❤️ How To Build Communities Online - 15 ways I built a 15,000+ paid community

Summary

In this insightful video, Siddharth Shekhar, founder of the Internet Lifestyle Hub, shares his expertise on building loyal online communities in niche markets. He emphasizes the importance of authenticity, strong mission, solution-oriented approach, integrity, and a set of community values. Shekhar outlines 15 actionable ideas, from creating long-form content to hosting offline meetups, and encourages viewers to join his community for a more in-depth experience. His ultimate vision is to inspire a million people to create digital ecosystems, transforming education and employment.

Takeaways

• 🌟 **Authenticity is Key**: True influence comes from being authentic, presenting strong logic, and genuinely caring for people.
• 🎯 **Strong Mission**: A clear and compelling mission that goes beyond personal interests can attract like-minded individuals to your community.
• 🔑 **Solution Provider**: Position yourself as a solution provider to address the needs of your audience, not just as an information giver.
• 💡 **Integrity Matters**: Align your thoughts, words, and actions to build trust and credibility within your community.
• 🛡️ **Code of Honor**: Establish a set of values and rules to maintain a healthy and aligned community environment.
• 📚 **Long-Form Content**: Create in-depth content to foster long-term engagement and loyalty with your audience.
• 🤝 **Channelize Engagement**: Direct your audience to a specific group or platform where they can continue to engage and be nurtured.
• 🔗 **Lead Magnets**: Use valuable resources like PDFs, videos, or mini-courses to attract and nurture potential community members.
• 🏆 **Rewards and Recognition**: Implement gamification and reward systems to motivate and recognize community members' achievements.
• 🌐 **Hybrid Approach**: Combine online and offline strategies to build a robust and interactive community experience.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of building a community according to Siddharth Shekhar?

The primary focus of building a community is to create long-term connections with members, serve them, and transform it into a sustainable and profitable knowledge business.

What does Siddharth Shekhar suggest as the three elements of true influence for community building?

True influence comes from authenticity, strong logical presentation of information, and genuinely caring for people.

Why is having a strong mission important for community building?

A strong mission attracts people to a larger vision, enabling them to resonate with and become part of that vision, thus attracting the right audience.

What role does integrity play in community building as per Siddharth Shekhar?

Integrity is crucial as it requires alignment between thoughts, words, and actions, which helps in attracting the right people and maintaining trust within the community.

How does Siddharth Shekhar define a solution provider in the context of community building?

A solution provider is someone who not only shares information but is perceived by the audience as capable of solving their problems, which is essential for community building.

What is the significance of setting a strong code of honor in a community?

A strong code of honor or set of values aligns the community, maintaining order and preventing misaligned values that could disrupt the community.

Why does Siddharth Shekhar recommend focusing on long-form content for community building?

Long-form content allows for deeper engagement with the audience, even if it means fewer views, as it prioritizes the quality of engagement over quantity.

What is the purpose of channelizing long-form content into a group?

Channelizing long-form content into a group allows for continued nurturing of the audience in a more interactive and focused environment, such as a Facebook group.

How can lead magnets be utilized to attract community members?

Lead magnets like free PDFs, videos, or mini-courses can be given away to nurture the audience and attract them towards becoming part of the community.

What are the benefits of having a paid community separate from a free one?

A paid community provides a separate environment for nurturing and adding value to members who have invested in the community, enhancing their experience and commitment.

How does Siddharth Shekhar use online meetups to enhance community building?

Online meetups, such as those organized for paid members, provide a platform for interaction, support, and learning, which adds value and strengthens the community.

What is the role of challenges or hackathons in community building?

Challenges or hackathons engage community members in goal-oriented activities, fostering a sense of achievement and community spirit through gamification and rewards.

Why is empowering facilitators and leaders important in community building?

