Bad Community Advice

A documentary about civic decline does not sound like obvious movie material—until Join or Die turns Bowling Alone into a surprisingly urgent conversation about why Americans have stopped showing up for one another. Filmmaker Rebecca Davis and writer David J. French unpack one piece of bad community advice that sounds sensible but often backfires: make it easy for people to join your club. They explain why communities become stronger when new members are asked to contribute early, how participation creates belonging, and why organizers burn out when they treat community like an audience instead of a shared project. Along the way, the conversation explores co-creation, leadership, civic creativity, and why the healthiest groups stop feeling like they belong to one person at all. If you have been trying to remove friction from your community, this episode offers a useful challenge: maybe what people need is not less responsibility, but a reason to matter. JOIN OR DIE: https://joinordiefilm.com/ JOIN 101 ON SUBSTACK: https://join101.substack.com/

“Let people try your community for free first.” It sounds smart—especially if you’ve seen free trials work for software, courses, and subscriptions. But according to Bri Leever, that logic breaks down fast when the product is community. In this conversation, Bri explains why free communities often attract the wrong behavior, why members without skin in the game weaken the experience for everyone, and why a freemium model usually creates confusion instead of conversion. She also shares a better alternative: using curated events to let prospective members experience your community without dropping them into chaos. Along the way, Seth and Bri unpack the difference between education-driven communities and connection-driven communities, why events work so well as community experiments, and how to decide whether your community should be evergreen or cohort-based. If you’ve ever wondered how to let people “sample” a community without undermining it, this episode will save you from a mistake a lot of builders make early. EMBER CONSULTING: https://www.emberconsulting.co/

When your community feels like a ghost town, the instinct is to post more, prompt more, push harder. But that’s often the fastest path to burnout. In this episode, Seth talks with Carrie Melissa Jones, co-author of Building Brand Community, about a common — and damaging — piece of advice: If members aren’t engaging… try harder. Carrie explains why engagement hacks and gamification may create short-term spikes but rarely build healthy, sustainable communities. Instead, she argues for investing in a strong core of members who help steward culture and conversation. You’ll learn: Why effort isn’t the same as effectiveness How to identify and cultivate co-leaders Why designing clear leadership roles prevents burnout How AI may weaken transactional forums while increasing the value of real belonging If you feel like you’re carrying your community alone, this conversation offers a better path forward. CMJ GROUP: https://www.carriemelissajones.com/

“Don’t worry about ROI. Just keep building.” That advice sounds supportive—until the budget tightens, leadership changes, or someone asks you to justify your job. In this episode, community strategist Brian Oblinger explains why not thinking about ROI from day one is one of the most dangerous mistakes community builders make. Drawing from years of work with large organizations—and translating those lessons for creators and event producers just getting started—Brian breaks down how community value actually shows up inside an organization. We talk about the difference between vanity metrics and meaningful ones, why reporting matters as much as measurement, and how community teams get blindsided when they can’t connect their work to real business outcomes. Brian also digs into cost reduction vs. revenue impact, where community tends to live inside org charts (and why that keeps changing), and how to tailor your community story depending on whether you’re talking to marketing, sales, or leadership. If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable answering the question, “So… what’s the ROI of this community?”—this conversation is for you. Brian Oblinger: https://brianoblinger.com/

“Don’t worry about onboarding until after launch.” That’s the kind of bad advice that can doom your community before it even gets off the ground. Community strategist Heather Angel joins host Seth Resler to explain why the welcome experience is one of the most important parts of community building—and why it can’t be an afterthought. Heather shares practical tips for helping new members feel comfortable, connected, and confident from day one, including how to use DMs, events, and even a Spotify playlist to turn newcomers into engaged participants. They also dig into how to measure whether your onboarding is working, the dangers of overwhelming members with too much content, and why no amount of AI automation can replace genuine human connection. If you’ve ever been tempted to “set it up later,” this episode might just save your community.Get Heather's onboarding guide: https://heatherlynnangel.com/seth

You can’t manage what you don’t measure—and that includes your community. Community strategist Catherine Hackney, Principal of Confident Communities Consulting, has seen too many organizations skip tracking engagement metrics because “we don’t know what to do with the data.” In this episode, she explains why that’s a fast track to a stagnant (or dying) community. Catherine shares which numbers actually tell you something meaningful—like average replies per post and unsubscribe rates—and which ones are just noise. She also talks about how to combine quantitative data (like dashboards and reports) with qualitative feedback (like member quotes and stories) to paint a full picture of your community’s health. Learn how to connect your data to your larger goals, create better feedback loops, and prove your community’s ROI before the budget axe swings. Confident Communities Consulting: https://confidentcommunities.com/

“Community marketing doesn’t work.” That’s the bad advice that shaped the career of Andy Claremont, Head of Ecosystem and Community at Glide—and it couldn’t have been more wrong. In this episode, Andy and host Seth Resler of Community Marketing Revolution unpack why early skeptics misunderstood the power of community-led growth, and how marketing through genuine connection has become one of the strongest competitive moats for modern brands. They explore: * How audience and community differ (and why the direction your chairs face matters) * Why community belongs everywhere in the org chart—not just in marketing * What “intentional matchmaking” looks like inside a thriving SaaS community * How to turn your members into the heroes of your brand story Andy also shares his prediction for the next five years of community building—and why, in an AI-saturated world, authentic human connection will matter more than ever.

What happens when brands mistake transactions for relationships? Christina Garnett says that’s where community efforts often go wrong. A fractional Chief Customer Officer and CX strategist, Christina argues that gamification is not the magic fix many leaders think it is—it can create surface-level engagement but rarely delivers belonging. In this conversation, Christina unpacks lessons from her new book, Transforming Customer Brand Relationships, a hands-on guide to building stronger connections and deeper loyalty through empathy and emotional intelligence. She explains why community is the “silo killer” in customer experience, why listening to your customers matters more than listening to your competitors, and how psychological safety shapes whether members truly engage. Together with host Seth Resler, she digs into the pitfalls of chasing vanity metrics, the diminishing returns of swag, and why the most meaningful communities help people transform, not just transact. BUY CHRISTINA'S BOOK: https://amzn.to/4meDS20 (This is an affiliate link.)

Chasing community might not be the best move for every content creator. Arielle Nissenblatt, Head of Community and Content at Pinwheel by Audily, has seen countless podcasters dive in only to discover that community isn’t always the magic growth engine they hoped for. She joins Seth Resler of Community Marketing Revolution to unpack the difference between audience-building and community-building—and to reveal the situations where launching a community makes sense, and where it doesn’t.

In most support communities, a small group of vocal members dominates the conversation—while the vast majority quietly lurk in the background. It’s easy for community managers to focus on the loudest voices. But Jillian Bejtlich, Senior Community Manager at Calendly, says that’s a mistake. She explains how the silent majority can reveal what truly matters—if you know how to listen to the data.

Conflict is part of community management—and so are difficult members. So you just need a thick skin, right? Not quite. David DeWald, Community Manager at Ciena, joins Seth Resler of Community Marketing Revolution to explain why toughness alone won’t cut it. He shares practical strategies for handling high-stress situations, knowing when to ask for help, and protecting your mental health along the way.

Too many community builders spend months—or even years—designing the “perfect” online space, only to open the doors and find no one there. Todd Nilson, Community Strategist at Clocktower Advisors, joins Seth Resler of Community Marketing Revolution to explain why “If you build it, they will come” is a great movie line but terrible advice for launching a community. Before you invest time and energy creating your community space, learn what actually works.

Seth Resler asks community building professionals about the worst advice they ever received and why it doesn't work.