5 lessons from my 491-person community
Hey Pod Pals!
This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 9:15am CST.
My Oura ring tells me that I got 7 hrs of sleep last night....but it doesn't really feel like it...LOL.
I added a little extra cold brew coffee this AM to get the mojo going for this newsletter....Let's GO!
📈 Today we are going to talk about five lessons I've learned over the last 9 weeks of building a 491 person community on Skool.
One of the holy grail monetization methods that a lot of podcasters chase involves building a paid community.
I've tried it via a Facebook group.
I've tried it via Kajabi.
I've tried it via in person events/masterminds.
The first thing that has actually worked (and felt pretty easy) has been this Skool community.
Hey...It only took me 11 years to figure this out!!!
So if monetizing with a paid community is something that you are interested in...pull up a chair and prepare to take a few notes.
🎯 Lesson #1: Skool is facilitating discovery and growth.
When I had a Facebook group community, Facebook never promoted it for me.
Skool actually does!
This blew me away when I found out about it. They call it Growth Boost.
Skool is actually running paid ads on Meta platforms to advertise my community....and they pay for the ads...not me!
The way it works is that Skool takes a 30% affiliate commission for any paid tier members that come from these ads.
About 40% of my community members have come from these ads!
🎯 Lesson #2: Optimizing my About page has been really important.
This one is sort of connected to the first lesson because Skool won't run ads to your community if you have a poor converting About page.
I had to really work on my community logo and the copy on the about page to get it converting well.
🎯 Lesson #3: Using a single CTA to Skool is working!
If you listen to my podcast, read my newsletter, and/or follow me on Threads you have probably noticed that I won't shut up about this Skool community.....sorry not sorry! 😉
The members of the community (even at the free tier) are getting amazing results every week and it's my duty to keep reminding you all that you are missing out by not joining the party.
Right now my CTA breakdown looks like this:
-80% Skool community
-10% Discovery call
-10% Newsletter promo
🎯 Lesson #4: I had to create a START HERE mini course.
My community has grown really quickly and there is a ton of engagement in the discussion thread.
I noticed that some new members were starting to get overwhelmed.
I created a START HERE mini course with five quick videos to help new members get onboarded into the community easily and efficiently.
I also pinned a post at the top of the discussion thread to remind new members to go through this quick onboarding course.
It has made a HUGE difference!
🎯 5. I put out a community updates video every Monday.
This was the next strategy I've used to combat community overwhelm.
Every Monday I put out a 5 minute video that goes over anything that is important that is happening within the community like:
-Upcoming trainings and Q&A sessions
-New courses
-Price increases
-Community Challenge dates
-Special guest instructor sessions
When a community member reaches out about feeling overwhelmed with all of the awesomeness...
I just remind them to check the updates video on Mondays and they will be 100% caught up on the important stuff.
So there you have it Pod Pals!
If you want to experience some of this Skool community awesomeness first hand I'd love to have you join us for free!
Talk to you next week!
Your Pod Pal,
Adam
⭐️ P.S. Here's the scoop on my podcast episode this week!
🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 638: Should you quit podcasting? (Podcast Growth Q&A episode)
In this audience Q&A episode I answer these questions submitted by members of my Skool community:
-How to know when it's time to quit podcasting.
-Do I have a specific strategy for my "benchmark" episodes?
-What makes a good podcast name?
-How to set up a testimonial audio clip rotation on your show.
-Which sub category should you list your podcast in?