Community ROI

“Every conversation you have with a customer is a data point with a heartbeat.”

In this episode, we discussed how to align community and business goals through cross-functional collaboration, customer insight, and storytelling to drive measurable impact, in particular:

👉 The real difference between community and audience, and why it matters.

👉 Turning community insights into measurable business impact.

👉 How communities act as a “sonar” for customer feedback and innovation.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Brian Kling, a community strategy leader who’s built award-winning B2B communities at Autodesk, STMicroelectronics, and Align Technology, and is passionate about customer-focused innovation and driving business impact through data, creativity, and people, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Brian and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/klingbrian/

ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Brian Kling

(00:49) Defining Community for Business

(02:13) Real-World Example of Community Impact

(04:36) Connecting Community Goals with Business Goals

(09:53) Strategies for Engaging Advocates

(14:35) Collaborating with Key Teams

(18:42) Encouraging Cross-Team Collaboration

(23:01) Building Internal Community Connections

(26:24) Challenges in Larger Organizations

(27:49) Leveraging AI in Community Building

(30:15) Identifying Community ROI

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“You have to be the advocate for your advocates, or nothing happens."

In this episode, we discussed how authentic relationships, active listening, and internal collaboration helped Grammarly connect its ambassador community directly to product growth, feedback, and brand advocacy, in particular:

👉 How Grammarly built a thriving ambassador community from scratch.

👉 The power of listening and how to turn feedback into impact.

👉 How to align with product, marketing, and content teams for business impact.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Emma Wyatt, a senior community and customer advocacy leader with a ton of expertise in social listening, customer experience, and creative campaign design, who's proven how powerful authentic word-of-mouth can be by building The Grammarly Collective a thriving ambassador community of more than 600 members from the ground up, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Emma and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-wyatt-1b5aa466/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Emma Wyatt: Community and Customer Advocacy Leader

(01:27) Defining Community for Business

(02:16) The Role of Community in Customer Support

(05:26) Engaging and Nurturing Community Advocates

(07:44) Building Relationships with Community Members

(14:28) Collaborating with Internal Teams

(20:15) Challenges and Solutions in Community Management

(24:48) Leveraging AI in Community Building

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“A community of practice is the glue that holds everything together in a business. It fills the gaps that organizational structures can’t, and that’s where people actually become more effective.”

In this episode, we discussed how communities of practice connect human collaboration with business growth, and the practical ways to align goals, measure impact, and keep people engaged, in particular:

👉 Why communities of practice act as the “glue” holding organizations together.

👉 How social learning creates shared ownership and fresh energy in communities.

👉 How to define and measure community ROI using immediate, potential, applied, and realized value.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Drew Pontikis, a true champion of collaboration and growth, passionate about coaching and helping people flourish who has built thriving Communities of Practice at PwC UK and beyond, and also organizing the Ministry of Testing meetups in Peterborough, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Drew and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-pontikis-21aab060/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Drew Pontikis

(01:02) Defining Community for Business

(02:09) Understanding Communities of Practice

(05:47) The Importance of Community Goals

(07:48) Motivating Community Members

(12:58) The Role of a Community Leader

(22:35) Measuring Community Impact

(28:10) Handling Community Challenges

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“Retention is proof your community is working, even if it's quiet.”

In this episode, we discussed how to tie community goals to business strategy through member retention, smart metrics, cross-team collaboration, and human insight, in particular:

👉 Going beyond vanity metrics to find meaningful value.

👉 Engaging lurkers and gathering hidden insights.

👉 Turning passive marketing messages into active community conversations.

👉 Why less visible activity doesn't always mean less value.

👉 How AI can support (but not replace) human community sense.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Luke Zimmer, the founder of Skariphos Consulting, where he, with a background in journalism, anthropology, and nearly a decade in the nonprofit world, brings both strategy and heart to community building and helps nonprofits and associations build inclusive, deeply-engaged online communities!

Connect with Luke and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lthzimmer/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Luke Zimmer

(01:40) What is a Community for Business?

(04:33) Defining Community Goals

(05:41) Measuring Community Impact

(07:19) Retention as a Community Goal

(09:10) Qualitative vs. Quantitative Community Insights

(14:17) Engaging Lurkers and Less Active Members

(16:01) Community Activity Benchmarks

(18:19) Internal Teams & Community Impact

(21:29) Membership, Marketing, and IT Teams

(25:06) Community as a Horizontal Team

(27:19) Building Relationships with Other Teams

(29:18) Discussing Challenges & Bad News

(31:03) Using AI in Community Building

(34:50) Identifying Community ROI

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“Your community goals should be so clear you can explain them in less than 30 seconds, even to your parents.”

In this episode, we discussed how to connect community goals with business goals to drive adoption, retention, and long-term business impact, in particular:

👉 How clear, simple community goals drive KPIs and decision-making.

👉 The importance of onboarding and surveying users early to shape their journey.

👉 Practical steps to drive product adoption and customer retention through community.

👉 How to collaborate effectively with Product, Marketing, and Customer Success teams.

👉 Where AI can help community managers, and where only a human connection works.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Meghan Bates, a “passionate but practical” brain in the B2B SaaS community world with prior experience at Tableau, Salesforce, Mural, and Personify, a strategist, restorer, and synthesizer who believes in leaving everything better than she found it and an expert with sharp customer insights, gift for storytelling, and unwavering dedication to building thriving communities, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Meghan and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanbateslinkedin/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Meghan Bates: B2B SaaS Community Expert

(01:18) Defining Community and Its Goals

(03:49) Community Goals and Business Alignment

(06:38) Building and Measuring Community Success

(13:16) Cross-Functional Collaboration in Community Building

(20:40) Challenges and Solutions in Community Management

(23:06) The Role of AI in Community Building

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“Your super users are mini-influencers — invest in them like you mean it.”