Empowering facilitators and leaders helps in scaling the community by distributing the facilitation process, ensuring consistent nurturing of members without relying solely on the community leader.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Building Loyal Online Communities

The speaker, Siddharth Shekhar, introduces the concept of building loyal online communities in niche markets. He emphasizes the importance of long-term connections and sustainable, profitable knowledge businesses. The video aims to teach viewers how to create such communities through three main areas: concepts, ideas, and specific actions. Siddharth shares his experience as the founder of the Internet Lifestyle Hub, a large community for trainers, coaches, and experts, and discusses the five core concepts essential for true influence in community building: authenticity, strong logic in presenting information, and genuine care for people.

05:01

🚀 Strategies for Effective Community Building

Siddharth outlines 15 strategies for building better online communities. He suggests focusing on long-form content to attract the right audience and channeling them into a group for deeper engagement. He also recommends using platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp for different community-building purposes. Siddharth discusses the importance of providing solutions, maintaining integrity, and setting a strong code of honor within the community. He shares practical ideas such as organizing meetups, challenges, and empowering facilitators to lead and nurture community members.

10:02

🎯 Advanced Community Engagement Techniques

The speaker delves into advanced techniques for community engagement, such as conducting inner circle masterminds, organizing challenges with gamification rewards, and empowering top students to facilitate and lead within the community. He also talks about breaking down the community into study or focus groups to foster peer support and accountability. Siddharth mentions the importance of documenting and sharing success stories to attract new members and the potential of offline meetups as the world opens up post-pandemic. He concludes by encouraging viewers to implement even one of the ideas shared to significantly enhance their community-building efforts.

15:04

🎁 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

In the concluding part, Siddharth offers three gifts to viewers who have watched the video till the end. These include a free course called 'The Digital Coach Blueprint,' an invitation to a free webinar, and a direct link to join his community with a special offer. He expresses his gratitude for the viewers' attention and reiterates his vision of inspiring a million people to build their digital ecosystems, transforming the education and employment landscape. Siddharth extends a warm welcome to those who resonate with his vision, inviting them to join his community and experience the benefits of the strategies discussed.

Keywords

💡Community Building

Community building refers to the process of creating and fostering a sense of belonging and interaction among individuals who share common interests or goals. In the context of the video, community building is about establishing long-term connections with a micro-niche audience, serving their needs, and creating a sustainable and profitable knowledge business. The video emphasizes the importance of authentic engagement, strong logic in presenting information, and caring for the community members to build true influence.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity is the quality of being genuine and original, not copied or imitated. It is a core concept in the video, where the speaker stresses the need for influencers to be authentic to gain the trust and loyalty of their community members. Authenticity is one of the three elements that integrate to create true influence, as people should be able to feel the genuine nature of the influencer's intentions and actions.

💡Mission

A mission is a statement of the purpose or goals of an organization or individual. In the video, having a strong mission is highlighted as a key aspect of attracting and retaining community members. The speaker's mission to redefine the education and employment system by creating a new breed of teachers exemplifies how a mission can align and attract like-minded individuals to a community.

💡Solution Provider

A solution provider is someone who offers answers or remedies to problems. The video discusses the importance of positioning oneself as a solution provider in community building. It is not just about sharing information; it's about demonstrating the ability to solve problems for the audience, which is crucial for attracting and maintaining a community that sees value in the influencer's offerings.

💡Integrity

Integrity in the video is defined as being integrated as a person where thoughts, words, and actions align. It is essential for an influencer to practice what they preach to maintain the trust of their community. The speaker emphasizes that integrity is crucial for attracting the right people and maintaining the community's respect and loyalty.

💡Code of Honor

A code of honor refers to a set of principles or values that guide the behavior of members within a community. The video explains the necessity of setting a strong code of honor to maintain order and alignment within the community. It prevents the community from going 'haywire' and ensures that all members adhere to the same set of values, which is vital for a healthy and productive community environment.

💡Long-Form Content

Long-form content is extensive content that provides in-depth information, often exceeding the typical length found in social media posts. The video suggests focusing on long-form content like videos and podcasts to build loyal communities. This approach allows for deeper engagement with the audience, fostering a more meaningful connection that goes beyond surface-level entertainment.

