community

Community Skill

A community is a retention and acquisition asset that compounds. It is not a Slack group. Done right, it reduces churn, generates referrals, produces UGC, and builds a distribution channel you own.

Done wrong, it is a ghost town that creates support load.

Project context is loaded from the active CLAUDE.md. Apply all frameworks to the specific audience, product, and stage from that context.

When invoked

$ARGUMENTS defines the community goal or stage. If no arguments, ask one question: what is the community meant to do — retain customers, acquire new ones, or both?

Framework 1: Community Purpose First

Before platform or structure, define the single job the community does.

A community trying to do all four does none well. Pick one primary purpose. Secondary purposes follow.

Framework 2: Platform Selection

Choose the platform where your members already spend time, not where you prefer to build.

Platform decision rule: Go where the behaviour already exists for your audience. If your ICP uses Slack for work, they will tolerate another Slack. If they do not, do not build there.

Framework 3: Community Launch (0 to First 100 Members)

Pre-launch (weeks 1-2)

1. Define the promise — what does a member get that they cannot get elsewhere? State it in one sentence.
2. Recruit founding members manually — 20 to 30 people who already care. Current customers, warm prospects, people from your network. Do not open publicly yet.
3. Seed content before inviting — post 5 to 10 pieces of content before anyone arrives. An empty room feels dead.
4. Set the rules — write 5 to 7 community norms. Post them in a visible place. Enforce them from day one.
5. Create the core channels — fewer is better. 3 to 5 channels maximum at launch. Add more only when a topic overflows.

Launch (weeks 3-4)

1. Invite founding members — personal invites only. Generic mass emails do not create belonging.
2. Welcome every new member publicly — by name, with one specific detail about them. This sets the social proof and warmth norm.
3. Run a kick-off event — live Q&A, AMA, or group call. Creates energy and a shared founding experience.
4. Prompt early activity — post a question or prompt every day for the first 2 weeks. Do not wait for members to start conversations.

Post-launch growth

• Open referral loop: make it easy for members to invite colleagues or peers
• Add a public win thread: members post results; you screenshot and share as social proof
• Tie community access to the product: community membership comes with the subscription

Framework 4: Content Calendar and Engagement Loops

Weekly cadence (template)

Consistency beats volume. One meaningful post per day beats ten noise posts.

Engagement loops

A healthy community has three loops running:

1. Value loop — member gets value (content, answer, connection) → stays longer → refers others
2. Status loop — member contributes → gets recognition (votes, badges, replies) → contributes more
3. Social loop — member meets peers → forms relationships → community becomes a habit

Design for all three. Most communities only design for the value loop and wonder why engagement drops.

Prompts that always work

• "What's your biggest challenge with [topic] right now?"
• "What win did you have this week? Share it here."
• "Tag someone in this community who gave you advice worth sharing."
• "What would you do differently if you were starting [X] over today?"
• "Share the resource you've been using most this month."

Framework 5: Moderation

Moderation is active curation of what the community becomes. Removing bad actors is only the visible part.

3-tier moderation system

1. Rules — written, visible, specific. "No self-promotion" is vague. "No posting links to your own products or services in threads not designated for promotion" is enforceable.
2. Moderators — 1 mod per 200 active members minimum. Power members who get moderation access in exchange for contribution.
3. Culture — the behaviour you model in the first 90 days becomes the norm forever. If you tolerate off-topic spam once, you will have a spam problem.

Common failure modes

• Over-moderation: members feel policed, stop posting
• Under-moderation: quality drops, best members leave quietly
• No response to reported posts: erodes trust in the rules
• Moderator burnout: happens when moderators are not recognised or replaced regularly

Framework 6: Community-Led Growth

Community generates acquisition when members bring others in without being asked. This requires:

1. Public proof — results are visible inside and outside the community. Post wins where non-members can see them.
2. Status incentives — members want to be seen as community contributors in their professional circles. Posts about community wins on whichever network their peers actually use (LinkedIn, X, an industry forum), being featured in community spotlights.
3. Referral mechanism — make it easy. An "Invite a colleague" button with a trackable link beats "tell a friend."
4. Graduated access — free tier exists for prospective members; full access requires product subscription or paid membership. The free tier is a sample, not the full experience.

Community as acquisition channel (the flywheel)

New member joins (referral or organic)
    → Gets value from community
    → Shares wins publicly
    → Their network sees results
    → Network joins community
    → Loop repeats

The flywheel only starts if the first members get real results and share them. Everything else is secondary.

Framework 7: Community Health Metrics

Track monthly. If DAU/MAU drops below 10%, the engagement loops are broken. Investigate before growing.

Framework 8: Paid Community vs Free Community

Paid communities require proof of value before launch. Run a free community first, prove engagement, then charge.

Output format

For a community launch plan:

1. Purpose statement (one sentence)
2. Platform recommendation with rationale
3. Pre-launch checklist
4. Week-by-week launch plan (4 weeks)
5. Content calendar template
6. Metrics to track at 30/60/90 days

For a community growth audit:

1. Current health metrics vs benchmarks
2. Biggest engagement gap
3. Three interventions ranked by impact
4. What to stop doing

Rules:

• Never recommend launching publicly before founding members are active
• Never recommend more than 5 channels at launch
• If the community has no clear purpose, define that before anything else