters the member. Let’s look at some ingredients to what makes someone a great community guide.
Personal Commitment - it starts with a commitment to adopting this role and making it part of who you are and all that you do.
Define a Path - guides have a path for where they are taking people and they share that guide with their community to rally around.
Create Resources - you need resources that help show people the path you are guiding them down so it’s not abstract.
Build Steps - you guide people to their next step and don’t overwhelm them with the full picture and the big end goal.
Equip Others - strong communities that guide people have equipped others in the community to become guides to others (it should not be all on you).
Demand Simplicity - guides help make things simple… again, you don’t want to overwhelm people with the big end goal… just guide them one simple step at a time.
Measure the Journey - there are so many things you can measure today and our tendency is to focus on things like revenue… guides also focus on guidance progress.
Keep it Fresh - there’s no silver bullet for guiding members - keep a constant rhythm of challenging what you have and how could do things better/differently.
Listen Well - strong community guides have a knack to listen well to their community (and their needs) to architect new solutions to the deeper needs.
Stay Innovative - the needs drive the innovation - guidance should be an innovative response to the needs of your community.
Automate - you can’t automate everything but many things you can - find the things (like drip campaigns) to help guide your community.
I could spend a ton of time here talking about your role as a guide and ways to bring that to life. This is a journey for you and you never really achieve the end… but that’s good. You’re constantly working to create a better experience for your community. Guiding people takes time but the results are significant.
The big challenge… think less about what you are trying to “sell” or deliver and focus on how to guide your community to the shared end goal. The rest will fall into place.
Cause Machine Solutions
You are the guide… but Cause Machine is here to set you up for success. The Cause Machine platform is designed to help guide members through various experiences and continue guiding them into greater community engagement. We believe the journey is far greater than the single touch point. Our goal is to see your members have a great experience at every turn and throughout their entire journey. Schedule a demo today!
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