💡Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are attractive offers that encourage potential customers to provide their contact information in exchange for valuable content. In the video, the speaker mentions using lead magnets such as PDFs, free videos, or mini-courses to nurture the audience before they become paid community members. This strategy helps in building trust and showcasing the value that the community can provide.

💡Paid Community

A paid community is a group where members pay to access exclusive content, resources, or networking opportunities. The video discusses the transition from free community engagement to a paid community, emphasizing the need to offer a separate, more nurturing environment for paid members. This tiered approach helps in building a sustainable business model while providing higher value to those who invest in the community.

💡Gamification

Gamification is the application of game-design elements and principles in non-game contexts to encourage engagement and motivation. The video mentions gamification rewards as a way to recognize and motivate community members for their participation and achievements. This approach makes community engagement more fun and encourages members to be more active and committed.

💡Offline Meetups

Offline meetups are in-person gatherings that allow community members to interact and network outside of the digital space. The video suggests that as the world opens up post-pandemic, there will be opportunities to organize offline meetups, which can strengthen community bonds and create a hybrid community experience that combines the benefits of online and in-person interactions.

Highlights

The importance of building loyal communities for long-term connections and sustainable knowledge businesses.

The three elements of true influence: authenticity, strong logic, and genuine care for people.

The necessity of a strong mission that attracts people to a larger vision.

Being a solution provider is key to community building, not just an information giver.

Integrity in community leadership means aligning thoughts, words, and actions.

Establishing a strong code of honor and values to maintain community alignment.

Building long-form content on platforms like YouTube and podcasts to foster loyalty.

Channelizing long-form content into VIP groups for deeper community engagement.

Using long-form text on platforms like LinkedIn to increase reach and attract community members.

The use of lead magnets such as PDFs, videos, or mini-courses to nurture the audience.

Segmenting communities into paid and free members for targeted nurturing.

Organizing online meetups and events to add value to the community.

Conducting inner circle masterminds and weekly calls for paid members.

Incorporating challenges or hackathons to make community building fun and rewarding.

Empowering facilitators and leaders within the community for peer support and growth.

Creating study groups or focus groups within the community for structured interaction.

Holding award ceremonies to recognize and celebrate community member achievements.

Implementing an accountability system for members to track and share their progress.

Documenting and sharing success stories to attract new community members.

Considering offline meetups as a hybrid approach to community building.

