Bad Community Advice

“Content is king.” It's one of the most repeated pieces of advice in marketing. But when it comes to building a community, it might be steering you in the wrong direction. Nicole Saunders, Senior Director of CX Strategy at Higher Logic, joins Seth Resler to explain why connections, not content, are the key to building a thriving community. Drawing on 15 years of experience building communities, including eight years at Zendesk, Nicole shares how community builders can shift their focus from producing more content to helping members build meaningful relationships with one another. They discuss why community managers should think more like party hosts, how to connect new members with the right people, why criticism and disagreement can strengthen a community, and why buying a community platform isn't the same as building a community. Nicole also shares her prediction for the future: As AI makes information easier to access, the organizations that invest in human connection will gain a competitive advantage that's difficult to replicate. Because content may attract an audience, but connections are what turn that audience into a community.

Your audience is not your community. That distinction drives Mark Schaefer nuts. And it matters because building an audience and building a community require two very different strategies. Mark is a globally recognized marketing expert and the bestselling author of Belonging to the Brand: Why Community Is the Last Great Marketing Strategy. He joins Seth to explain why an audience is primarily a one-way relationship, while a community is built around relationships between members, a shared purpose, and members who help shape where the group goes. They also explore Mark’s concept of “Content Shock,” why creating more content is becoming an increasingly difficult way to compete for attention, and how community can create a deeper emotional connection with a brand. Plus, Mark shares what he has learned from building his own community, why great communities often start with just a handful of people, and why you need to “earn the room” before you can build one.

Treating community like another marketing channel sounds logical. But it can prevent your community from delivering much of its value. Joshua Zerkel, Head of Marketing and Community at Gradual and author of The Community Code, joins Seth Resler to unpack his bad advice: “Treat community like a marketing channel.” Joshua explains why community doesn’t fit neatly into marketing—or sales, customer support, or product. Each department can benefit from community, but placing it inside one silo can narrow its goals to that department’s priorities. They explore the pros and cons of each approach, why community can create value across the entire customer journey, and why Joshua believes community should ultimately report to the person responsible for the business as a whole. They also discuss why community ROI requires more than engagement metrics, how events can be used to experiment and learn, and why successful communities need to continually evolve instead of relying on a “build it and they will come” approach.

If you build it, they will come. It's one of the most common—and most expensive—mistakes new community builders make. Jono Bacon of Stateshifthas spent decades helping organizations build thriving communities, from open source software projects to global technology companies. In this episode, he explains why launching a forum, Discord server, or Mighty Network is the easy part. Getting people to show up—and keep coming back—is something else entirely. Jono shares why community isn't a platform, why events often matter more than online spaces, and how inviting members to help shape the community creates far more engagement than simply giving them another place to consume content. If you're planning to launch a community—or wondering why the one you've already built feels empty—this conversation will help you avoid one of the biggest traps in community building.

Before you launch your community, it's tempting to create a channel for every topic your members might want to discuss. Don't. Tightknit co-founder Zach Hawtof explains why the strongest communities begin with fewer spaces, not more. Instead of scattering members across dozens of empty channels, concentrate the conversation in one place until your community tells you it's ready to grow. Along the way, Seth and Zach discuss: * Why your choice of community platform matters less than where your members already spend their time * The tradeoffs between Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, and dedicated community platforms * Why founders should play a hands-on role early—and gradually hand ownership to members * How to know when it's time to create new channels * The difference between an audience and a true community * Why the best communities start with a specific niche instead of trying to appeal to everyone If you're planning to launch an online community, this episode will help you avoid a common mistake that quietly undermines engagement from day one.

