How does one start a micro-community to share feedback?
Set up a Discord Server
I found the easiest way to get started was to set up a discord server. There are many good resources for doing it. Some of my favorites are:
Find Potential Community Members
Determine if other larger communities allow you to solicit their members to your discord server. For example, I came across a post in Indie Hackers by Rosie Sherry in which she commented, “An official discord/Slack/etc IH channel elsewhere isn’t going to happen, feel free to join or recommend others though!” In communities which encourage it, make posts to solicit members to join your micro-community.
Vet Community Members
In your public posts, invite others to email you or DM you on twitter to find out if your server can help them. For, example, I have the following list of questions to ask anyone who reaches out to me to join FriendsOfSaaSApps:
- Are you building a SaaS app? If so, what stage are you in development?
- Are you interested in giving feedback and supporting other SaaS builders?
Send Invitations
For those who seem like a good match for your server, send them an invitation. Discord makes this so easy by providing an “Invite People” button in the upper left corner. Discord generates a link to give others to join your server. You can choose to have your link expire in 7 days if you wish.
Welcome New Members
If a new member joins your server, then welcome them with a direct message. Ask them what you can do to help. In my case, I ask them if they want a feedback channel for their web application. For example, my SaaS is called, Revenue Rabbit. So I added a feedback channel called, RevenueRabbitFeedback.
Encourage Introductions
Encourage new friends to introduce themselves by giving them an optional set of questions to answer. For example, FriendsOfSaaSApps is using the following set of questions for introductions:
🤔 Why did you join FriendsOfSaaSApps?
📍 Where are you located?
🔗 Which SaaS applications are you associated with (share link please!)?
💻 What is your role with the SaaS application?
😄 Share a fun fact about yourself
💭 Other thoughts?
Use your full network to find Members
Be sure to send invite links to anyone in your own network that would be interested in your server. For example, friends, family, twitter followers, and indie hacker friends.
Inspiration
As a common theme of this blog, I was inspired by a tweet by @monicalent. Also, my introductions section was inspired by, Indie Women on Slack.
What Next?
Interested in discussing further or joining my small SaaS community, FriendsOfSaaSApps? Please feel free to DM me on twitter @ardith_falkner.
References
Photo by Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash