Build With Becky: Smart Strategies To Grow Your Community-Driven Business

I was reminded this week of one of my favorite cognitive biases: the IKEA effect. It’s the idea that we place a disproportionately high value on anything we helped create. And in community, this explains everything. When your members shape the programming, contribute ideas, share feedback, or help build the experience, they stay longer. They feel ownership& they feel belonging. And those two things drive retention more than any piece of content ever will.

In this episode, I break down how the IKEA effect shows up inside community products, why co-creation is the ultimate retention strategy, and the simple ways you can give your members more authorship over their experience in 2026. I also share how we’re using this exact approach inside CreativeMornings Baltimore and why it works every time.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

In this episode, I’m diving into the idea of your membership becoming a true third space for your people. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the concept to describe the places we gather outside of home and work. Today, community builders have the opportunity to create those spaces online and in-person. I share a personal story about a Denver dive bar that became my own third place, plus an example from my friend Ellen Frost, whose members start their day with “bloom scrolling.” We talk through why some members naturally log in every day, how to identify those daily active users, and what their behavior can teach you about designing rituals that make your space feel like home.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

I have been seeing the same pattern across so many memberships this year. Community builders are trying to offer everything at once and accidentally blend two very different product types. It always leads to overwhelm, both for the members and the people running the program.

In this episode, I break down the two core membership models I see most often, how to tell which one you are actually building, and why mixing them almost always creates retention and engagement challenges. If your membership feels heavy, complicated, or hard to maintain, this framework will help you get clarity fast.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

January is always the strongest growth month for memberships, programs, and community-driven offers. People come in with fresh momentum, new goals, and a desire to recommit to the things they said they would do in the fall. The best thing you can do to capture that momentum is walk into the new year with a refreshed, data-backed plan. In this episode, I share the exact research process I use with my clients and how I applied it to the CreativeMornings Baltimore volunteer retreat. I break down how I structure year-end surveys, what metrics I review, and the “quick, scrappy” research sprint any community builder can run to design smarter programming and reengage members going into 2026.

Interested in a 2026 review & strategy? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Today I’m breaking down the trends Circle shared at the Future of Community Summit and what they signal for community-driven businesses in 2026. After listening to hours of presentations and digging through their new report, I pulled together the themes that matter most to your work: why member transformation is becoming the number one growth strategy, how retention-first communities are winning, what flexible participation models mean for your programming, and why emotional safety is emerging as a non-negotiable design choice. I also share small but powerful examples you can apply right away, from personalized onboarding to identity-based milestones and success pathways.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Checkout Circle App with a free trial here (using this link supports my business, thank you!)

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Courses are getting harder to sell, not because people do not want to learn, but because they want results faster than ever. I talk about recent conversations with clients, why even leaders like Amy Porterfield are shifting away from traditional courses, and how the market now expects fast track systems, short actionable lessons, and coaching experiences that prioritize time to value. I also share how we are redesigning onboarding, personalizing member journeys, and rethinking the word course entirely. If your course sales have slowed or your completion rates are stalling, this episode will help you rethink your positioning.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Every client we work with at Affinity starts with a Community Strategy Intensive. In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on what actually goes into that process and how we design strategies that drive both engagement and business results.

I’ll walk you through the core questions we ask to uncover the right focus, how we collect member data to inform decisions, and why every great community strategy needs to connect member goals with business goals. You’ll hear exactly what happens inside our 90-minute strategy session, what you walk away with, and how it becomes the roadmap for every build or upgrade we take on.

If you’re ready to improve or launch your community, this episode will help you start asking the right questions.

If you'd like to see if a Community Strategy Intensive is right for you, book your discovery call with Affinity Collective here.

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

Memberships are shifting — and the old evergreen sales model isn’t converting like it used to.

In this episode, I share what’s actually working right now: blending cohort-style programs with ongoing community memberships. This hybrid model gives you the best of both worlds — urgency for conversions and momentum for retention. I break down why this approach works, examples from client strategies, and how to layer a short program or challenge into your own member journey to create stronger activation and long-term engagement.

Interested in working with my team? Book a discovery call here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

This week I’m sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how we recently migrated more than 1,000 members into a new custom Circle app for a client.

If you’re getting ready to launch a new community or move your existing customers onto a new platform, this episode walks you through exactly what to plan for. I share the full list of what we did to make this migration a success — from member interviews and beta testing, to communication plans, onboarding emails, DM automations, and how we used ambassadors to model engagement.

Whether you’re scaling an existing program or adding community to your offer suite, these are the steps that make members excited to log in and stay engaged.

Links:

• Book a free discovery call here
• Checkout Circle App with a free trial here

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective

We talk a lot about increasing engagement, but not enough about defining what meaningful engagement actually looks like. In this episode, I break down a smarter way to think about engagement beyond likes, posts, and comments.

You’ll learn how to:

• Identify what meaningful engagement looks like for your community
• Use live calls, events, and curriculum prompts to model and reinforce those behaviors
• Build flywheels that make engagement easy, intentional, and measurable

If you’ve been wondering how to move your members from passive to active participation, this episode will help you rethink your approach to engagement entirely.

Want to work on this strategy with my team? Book a discovery call here.

Mentioned on this episode:

• Jay Clouse's membership, The Lab
• Cheyenne Buttrey's membership, The Funnel Method

Let's be friends:

• Connect with Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read the newsletter at beckypierson.com
• Learn more about Affinity Collective