Gina Bianchini thinks one of the biggest mistakes community builders make is choosing the wrong place to gather people. The founder and CEO of Mighty Networks joins Seth Resler to explain why building a community on platforms like Facebook Groups, Discord, Slack, or WhatsApp can actually work against the relationships you’re trying to create. Gina argues that communities thrive when people feel like they’re entering a distinct space with its own culture, identity, and purpose — not just another feed competing for attention. The bad community advice she tackles: “We need to be where everyone already is.” Along the way, Seth and Gina discuss: * The difference between an audience and a community * Why member-to-member interaction matters more than creator engagement * How communities become more energizing than content creation alone * Why charging for a community often increases participation * The hidden downside of “making it as easy as possible” * Why creators don’t need massive audiences to launch successful communities * How AI and algorithmic feeds are making human connection more valuable Gina also shares a surprising example of how the exact same yoga community behaved completely differently after moving off Facebook and into its own dedicated space. If you’ve been wondering whether your audience is ready for community — or whether you’re building in the wrong place — this conversation will change the way you think about where belonging actually happens.

A documentary about civic decline does not sound like obvious movie material—until Join or Die turns Bowling Alone into a surprisingly urgent conversation about why Americans have stopped showing up for one another. Filmmaker Rebecca Davis and writer David J. French unpack one piece of bad community advice that sounds sensible but often backfires: make it easy for people to join your club. They explain why communities become stronger when new members are asked to contribute early, how participation creates belonging, and why organizers burn out when they treat community like an audience instead of a shared project. Along the way, the conversation explores co-creation, leadership, civic creativity, and why the healthiest groups stop feeling like they belong to one person at all. If you have been trying to remove friction from your community, this episode offers a useful challenge: maybe what people need is not less responsibility, but a reason to matter. JOIN OR DIE: https://joinordiefilm.com/ JOIN 101 ON SUBSTACK: https://join101.substack.com/

“Let people try your community for free first.” It sounds smart—especially if you’ve seen free trials work for software, courses, and subscriptions. But according to Bri Leever, that logic breaks down fast when the product is community. In this conversation, Bri explains why free communities often attract the wrong behavior, why members without skin in the game weaken the experience for everyone, and why a freemium model usually creates confusion instead of conversion. She also shares a better alternative: using curated events to let prospective members experience your community without dropping them into chaos. Along the way, Seth and Bri unpack the difference between education-driven communities and connection-driven communities, why events work so well as community experiments, and how to decide whether your community should be evergreen or cohort-based. If you’ve ever wondered how to let people “sample” a community without undermining it, this episode will save you from a mistake a lot of builders make early. EMBER CONSULTING: https://www.emberconsulting.co/

When your community feels like a ghost town, the instinct is to post more, prompt more, push harder. But that’s often the fastest path to burnout. In this episode, Seth talks with Carrie Melissa Jones, co-author of Building Brand Community, about a common — and damaging — piece of advice: If members aren’t engaging… try harder. Carrie explains why engagement hacks and gamification may create short-term spikes but rarely build healthy, sustainable communities. Instead, she argues for investing in a strong core of members who help steward culture and conversation. You’ll learn: Why effort isn’t the same as effectiveness How to identify and cultivate co-leaders Why designing clear leadership roles prevents burnout How AI may weaken transactional forums while increasing the value of real belonging If you feel like you’re carrying your community alone, this conversation offers a better path forward. CMJ GROUP: https://www.carriemelissajones.com/

“Don’t worry about ROI. Just keep building.” That advice sounds supportive—until the budget tightens, leadership changes, or someone asks you to justify your job. In this episode, community strategist Brian Oblinger explains why not thinking about ROI from day one is one of the most dangerous mistakes community builders make. Drawing from years of work with large organizations—and translating those lessons for creators and event producers just getting started—Brian breaks down how community value actually shows up inside an organization. We talk about the difference between vanity metrics and meaningful ones, why reporting matters as much as measurement, and how community teams get blindsided when they can’t connect their work to real business outcomes. Brian also digs into cost reduction vs. revenue impact, where community tends to live inside org charts (and why that keeps changing), and how to tailor your community story depending on whether you’re talking to marketing, sales, or leadership. If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable answering the question, “So… what’s the ROI of this community?”—this conversation is for you. Brian Oblinger: https://brianoblinger.com/