Transcripts

we are living in very interesting times

in the world

everybody is chasing for followers

everybody's chasing for likes

but you know the way that i look at

community building is slightly different

if you'd like to build loyal communities

long term

this is the video for you in this video

i'm going to teach you how to build

communities online in your micro niche

so that you can have a long term

connection with the community and you

can serve the community and also make

that into a sustainable and a profitable

knowledge business

the purpose of community building online

is not just about getting

or feeling good because you're getting

more responses on your content it is

that you can walk them through the

journey so that they can be customers

for life so if you'd like to have

customers for life

just type cfl in the comment box here on

youtube or on facebook or twitter

wherever you're watching

and i'm going to be deep diving into

three areas first i'm going to share

with you some concepts

two is i'm going to get into the ideas

and three i'm going to give you specific

actions that you can take

okay so hi my name is siddharth shekhar

i'm the founder of the internet

lifestyle hub we are one of the world's

largest communities for trainers coaches

experts and teachers with over 15 000

members and i've been able to help a lot

of our members build communities it's

not that

only i'm building my community i'm doing

it but i'm also encouraging my students

to do it and some of my students have

communities of thousand two thousand

five thousand students in their own

community so what you're going to be

learning in the next few minutes is

proven it's tested and it's going to

change the game if you apply this okay

but for you to really be

successful in community building you

need to understand

these concepts

there are five concepts the first

concept is this

true influence

it only comes when three elements

integrate

first is you need to be authentic

people should be able to feel your

authenticity

two is you need to present your

information with a strong logic

and three is you need to really care for

people because people don't care about

how much you know until they know how

much you care for them that's where true

influences nobody would be able to build

any communities if these three are not

aligned and integrated or together okay

the second part is you need to have a

strong mission and you have to stand for

something

if you have a strong

mission that is beyond you or bigger

than you the people will get attracted

to that vision

and they will want to be a part of that

bigger vision

so if you're able to articulate your

uh your mission more and more in your

videos

you'll be able to attract the right kind

of audience for example my mission is to

redefine the education employment system

by creating a new breed of teachers and

that is why i've been able to attract

this community over 15 000 paid members

because they align with that same set of

vision and values

and those who do not resonate with that

they don't be in the community so it's a

very essential part of attracting the

right people into your community

through your mission the third part is a

third core concept is

you have to be a solution provider it is

not about just giving information and

expecting people to come to you

your audience

needs to

perceive that you can solve a problem

for them if you're watching this video

on youtube or facebook or wherever

you're watching this because you want to

build an online community and you're

looking for the solution to that problem

okay and i'm going to deliver the

solution in the forthcoming part of the

video but the idea here is the community

building community building process

starts when you take the problem

solution approach

versus

an information giving approach okay

number four is

integrity

it's a big word but the way i like i

like to uh define integrity is

you need to be integrated as a person

where your thoughts words and actions

align okay there are a lot of people a

lot of influencers they may be talking

about a few things but they're not

actually implementing that thing

and

at a subconscious level the audience can

perceive that

so it's very important that you as an

influencer as a leader of your tribe as

a leader of your community

whatever you're teaching your community

you should be living that first

and that's what creates a magnetism to

attract the right people in and finally

the fifth core concept is you need to

set a strong code of honor

or a set of values that the community

aligns with because if you don't set the

right context in your community

it can go haywire and you'll have people

with unrealistic expectations

uh

misaligned values who will come and

completely spoil the party okay in other

words if you have a few rotten apples in

a basket of apples it is going to you

know spoil the entire thing there so to

maintain a community you need to have

the right rules

and values and a code of honor to keep

it aligned and these values will set the

tone for the community now i've shared

those the core concepts and if you found

this

super valuable

just type super valuable in the con box

i know you may be watching this as a

recording but i want you to participate

with me as though i'm

live right here in front of you okay

please type that right now type super

valuable

okay and if you stay till the end of

this video i have a few gifts for you

i'll tell you what those gifts are okay

but you gotta stay till the end now

let's come to the next part once i've

shared the concepts let's get into the

ideas and i have how many ideas on the

list i've got a list of 15 ideas i'm

going to give you

so that you can build

better communities online in your micro

niche the first idea that i have for you

is this

when you if you want to attract the

right community members focus on

building long form content

on youtube and podcast like this is a

long form content right now we are

already five minutes into this video

okay and this is going to go on for a

longer time see i don't want to just do

one minute two minute reels and just

just to grab your attention

i'm not here to entertain you okay i'm

here to educate you on something

so if you want to build loyal

communities you have to plan your

content strategy in such a way that

you're going to be spending longer time

with them even if you have lesser views

that's okay

but the quality of the views matter more

than the quantity of the views

okay

all if you just type qoq in the comment

box

in the chat box

quality over quantity okay type qoq

the second thing is

when you are building long form content

start channelizing them into a group you

can either use a facebook group which is

what i'm using currently i have a

facebook group with over 105 000 people

on that group

you can do a telegram group or a

whatsapp group but whatsapp group

there's a limitation number of people

it's more responsive no doubts but

there's a limitation on how many people

that you can have and i use telegram and

whatsapp mainly for notifications but

the engagement happens in a vip group

okay on facebook

so when you're able to connect a long

form

into a vip group and this can be anybody

okay like people who resonate with their

content they come into that group and

you can continue to nurture them over

there the third idea is even long-form

text

like if you look at linkedin is a

brilliant platform where uh if you're

going to be making posts of 200 300

words consistently every day on linkedin

sharing your views and sharing your

messages on linkedin that's gonna help

you increase the reach and attract so

for me facebook is a good strategy to

get people into the group linkedin is a

good strategy for me to outreach and

reach out to a lot of people through

textual content okay

and when you're doing the textual

content do not share any links okay then

if you share links

linkedin will uh will reduce the reach

okay number four is if you want to

attract the right communities you can

also use lead magnets like

pdfs you can give away free videos or

free mini courses to

really nurture your audience a little

bit more before they become your your

paid community member and whatever i'm

sharing over here till this point are

all free community i'm talking about uh

the free members who are still not paid

members of your paid community

number five is then we get into the paid

community now let's say like in my case

have a facebook group that has over 100

000 people

and i have a dedicated group only for my

paid members with over 14 000 paid

members right now and i'm using a

platform called mighty networks okay

so i want to think about community

building process into two stages the

first stage is

for everybody who have not transacted

with you

but you're nurturing them and the second

stage is for those who have become your

paid customer you need to give them a

separate environment for you know to

nurture them

and in my case i'm using a platform

called mighty networks there are many

other tools

that do similar things

but

once i get them into this private

community platform

the magic happens over there okay

what are the magical elements of

community building here

one is we have meetups online meetups

for all the paid members so we have a

calendar of events and uh let me see if

i can quickly pull up and show you

how that actually looks

so if you can see my screen i'm just

going to jump into my uh

let's see if i can yes i'm just going to

zoom out this is an example of my paid

community network

and you can see here we have

uh different topics this is like

facebook but it is not facebook

people can ask any questions they can

find accountability partners they can

get the support forum questions uh we

have different events that are happening

in our community calendar of events we

have people from different expertise

levels who are there inside this paid

community

and you know we have all kinds of people

artists astrologers ayurveda specialists

beauty therapists biology teachers and

like people from all different walks of

life and then we have like different

groups where they can interact based on

which level they are in whether they are

a silver or gold or diamond or a quantum

member of mine okay so in other words if

you see the way that community building

happens is once you have a paid member

platform of your own you can start to do

uh other meetups that can really add

more value to them number seven is i do

inner circle masterminds and which is

what you can do if somebody is your paid

customer every week you can connect with

them once you can answer questions again

set the code of honor and keep

clarifying

their uh

their journey and give them clarity so

they can go faster on their journey as a

weekly call the eighth idea is you can

do challenges or hackathons or 30-day

challenge or 20 a 90-day challenge or

even a 10-day challenge in my case i do

a 90-day challenge called the hackathon

where in 90 days they got to set up and

launch all of their systems and this is

a part of my community building process

that makes it so much more fun and when

they finish it they get gamification

rewards so i give them different rewards

and recognition

based on you know what activities and

what actions they take and what results

they get

and then one more thing that you can do

is you can empower facilitators and

leaders

so as i started to grow my community

with so many number of members my top

students have got the results who are

who are implementing my process who are

committed to the learning who are

regular in the whole system

i give them the opportunity i give them

an opportunity to serve fellow members

and they are doing it just on their own

uh i'm not paying them anything for this

they are doing it as a way by which they

can give back to the community and back

to the tribe and because the code of

honor has been set so strong it makes it

so much more easier

for uh

for them to

you know deliver that impact for the

community and for me as the community

leader to be completely out of the

equation when it comes to the

