According to Gartner, 70% of online communities fail.

Chapter 1: No Purpose Behind The Community

that’s your reason. What’s in it for them? Why should they even bother joining?

People naturally get bored easily of things without a deeper meaning. No motivation behind them staying.

Give them not only a reason to join but also a reason to stay.

Be the initiator yourself. Ask a question, answer a question, start a discussion, a thread, anything. People will follow up if the content you are sending out is targeted to them and their interests.

your community needs to gather somewhere. The users need to become friends with each other somehow. Otherwise, they will see one another as strangers, acquaintances at best, and it will be hard for someone to build real friendships.

So many communities fail because they expect people to simply approach each other or the community managers feel like there is no particular need for the people in their community to be friends with each other.

You need to ensure that people feel safe. That means removing any trolls, self-promoting, bullying, and offensive, inappropriate behavior.

welcoming new members properly can make them feel more psychologically safe and welcomed.

Make newbies feel welcome. It can be as easy as sending them out a welcome message.

Build the community around a purpose, not around a brand.

Instead of talking about yourself, talk about them. Help them. Be the guide of their life and the guide who gives them the plan to win the day.

it’s super important to know why your users are leaving.

And you will never understand why they are leaving unless you ask them why they are leaving. Something might be irritating them and it's your job to know what.

“Hi, I’m X from the X community. I’m not going to ask you to come back but why did you leave? We are trying to make the server/channel a better place and we value your feedback as a past member.”