In this episode, we discussed how to bridge community and business goals, using real-life strategies, data, and programs that turn super users into powerful advocates for growth, in particular:

👉 Why community engagement alone isn't enough.

👉 Which 3 internal teams are critical to community collaboration.

👉 How to use storytelling and data to showcase community ROI.

👉 Using AI tools to streamline community management and strategy.

👉 One actionable step to start measuring your community’s ROI today.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Jen Hanley, an award-winning community builder and growth strategist, who's led everything from intimate founder gatherings to large-scale conferences, built developer ecosystems for global giants, and helped Fortune 500 partners scale learning communities with precision, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Jen and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jendurkee/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Jen Hanley: Community Builder and Growth Strategist

(01:12) Defining Community and Community Goals

(02:32) Marrying Engagement with Business Results

(04:34) The AI Fellows Program at MOVE Works

(07:40) Super Users and Their Importance

(12:04) Cross-Functional Collaboration in Community Building

(20:57) Challenges and Solutions in Community Management

(22:31) Leveraging AI in Community Building

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“Community isn’t something extra. At our company, community is the business.”

In this episode, we discussed how to align community and business goals by treating community as a support function for internal teams, leveraging stories and data to prove ROI, and designing with empathy, especially in emotionally sensitive communities, in particular:

👉 How to turn feedback loops into community-led product insights.

👉 How a safe space mindset empowers deeply vulnerable user groups.

👉 Practical scorecard system to align with company OKRs.

👉 How to build trust with internal teams without adding to their workload.

👉 Powerful use cases for AI in community, from member matchmaking to ideation.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Nicola Earle, a mission-led community builder and radiant connector who turns conversations into collaborations, and brings warmth, empathy, and a generalist’s magic to every relationship, making impact feel effortless and joyfully human, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Nicola and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-ruth-earle/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Nicola Earle

(01:10) Defining Community for Business

(01:57) Community Goals and Their Impact

(02:29) Mobilize: Supporting Unpaid Carers

(03:44) Aligning Community Goals with Business Goals

(10:00) Collaborating with Other Teams

(12:54) Encouraging Cross-Team Collaboration

(16:52) Sharing Community Impact and Stories

(20:41) Using AI in Community Building

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

"If your users carry your community with them from job to job, you’ve built something unforgettable."

In this episode, we discussed how community initiatives, when aligned with business goals, not only drive measurable results but also elevate customer relationships, influence product development, and shape careers, in particular:

👉 Why companies should want customers talking to each other.

👉 The hidden value of “lurkers” and why you don’t always need visible engagement.

👉 Community managers as cross-functional internal connectors.

👉 Building relationships with other departments through shared goals.

👉 Simple ways to make your community’s value visible across the business.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Nicole Saunders, who's spent over 15 years helping B2B tech companies build stronger connections with their customers through community, customer advocacy, and marketing, from leading community at Zendesk to founding CXN Consulting, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Nicole and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoledsaunders/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Nicole Saunders

(01:12) Defining Community for Business

(03:13) Benefits of Customer Conversations

(10:23) Community Goals and Business Alignment

(15:36) Measuring Community Impact

(21:01) Balancing Scalable and Personal Actions

(23:01) Collaborating with Key Teams

(25:32) Encouraging Cross-Team Collaboration

(29:16) Showcasing Community Impact

(33:35) Measuring Community ROI

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

“If your customers go quiet, something’s broken. Silence can be a sign of lost trust.”

In this episode, we discussed how trust, cross-functional partnerships, case deflection, product adoption, and storytelling can be the foundation of demonstrating community ROI, in particular:

👉 Why community is “relationships at scale”, not just engagement.

👉 Why trust is the foundation of impactful communities.

👉 How to build programs that solve customer problems and meet business KPIs.

👉 Examples of aligning with marketing, support, and product teams.

👉 How to bring visibility to community value across the company.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Nikki Thibodeau, an amazing community expert, strategist, and leader, was Shopify's first Senior Community Strategist to help scale their efforts across a 10,000+ person organization and for over 2 million merchants, and the founder of the one and only The Community Community, an extra special safe and trusted space for senior community builders, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Nikki and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki2987/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Nikki Thibodeau

(01:17) Defining Community for Business

(02:14) Community Goals and Business Alignment

(03:03) Strategies for Customer Engagement

(08:28) Building Trust with Customers

(13:23) Collaborating with Other Teams

(20:19) Measuring Community Impact

(22:34) Challenges and Transparency in Community Building

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

"When you give people the feature they asked for, and bring them into the room to shape it—it’s magic."

In this episode, we discussed how to turn community from a feel-good add-on into a core growth engine, in particular:

👉 How community goals bridge business needs with member value.

👉 Turning community members into testers, feedback loops, and advocates.

👉 How to improve retention and reduce feature misfires.

👉 The key to internal collaboration.

👉 How teams benefit in measurable ways from strong community ties.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Avital Knoller, a community and collaboration specialist passionate about empowering organizations to build strong, collaborative communities that drive positive change in the world, in connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Avital and Yurii on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/avital-knoller-205784112/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Avital Knoller

(00:59) Defining Community and Community Goals

(02:25) Community Goals in Action

(06:46) Collaborating with Different Teams

(10:42) Measuring Community Success

(19:55) Addressing Community Challenges

(22:00) Final Thoughts and Recommendations
#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth