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Communities are the lifeblood of web3. So how do you build a strong web3 community?

Crypto investor Peter Pan has shared great insights on this topic. Below, I share key takeaways on 1) how to build the trust you need to build a strong community, 2) the three roles you need, and 3) the three phases you must go through.

How to Build Trust

To build a strong community, you need to build trust. To build trust, you need to get members to believe 4 things:

1. their contributions will be put to good use.
2. the intentions behind the community are earnest.
3. the community is capable of achieving its goals.
4. the ppl in the community share the same values as they do.

You have a finite initial window of opportunity to build this trust before individuals start disengaging. Most communities fail here.

Three Roles in a Community

There are 3 roles in a community:

1. the settlers (community management - day to day operations)
2. the explorers (community growth - experimentation)
3. the town planners (community strategy - direction)

Three Phrases of Community Building

There are 3 phrases of community building:

1. Member acquisition: attract potential community participants
   1. your goal is to attract primarily intrinsically motivated members as opposed to extrinsically motivated members
   2. this will lead to sustained participation even when the monetary upside is uncertain
   3. focus on creating awareness around what differentiates the community, as opposed to the monetary incentives
2. Member engagement: get members engaged
   1. understand member goals so that you can guide them to their own goals to achieve MVP (minimum viable participation)
   2. utilize community onboarding calls & 1 on 1 outreach calls to the most actively engaged community members you identify
3. Member leadership: build community ownership
   1. everyone wants active community governance from day 1 - in reality, community members need to become familiar with a community and invest enough of their time and energy to begin growing an ownership mentality
   2. give opportunities to influence and participate in key community discussions and decisions
   3. offer levels of progression

3 bonus takeaways:

"Communities only become real when they achieve their first win.

Enthusiasm is not enough to keep a community alive.

When no value is created, people disengage."

“You are your community's first contributor - if you do not show up, no one else will.”

“Community is not always about including everyone but a careful balance between curation and inclusion.”

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