This was never going to be a newsletter about dogs. Sure they will feature and provide a splash of colour to the narrative but I want this to be something that is useful, inspiring and that you the reader look forward to opening twice a week.
Today I wanted to delve into an area I’ve worked on for over 15 years. Building online communities. Specifically how to create a community that can help me with my mission of saving 10,000 dogs a month.
The lessons I’ve learnt and hope to apply on my own project can hopefully be helpful for you whether you are a CEO of a software company, student journalist, restaurant manager, yoga teacher or anybody else who would like to create a community.
1000 True Fans
Back in 2008, Wired editor Kevin Kelly wrote an essay called 1000 True Fans. He essentially predicted the world we live in today…
To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.
In the creator economy Li Jim argues that the number is now actually lower and sits at 100 true fans (I’d urge you to read that essay).
In a world where people seem obsessed with likes, followers, retweets and shares when it comes to community often less can be more.
Working in agencies and media the first thing nearly every client used to ask for was “viral” or “millions of views”. Start up businesses often have this same mentality. Launch and be MASSIVE on day one. The reality for 99% if people is different and thats why I love the idea of building something slow and meaningful using strong community foundation building blocks.
My Goal For 2022 Is To Get 1000 Authentic Readers
Community building is like successfully investing in the stock market or getting in really good shape physically…It takes patience and the shortcuts don’t work. I’m going to build this 1 email at at time and nurture the community as I go.
I’m effectively competing with app notifications, Wordle, Netflix, Only Fans, TikTok and whatever else you are into in terms of capturing your attention. Most of them have data scientists and engineers that can spike your dopamine to get you clicking and coming back. I don’t, so what I will rely on is…
Storytelling
Education
I’m hopeful that a journey to save 10,000 dogs per month will make a compelling story. More importantly by being totally open with sharing how I grow this project people will stick around to pick up tips.
With so much noise out there you have to be super clear about your own value proposition to others when building a community.
The First 1000 - Doing Things That Don’t Scale
It’s not a number to be sniffed at. Getting 1000 people who genuinely care about what you are doing and want to read / watch / engage with it is going to be monumentally hard.
Working in the digital space tends to anonymise the feeling of building true community. You can quickly forget there are real people looking at their phones, liking your pictures or taking time to leave a comment. The first step of community building in my mind is thinking of the community as real people (which they of course are).
This is what 1000 people looks like (Quora)…
Two things come to mind when I look at this…
Most of us struggle to manage our contact with 20 people we know never mind 1000.
If you can engage 1000 people and have them as part of your community that suddenly feels very powerful.
So connecting with 1000 people in a meaningful way will be hard to scale but if you can do it the potential impact you can collectively have is immense.
To get to the magic 1000 number I will…
Follow people who are working in the space (dog charities / bloggers / passionate animal lovers etc) and engage with them in a meaningful way
I’ll email some people and ask them if they would like to be on the list. People I know would have a genuine interest in the subject. Whats the worst they can do? The worst they can do is say no.
Talk to people in the real world. Typically the most passionate members of communities come from offline connections.
Creating content and refining it on an ongoing basis.
As this community starts to grow I will try and do the things that don’t scale…
Reply to every comment, email, tweet or message
Meet people around the world who are part of the community
To imagine what this will look like in 12 months time it would be me traveling to a city like Melbourne and going on a dog walk with 7 people who read this newsletter. Slow and steady.
Picking The Community Tool That Suits
You have every tool at your disposal when starting a project. From TikTok to Instagram or Podcasting to Youtube. I chose email for the following reasons…
A direct relationship with readers
Email is a big commitment. Getting a reader to A) Subscribe B) Open the first email C) Hang around are huge asks. I wanted the barrier to be high because it means a more engaged and authentic connection
I ruled out social. Everybody would like a social profile about dogs if I asked them to but to what end? What if Instagram cut their reach like Facebook did and myself and the dogs are left high and dry in 3 years time? I don’t want to be in the business of gaming an algorithm to get the word out. It doesn’t mean that social can’t compliment the offering especially for distribution but it isn’t at the core.
In the creator economy there are so many potential tools, platforms and distribution methods. Pick one and do it well.
Anti Growth Hacking
I could short circuit the process of getting 1000 people following this dog project and “growth hack the shit” out of it.
Getting a highly targeted Instagram follower these days using their own advertising platform for example is about 25c. So for $250 I could have 1000 followers by this time tomorrow evening.
That could be a highly effective and lucrative move for a business needing app installs or website visits but thats not how you build an authentic community. Acquisition and community are two words that don’t sit well together.
There are 212 people on this list now who have come in from my personal socials and it will be grown totally organically from here on.
The good news is I’m not trying to make money using this newsletter so that does make things easier. It isn’t a business. There is no ask.
The posts do however take time to write so why would I do it? The answer is to help with the goal of saving 10,000 dogs per month…
Find partners in the future (vets, food, investors etc etc)
Become established as a thought leader in the space (it opens doors)
Laying the foundations for what will come in 12-24 months time when the project is bigger
Get media coverage (when the time is right it will be useful)
There may be ways to save many more dogs than I can in person by using online education
Hit Unsubscribe!
If you are reading this and thinking it isn’t really for you just hit that unsubscribe button. Genuinely. If that number of 212 subs dropped to 100 but every one of the 100 who remained were super interested and dedicated that to me would be way more powerful.
This is the message I am trying to get across here. When it comes to community… less can be more. Slow is good. Do the things that don’t scale. Put in the hard yards. Talk to people. Look for meaningful connections. Help others. Produce content. Grow 1 person at a time. Don’t hack it.
Niall
P.s I’ve been busy feeding dogs this week. I’ve shared a couple of updates about them here and here. My plan is to have an educational email like this one on Fridays and a dog focused email about the mission of getting to 10,000 on Tuesdays.
This is Billy. He was introduced to me by my friend Lana who had fed him a couple of times. He has a bad leg from an accident of some sort and lives on his own beside a car wash. He is the last stop on my dog run and now waits for me to come with his food. This is him after his dinner today. Billy is a gentle angel.
I have to ask, how do those numbers look now?? I joined at 48,000 and now it’s booooooom!!!! One of my favourite things to look at throughout the day, and fantastic for my kids to see too. We always discuss what is happening and how important dogs are ❤️❤️❤️