community-builder

What this skill does

# Community Builder

Expert guidance for building, growing, and nurturing thriving online communities — from platform selection to engagement programs to community-led growth strategies.

## 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

## How This Skill Works

When invoked, apply the guidelines in `rules/` organized by:

- `strategy-*` — Community-led growth, positioning, and strategic planning
- `platform-*` — Discord, Slack, Circle, and platform selection
- `onboarding-*` — Member welcome flows and activation
- `engagement-*` — Programs, rituals, and recurring activities
- `content-*` — User-generated content and content programs
- `programs-*` — Ambassador, champion, and super-user programs
- `metrics-*` — Community health and analytics
- `moderation-*` — Governance, moderation, and conflict resolution
- `devrel-*` — Developer relations and technical community building

## Core Frameworks

### The Community Flywheel

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

### Community Maturity Model

| Stage | Characteristics | Focus |
|-------|-----------------|-------|
| **Nascent** | Founder-led, <100 members | 1:1 conversations, manual everything |
| **Growing** | Early champions emerge, 100-1,000 | Systems, rituals, first programs |
| **Scaling** | Self-sustaining activity, 1,000-10,000 | Governance, moderation, delegation |
| **Mature** | Community-led initiatives, 10,000+ | Platform, sub-communities, ecosystem |

### Member Journey Stages

| Stage | Goal | Key Metric |
|-------|------|------------|
| **Lurker** | First interaction | Post/reply count |
| **Newcomer** | Find value, connect | Retention D7 |
| **Regular** | Form habits, contribute | Weekly active |
| **Champion** | Lead initiatives | Content created |
| **Ambassador** | Represent externally | Referrals, reach |

### The 1-9-90 Rule

In most communities:
- **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.

### Community vs Audience

| Dimension | Audience | Community |
|-----------|----------|-----------|
| **Direction** | One to many | Many to many |
| **Value** | From creator | From each other |
| **Ownership** | Creator owns | Members co-own |
| **Content** | Creator produces | Members produce |
| **Retention** | Content-dependent | Relationship-dependent |
| **Scalability** | Linear | Network effects |

## Platform Comparison at a Glance

| Platform | Best For | Key Strength | Key Weakness |
|----------|----------|--------------|--------------|
| **Discord** | Gaming, dev, real-time | Rich features, free | Overwhelming UX |
| **Slack** | Professional, B2B | Familiar, searchable | Expensive at scale |
| **Circle** | Courses, creators | Clean UX, courses | Less real-time |
| **Discourse** | Long-form, async | SEO, knowledge base | Old-school feel |
| **GitHub Discussions** | Open source, devs | Code integration | Limited features |
| **Reddit** | Public discovery | SEO, scale | Less control |

## Key Metrics Overview

| Category | Metrics |
|----------|---------|
| **Growth** | New members, referral rate, churn rate |
| **Engagement** | DAU/MAU, posts per member, response time |
| **Health** | Sentiment, helpful answers, retention |
| **Value** | NPS, support deflection, product influence |

## Community-Led Growth (CLG) Quick Reference

| Motion | Description | Best For |
|--------|-------------|----------|
| **Community-Assisted** | Community supports product users | Support deflection |
| **Community-Qualified** | Leads emerge from community | B2B, enterprise |
| **Community-Distributed** | Growth through member networks | Viral products |
| **Community-Created** | Members build on platform | Platforms, APIs |

## Engagement Program Types

| Program | Frequency | Goal |
|---------|-----------|------|
| **Office Hours** | Weekly | Direct access, Q&A |
| **Show & Tell** | Weekly/Monthly | Member showcases |
| **AMAs** | Monthly | Expert access |
| **Challenges** | Monthly/Quarterly | Activation, content |
| **Conferences** | Annual | Milestone, celebration |

## Anti-Patterns

- **Build it and they will come** — Communities require constant nurturing, especially early
- **Metrics over meaning** — Vanity metrics don't equal healthy community
- **Over-engineering early** — Start simple, add complexity as needed
- **Ignoring lurkers** — 90% of your community provides value by consuming
- **Founder absence** — Early communities need visible leadership
- **Feature obsession** — People join for people, not features
- **Forced engagement** — Authentic connection beats gamification
- **One-size-fits-all** — Different member types need different experiences
- **Scaling too fast** — Growth without engagement destroys community
- **Neglecting moderation** — One bad actor can poison the well