Community is a felt experience - yes even online.
+ NEW Reply rules and community guideline template.
Some of us run communities here on Substack using the comments on posts, our chat function or on virtual get-togethers. Substack give us great options for building and deepening community. So many friendships have been formed through this wonderful platform.
When I’m feeling down or when something bad has happened. I’ll watch a couple of episodes of magazine style chat show Lorraine. It’s the only time I watch it - I find it so comforting. She’s been on TV in the mornings in the UK since 1993 - I can’t remember a time she wasn’t there when I turned on my TV. She’s such a stable presence - the items and interviews are often light hearted, fluffy almost.
There’s an advert for her show at the moment where they’ve cut together vignettes of her repeating…
“Good morning”
lots of different ways in different outfits. I think you’d be hard pushed to find someone in the UK that doesn’t know who she is…
I feel like that in my community too… you know a stable presence for people working here on their joyful, sustainable growth. No empty promises - community, connection and some tips and a spoonful of gentle encouragement await you always.
“Hi guys, good morning… come on in…”
Hey everyone, good afternoon, come on in, you’re welcome…
I’ve always hosted two classes a month here at Sparkle on Substack with the whole of August and some of December offline.
I started it to make sure as many people in different time zones as possible can come… I’m still not quite there but I’m getting better at understanding what time it is in other places now.
Welcomes are so so important.
I’ve noticed recently that most of my members arrive at the designated start time for class.
As a neurodivergent friendly space holder, I don’t mind if people come in later or need to leave earlier. I also don’t mind if people have their cameras on or off.
It doesn’t matter to me. I say that outloud at the start of all my membership calls because we all bring different lived experiences to the online space…
I think it’s helpful to set and repeat expectations…
3 NEW shiny things on Substack! 💫
This handy tool lets you search what is trending in your home country or others - it’s a great time for new writers in Greenland - the categories are empty - https://substack.com/globe?country=GB
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Substack gave us comment reply rules…(works in Notes, in comments and in chat)
I immediately turned mine on…
And a FREE template for you if you’re building community on Substack or considering it
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Last week host of London based Substack writer meet ups Amy I Beeson 🐝 and I finally got our community guidelines template finished. We’ve been going back and forth with voice notes to tighten it for a while. I want to record a video reading them out… I don’t know how many people will watch it but energetically it will feel good to read them aloud.
You are welcome to use and adapt it for your own setting if you like - here it is…
I was with 90,000 other fans at a Harry Styles Concert at Wembley in London on Monday. It was really special. I love big immersive experiences to remind me how expansive coming together around a shared interest can be. I chatted to lots of american gals who had come over for a few days and were in love with London. I also spotted videos on IG from others who were there that I ‘follow’ - isn’t the world of shared experiences so much smaller than we think?
How is your community building going on Substack?
Claire
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P.S - If you missed my podcast episode with Simon Haisell over at Footnotes and Tangents (who happens to be number 20 on the UK leaderboards) - it’s a great listen especially if you’re considering running a community on Substack! You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts - I’d love you to leave me a 5 star review in apple or spotify if you enjoy the podcast! ✨
War and Peace - a world wide reading experience & full time job with 46k readers live on Substack
“It became acceptable. It’s okay to ask people to pay for your creative work... every minute that you spend working on these projects is valued.” Simon Haisell
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Next Monday we are meeting for class on how to run a flash sale on your Substack. We’ll cover sales psychology, direct emails, optimizing your vouchers/ coupons and planning it all to make sure you feel really good about it all as part of your Substack strategy.
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