The dynamic of business has changed in recent times, with orgs keen to benefit from the positives online communities can bring to the table.

We get bombarded with a whole host of requests from practitioners keen to learn how we have such an engaged online Slack community, with 10,000+ members.

So, Richard King, CEO & Founder here at PMA, sat down for an AMA and shared some of the secrets of his success.

Sorry! You’ve missed the boat to submit questions for this AMA, but don’t worry. We have a whole host of incredible speakers preparing to answer your questions in the coming weeks. Check out the list of upcoming guests here.

Q: How did you prioritize building a community and how did you make sure to keep it top of mind?

A: The community was top of mind, always has been, and will continue to be.

I couldn't find anything that represented an independent voice for PMMs so started the PMA community first. From there we built out what the community asked for;

  • First, Community
  • then Content
  • now Education
  • next Talent & Tools

Being sure to keep the community first, we established the membership program & certification working closely with our PMA ambassadors making sure we don't stray from our mission to elevate the role.

All future initiatives are not created in a silo but with the OK from the community & ambassadors.

Q: What was the biggest growth driver for PMA membership? Did you run a special program to encourage invitations or was it purely organic?

A: The growth was organic; there was very little out there dedicated to the PMM.

We all know the collaborative role PMMs play, but it also seemed that we were expected to go to five different places to get the information required to do the job well.

We hoped to change that.

Q: I am a Product Marketer, running a community for a Legaltech Saas Co. and I'm struggling with engagement - what are your tactics for increasing engagement, particularly when users aren't overly skilled in online networking/community building?

A: I'm not sure where your target demographic already hangs out so I can't suggest the best tool. But do check out this screen grab on the tools of choice in the community.

Engage

  • Frequently engage each part of the community.
  • Make the barriers to engagement low to promote participation, for instance, starting with simple polls rather than asking the big questions.
  • Share what's happened in the community through collections of actions, for example, a newsletter detailing the most popular posts of the last week.
  • Be open, share your analytics, and be transparent about what they mean.
  • I also think you need dedicated people to make a community great - it's a full-time gig.

Platform

For me, the tool is the most significant barrier to entry for community building; you have to make it easy.

Create Spaces

  • Create channels for different segments to identify better and target people's problems.
  • Engage within each of these spaces rather than just one general space.
  • Give clear signposts about where & what to post.

Moderate

  • Strictly moderate and make the rules and reporting processes clear.
  • Users need to see that you are working to make the community what they want it to be.

Q: When and how did you transition PMA from a pure community support system for PMMs to a viable revenue-driving business? And how do you strike a perfect balance of community and business without negatively impacting either of the two?

Strategies that worked and didn't work for each of the growth stages (0 to 100, 100 to 1000, and 1000 to 10,000) in PMA's journey?

A: Some great questions here!

  1. When and how did you transition PMA from a pure community support system for PMMs to a viable revenue-driving business?

PMA started the Slack community in March 2019.

We decided to make the company a business in August 2019. I made this "commercial" decision because I wanted to try & sell t-shirts at an event - no joke. We gave them away for free because my POS checkout device did not arrive on time.

So as a business entity the PMA is 10 months young.

  1. How do you strike a perfect balance of community and business without negatively impacting either of the two?

We are and always will be a community first business with a focus on our mission of elevating the role and providing value over anything to PMMs.

So with any of our paid products we look to price our value instead of valuing our price.

I read somewhere that "value can justify any price". We add to our value as often as possible.

  1. Which strategies worked and didn't work for each of the growth stages (0 to 100, 100 to 1000, and 1000 to 10,000) in PMA's journey?

1 to 100

  • Worked - Ambassador program
  • Did not work - Facebook

100 to 1,000

  • Worked - Ambassador program
  • Did not work - Selling t-shirts

1,000 to 10,000

  • Worked - Ambassador program
  • Did not work - Linkedin Ads