facilitation process so what i mean by

that is a lot of meetups happen on on

its own

we have a community manager who's doing

that who's facilitating that with other

facilitators

and

i don't really have to put my head into

that i know that the community is

getting nurtured because i've empowered

a second line team of leaders

now if this idea is a powerful idea just

type powerful

in the chat box

not many people go deep into community

building like the way that i'm sharing

with you here it's mostly surface level

stuff that you would see out there you

go and watch any other youtube video

you'll see they give you like

simple stuff but this is what i'm living

and breathing on a daily basis and it is

working like magic okay

the 11th point is uh you can also break

your uh

you know community into study groups

focus groups

like how in school we have different

houses in my community we have four

different houses in our diamond

membership level okay

so we have stars warriors transformers

and avengers they meet on their own

in the weekends

they inspire each other

they find

accountability partners within that

particular group and they push each

other to move to the next level okay the

outside world everybody likes to pull

others down but here they're given an

environment where they can bloom and

grow okay so this is another beautiful

way to activate your community with peer

group

of peer focused groups

now another thing you can do is you can

have award ceremonies

once in a once in a month once in three

months once in a year so i do an award

ceremony once in three months where i

give awards to members of our community

who have crossed over one chlorine

revenues

and who have those have achieved

milestones that's one way to keep the

community to come together number 13 is

accountability system so accountability

system is not just the focus group but

also one-to-one accountability so when

somebody comes into our social network

they just need to come and make a post

hey i'm brand new over here i'm looking

for an accountability partner please

help me and they connect with fellow

members

the 14th idea is

documenting success stories like on my

youtube channel if you see i have uh

hundreds of success stories

and these success stories have actually

helped me attract more members into the

community it's like a

it's a spiral loop that happens okay

so the more

success stories i document

the more new people are attracted to

coming into the community

and that is a very

strategic system to build

communities much faster okay

and last point is number 15 is offline

meetups right now the world is opening

up initially i used to do a lot of

offline meetups and

now then it moved into online after

co-ed but now

i think with the world

opening up there's going to be an

opportunity for other members to meet

each other

offline whichever city groups and that's

how you need to build community so you

need to make it as a hybrid process okay

now this is the entire list the 15 ideas

that i've given you

on how to build communities online

and

you can take a snapshot of the screen if

you want and if you're if you found this

really useful just type super useful in

the chat box

whether you're watching this on youtube

facebook wherever this type super useful

if you're able to implement even one of

these ideas you're going to you're going

to do very well

but imagine if you implement all of

these ideas

you can build a thriving loyal

sustainable long-term meaningful

purposeful

vision oriented community that is the

intent of this video okay so now that

i've shared with your ideas i'm going to

share with you some next steps

those of you are able to resonate if

you're able to resonate with this i have

uh three things to give you i have a

couple of gifts for you and uh one

clear action that i want to give you the

first gift that i have for you i want to

give you a gift it's a course that i've

created called the freedom

the digital coach blueprint course

okay

it's actually five 599 rupees but i'm

going to give this to you for free

because you have watched the video till

the end and if you want to get your

hands on that

just go to this link sids.com

blueprint that's my first gift for you

okay

the second gift that i have for you

is

i want to invite you to my free webinar

if you would like to learn more exactly

on how i built a community like this

it's a 90 minutes webinar you can go to

sids.com

live and register for this webinar okay

and the third action that i have for all

of you here watching on youtube if

you're able to find this if you're

resonating with this let's say you don't

want you can get the free gift but you

don't want to just attend the webinar

you want to directly join my community

straight away from this video just go to

sids.com

join

i'll just give you that link if you go

to

sids.com

join

and you'll be able to see that link over

here

go to this link and the link is also

there in my youtube channel description

get on board i have a special offer

that's going on right now you can apply

that discount code complete the

transaction

get into the community and experience

whatever i have mentioned in those 15

different steps okay so here are the

three action steps

and i just want to tell all of you thank

you for watching this video till this

point the fact that you're watching till

here it means that you're serious about

building your own community and i'll be

more than happy to help you

achieve these results much faster

what i'm able to see the vision into the

future is if i can inspire a million

people build their own communities

or what i call as digital ecosystems

if we can create a million digital

ecosystems

in the next 10 years

we'll have at least a billion learners a

billion community members whose lives

are being transformed and changed that's

going to change the paradigm of our

education system and our employment

system that's my vision if you resonate

with this vision i want to welcome you

to our community and i will see you in

the members area bye