How to Pick the Right Community Platform
"Jesse, I don't know which platform I should build my community on? Facebook? LinkedIn? Discord? Skool? Circle?"
This is something I hear often from founders. If there was one answer, we'd all be using that platform. Some platforms boast monetization options, API-configurations, or course hosting. Others are backed by celebrity influencers or community experts. There's lengthy debate about if you should build where your audience already is, or build on your own platform. The reality is, when taken together, it's a hard choice.
Social-first vs. Community-first Platforms
Social-first platforms:
Social-first platforms are designed with social interaction at their core. They are good for getting started as the native chat features allow for easy communication. Your audience likely already has accounts with these platforms, so onboarding them into your community is easy.
Examples include:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
WhatsApp
Slack
Discord
Community-first platforms:
Community-first platforms are specifically built for creating and managing online communities. They often come with more tech-forward features tailored for hosting courses, events, workshops, and connecting members in a more structured way.
Examples include:
Skool
Circle
Mighty Networks
or even proprietary apps.
These platforms were built specifically for online communities, while social-first platforms attached community features onto their existing social structures.
I’ve made a chart to help break down some of the 30,000 foot advantages and disadvantages of either sub-set of platform to make it a bit easier to digest
The Importance of Access & Discoverability:
I’ve spoken with some founders who deeply care about empathizing with their ideal member’s platform fatigue. I admit, I agree this is critically important. They themselves don’t want to create another new app their ICP would need to use on top of so many others. Besides, would they be found easily if they were to build on a community-platform like Mighty Networks? Likely not.
It comes down to where your ideal member is already operating. What platforms are they using most? How frequently do they use them?
But a critical question to consider is, can that platform provide the features you need it to? Will the platforms they’re using allow you to build what you want to for the ICP?
To illustrate the importance of understanding your ICP, let's look at the usage of popular social media websites and apps by different age groups from a recent Gallup poll:
Our Recommendations:
Picking the right platform comes down to a few key factors:
Ease of Access. A good rule of thumb is to build where your audience is already at. Social platforms exist for this reason. Our brains are wired to open up social media because of the dopamine. Community platforms aren't there yet (perhaps with exception to Skool), they heavily rely on emails and notifications to get you to reopen the app.
Features. While Facebook and LinkedIn have automations that are cute, it doesn't get close to what Circle offers. Brand customization, unique onboarding sequences, course hosting, API & CSS, ad tracking, etc. are but a few perks to note.
Monetization. If you are needing to monetize your community fast, social platforms are likely not the right fit. You could try out something like Patreon, but it's likely best to build an exclusive paid community on a community-first app instead.
In sum, the niche solopreneurs and hobbyists should often start with a social platform that your audience is already using.
More serious enterprise companies should consider the powers of a tool like Circle.
However, most of us fall in between these 2 categories.
