Many highly successful brands, organizations, agencies are realizing just how important it is to have online community spaces that they own to take full advantage of their growing audiences.
But, as you probably already know, creating online communities that are actually lively and engaging places to be for your members isn’t an easy task. Luckily, there are a number of resources out there to level up your game.
Ahead, we’re looking at the best podcasts that center around all things online community building.
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1. Getting Together Podcast
The Getting Together Podcast is a show centered around everyday people who are building extraordinary communities.
Created and hosted by People & Company, each episode interviews highly successful community managers, organizers, and creators about how they started their communities, and what strategies they’ve developed along the way to unlock new levels of growth and engagement with their members.
The show is hosted by Bailey Richardson, who has helped shape the communities around Instagram, IDEO, and Pop-Up Magazine. And her co-founder Kevin Huyhn whose strategies have helped coach organizations—from Nike to upstart nonprofits—on how to create authentic communities. They've supported the creation and ongoing care for communities of investors, entrepreneurs, teachers, caregivers, dog-walkers, power users, runners, surfers, and more.
In each episode, they ask their guests about the exceptional communities they’ve built and the steps they took to bring their communities to life. This is an educational and entertaining podcast for community builders at all stages of their careers. You’ll learn important lessons about acquiring your first members, increasing member engagement, in-depth strategies for building your community, and more.
2. In Before the Lock
In Before The Lock is a podcast hosted by Erica Kuhl and Brian Oblinger that talks about community, customer experience, and effective leadership as your community scales.
Erica Kuhl has over 17 years of experience working in the online community building space , her belief being that it opens up amazing opportunities for networking, innovation, mentorship, and brand loyalty.
Brian Oblinger has been building and participating in online communities since the late 90s and has made a career helping companies better connect with their customers, building engagement, and sustained member retention.
In Before The Lock releases four episodes a month, two episodes interview industry progressions in the online community world about their strategies and perspective on the industry.
The other two episodes each month have Erica and Brian breaking down major industry news, and to deep dives in particular community platforms, scaling your business, hiring and team structures of online communities, and more.
3. Community Strategy Podcast Deb Schell
The Community Strategy Podcast lives up to its name by offering an in-depth look into the challenges, stresses, and successes that happen when you try to build an online community.
Hosted by Deb Schell, who is a community strategists, community designers, and community leader. Her vision for the podcasts is to help listeners create sustainable and successful community strategies that are easy to implement.
In each episode, The Community Strategy Podcast offers conversations with community leaders who tell their own journeys in community building, both the struggles and successes. Topics covered are everything from how to build an online community, creating a successful launch, and creating additional revenue streams to build passive income over time.
In a recent episode, Schell interviewed our SVP of Marketing Jane Stecyk and Jessica Shambora about the exciting things we’re building on our platform here at Mighty Networks. In this conversation Schell talks with these two industry leaders about their career paths, trends they are seeing in the online community building space right now, and more.
4. Create Community with Marsha Drucker Podcast
Create Community with Marsha Drucker is a podcast that explores and makes sense of what it truly means to build community.
Marsha Drucker has years of experience in leadership as well as a successful marketing career that has allowed her to understand what people are really looking for in communities.
Each episode, Marsha uses her own personal experiences and the perspective of a diverse range of experts in community building from business founders, artists, activists, and more to understand how communities are evolving over time. that examines and unpacks the true meaning of community.
A recent episode that’s worth checking out is Drucker’s conversation with Marjorie Andrerson. She is the founder of Community by Association, an organization and online community for people trying to build communities for nonprofits. Drucker and Marsha talk about nurturing your super users, measuring the efficacy of your business initiatives, and creating a strong community strategy.
5. The Membership Geeks with Mike Morrison and Callie Willows
The Membership Geeks, formerly known as the Membership Guys has been a go-to destination for many community managers looking for actionable tips to grow their businesses.
Mike Morrison and Callie Willows have spent many years helping other community builders cultivate the growth of their memberships, and other online businesses. Now, they run the Membership Academy, which teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs skills and strategies to build and grow their own successful membership businesses.
Each week, Mike and Callie explore a variety of topics around community building and provide advice, tips and insight on planning, running and growing a successful membership website through their own personal experience and exclusive interviews with existing industry experts.
6. Keep Connected with CEO David Siegel
If you’re someone interested in community building then you’ve probably heard of the Meetup app. Now, David Siegel, Meetup’s CEO has a podcast that’s all about the power of community building today.
Their company has helped bring people together around the world for almost 20 years, providing major insights into how the most engaged communities come to be.
In Keep Connected, each episode, Siegel interviews an expert in business, community building, in-person event organizing, and more. This podcast is great for folks who are looking for interesting stories about a diverse range of communities, the trials and tribulations of running successful communities, and easy to understand tips from people who know a thing or two about bringing people together.
6. Creative Elements Podcast
Today, there are more ways than ever to become a successful online creator.The Creative Elements Podcast is interested in surfacing these diverse stories through engaging narrative interviews that highlight the interesting personalities and approaches of their guests.
If you’re someone who loves learning about creative process in addition to strategy, then this is a refreshing listen that will get you to actually start acting upon all of the thoughts you’ve kept in your head around building an online community
Recently, they interviewed the CEO and Founder of Mighty Networks, Gina Bianchini, about the future of online community building, and why it’s not on Facebook and other social media platforms. In the episode, they talk about the opportunities for creators to build robust membership businesses, what highly successful community builders are doing to create their thriving communities, and why sustainable memberships can be built with as little as 30 members.
