Community Launch Checklist: 5 Easy Steps for Founders and Marketers

I have been building online communities since 2005. In the last 18 years, I’ve had a chance to build several communities from scratch and watch them grow to tens of thousands of members.

Launching a successful community requires strategy. A lot of communities that launch die within a few months because the founders and the marketers driving the community didn’t plan.

This article offers a 5-point checklist for successful community launch. Let’s dive in -

Community Launch Checklist Overview

Following is the TL;DR version -

Define Purpose and Audience
- Set community’s purpose
- Identify ideal members
Choose the right platform
- Features to look for
- Consider long-term business goals
Setup Structure and Content
- Minimal wins the game
- Seed ‘painkiller content’
Launch with founding members
- Soft-launch with 20 members
- Collect feedback, refine experience
Implement Community Growth Hacks
- Monitor: DAU, Engagement, Registrations
- Implement activities to keep users engaged

Let’s look at each step in detail:-

1. Define Purpose and Audience

Founders and marketers need to decide the true purpose of the community. A community takes time to grow and therefore, it’s essential to have the stakeholders align with your community mission.

For example, a D2C customer community may exist to handle support queries from customers and handle complaints. A SaaS community might be built around a niche to allow free-form discussions about variety of topics in the niche.

Defining community’s purpose allows both community owners and users to know what’s expected from them.

2. Choose the Right Platform

There are several community platforms to serve different community needs. For example, course creators may need a private community. They may go with popular options like Slack, Discord or Circle.

Business communities benefit greatly by building open communities. These communities are excellent drivers of growth by attracting organic visitors using user-generated content and SEO. There are several platforms that serve this need in the market like BetterMode, Discourse, xenForo. Jatra (this platform) is also an excellent choice if your community needs organic growth and multiple ways of engaging users.

We have discussed the pros and cons of Open Vs. Closed Communities.

3. Setup Structure and Content

It’s common to see community managers go gung-ho with adding large number of categories, tags and channels.

However, this can quickly get confusing for the new members. A minimal community keeps things simple for everyone. Following is an easy way to organise your community:

Announcements Channel: Reserved for official announcements and updates
Start Here Channel: Especially for new members. Can also be used for member introductions.
Ask Us Anything Channel: Simple Discussion or Questions Channel for new members.

You may add a couple of more channels based on the community needs. For example, you can have a ‘Quiz’ channel where members can engage with simple, fun Quiz. You may also add an ‘Articles’ channel where staff or select members can contribute helpful articles.

Keep the channels count to 5 in the initial days.

You may also add community rules. Keep it simple in the early days and update it as your community grows. Make it a part of the onboarding process.

A note on seeding ‘Painkiller Content’

Every new community needs painkiller content. It could be in the form of a discussion, an article, a webinar, a video or a group-chat.

In the early days of community, members are hesitant to share posts. Painkiller content gives them an opportunity to start replying or liking.

It also gives you an idea about the community needs.

4. Launch with Founding Members

Invite your first few community members from your personal network and connections. For a SaaS or D2C brand, these could be your most active members.

Avoid ‘mega launch’ for your community. A community is built gradually over a period of time.

Send personal invitation to about 20 members and encourage them to participate in the community. Discuss what kind of content works for them and ask opinions on the direction in which community can grow.

5. Implement Community Growth Hacks

Start measuring community KPIs like DAU (Daily Active Users), Engagement Rate (posts or likes per user), Returning Users etc. These will allow you to plan your community growth hacks better.

Keep an eye on the kind of posts your members contribute. Use the information to plan community activities. Read our detailed guide on: Boosting Community Engagement and Retention.