How To Build A Sustainable, Supportive Community Around Your Work

"We want to connect with the community."

"Let's bring this to the community." 

"Our company is invested in community."

Do these sentences sound familiar? "Community" is a buzzword these days when it comes to offline and online brand recognition and marketing. It's associated with notions of fandom, a strong following and consistent support from a built-in network. But being a part of a community (or fostering one) is as rewarding as it is difficult. If done with the ego and solely revenue in mind, you can come across as in-authentic, exploitative and kitschy. If done without any boundaries or expectations, you run the risk of disenfranchisement, continually undervaluing your work or creating services that are ultimately not sustainable for a large audience.

At the end of the day, your community is those whose values you represent, those who patronize your work and those who hold you accountable. And as a creative or small business, your community is your support network—an important part of your livelihood.  So, for this post, I am going to center in specifically on engaging community to support one's work and business. I interviewed three leaders at Kickstarter, a crowd-funding platform, for their thoughts on creatives and small business owners garnering financial support from their community.  The company's Vice President of Community Strategy Cassie Marketos, Director of Arts Patton Hindle and Music Outreach Specialist, Nafeesa Davis each provided candid commentary on the intersection between community-building and sustainable funding.

Here are nine key takeaways about their thoughts on community-building for creatives, small business-owners and artists:

1.) Make things you actually care about.

Plain and simple—authenticity will attract people to your work, and your genuine interest and passion will naturally build community. "The greatest community strategy is a great product," Marketos, Kickstarter's VP of Community Strategy, said. 

2.) Share your work. Test the response. Repeat.

Although this may also seem like a no-brainer, you can find out who enjoys, supports or needs your work by simply sharing it. This means showing (or telling) others about your skills and products, both online and off. You should, though, set a couple of objectives for these moments. Experiment with the language you use to describe your work and see if you get different responses or attract different groups.

"Being a creator and putting yourself out there in a creative way will always foster some sense of community," Davis, whose often engages with emerging musicians and artists, said.

3.) Find your core stakeholders.

So, what do you do once you start to share? Find people who really believe in your work. You don't need a million followers, and you don't need thousands of subscribers on your email list. You just need to find people who are willing to advocate for you and share your work with their networks.

"If you don’t know who your community is look around. Everyone has a community around them, even if it’s your parents and your brother and your three best friends. Build from there," Marketos said.

4.) Assume your community cares.

You should assume that your network values your work and act accordingly. Don't invite everyone to share in the valuable privacy of your creative practice—and don't continually give away your work for free.

“Artists underestimate their community," Hindle, Kickstarter's Director of Arts, said. "There’s an assumption that no one wants to support you financially, and your community is much bigger than that. Your closest network is at the top of the tree. Be aware of how broad your reach might actually be and call on people who can spread your message for you. Don’t be afraid to ask." She then added, "If you’ve spent the last five years giving things away on Instagram, maybe it’s time to say, 'Hey, if you want this information, you can support my practice in this way.'” 

5.) Reward those who deeply support your products or practice.

You should recognize people who patronize or share your work with others. Whether you respond to their comments or send thank-you notes and gifts, make sure they know you appreciate their support. A little reciprocity doesn't hurt, either. Find creative ways to invite your community into your process. 

6.) Communicate clearly about what you do and what you can offer.

That being said, your following will develop expectations, based on the way you talk about your work, the price of your services and the experiences you provide. When finding ways keep them engaged, refrain from creating free products or incentives that compromise the value of your work or the sustainability of your time. 

7.) Being part of a community (and contributing positively to that community) requires thought leadership.

If you're engaging others in your work and hoping to develop support around what you do, be aware that your community could exclude others. If you're publicly saying that your business supports diversity, yet your company and/or community is comprised primarily of one gender, race or cultural group, you should take a few steps back and assess the discrepancy.

"In terms of community-building, I think that coming from a place of outreach, we need more women in spaces, in general. I think that all of the anxieties that we just spoke about —and the idea of not being confident — applies even more for women and marginalized groups. We need to figure out ways in which they feel more welcome and can build community and get their voices heard," Davis said.

8.) Prepare for disappointment. That's part of taking risks.

Like any relationship, your community will not always support your work and/or like your work. That's the nature of creative entrepreneurship. Embrace it.

"The reality is you might put yourself out there seeking support for an idea and you might not get it. That shouldn’t be the end of the world. So how can we teach creators and artists to be emotionally resilient—to navigate failure and success?" Marketos said.

9.) Don't forget to do the work.

Building a community around what you do should always come second to what you produce. “A good amount of confidence is built by just doing the work," Davis said.