Most community initiatives fail before they actually start. 

This probably sounds familiar: You are invited to an event that introduces a new community. It’s a successful event, and all plans sound promising. 

But after three months you still haven’t heard anything else about it. 

A lot of initiators launch their plans with a big bang forgetting about the effort it really takes to build trust and identity.

Without identity and building trust: No long term participation. 

Your goal should be activation instead of attention. 

This starts with…

• Defining strong drive and connecting factors.
• A steady stream of valuable content.
• Guidelines for communication to ensure continuity.

With more than 650,000 members from 67 different countries, the Female Entrepreneur Association is a great example. 

The mission of this hub immediately describes a strong drive and connecting factors: The community is driven to inspire and empower women from all over the world to turn their ideas into reality, build successful businesses and live a life they love.

 Complementary to this meaningful mission, this community has become successful through a good communication strategy in which “continuing to learn” is central. 

The community has been publishing a video every Tuesday for years in which tips and advice are shared about building a successful business.

Most initiatives fail, but yours will be less likely to fail if you start with a solid foundation, and if you allow others to participate in making it their own.