Empowering Creators to Build a Community for Creators - The Story of ConvertKit
ConvertKit’s mission is to help creators earn a living online. A creator could be a blogger, painter, writer, podcaster, musician, designer, or teacher. The common element binding these creators together is the online medium from which they make a living while pursuing their passion.
One of the key values of ConvertKit is - “Teach everything you know.” This means the ConvertKit team is committed to teaching everything they know and encouraging creators to do the same as well. Only a community-driven company can successfully live by this value.
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Haley Chamberlain
Tribe helped us create a user-friendly brand community with familiar design elements and customize it to serve various needs of our customers.
ABOUT CONVERTKIT
Website: www.convertkit.com
✓ Leading cloud-based email marketing software for creators
✓ Founded in 2013
✓ Headquarters in Boise, USA
✓ 61 team members across 50 cities
THE GOALS
✓ Create an online community for creators driven by creators
✓ Support and help creators by sharing useful content resources
✓ Empower customers so they can get answers to questions about the product, best practices, marketing, and more
THE APPROACHES
✓ Launch a social community for creators signed up with ConvertKit using Tribe Platform
✓ Structure the community using Topics and Groups
✓ Connect creators and share high-quality content resources to help them
✓ Host challenges within the community to educate and support creators so they have the right tools and resources to be successful
THE RESULTS
✓ Within 12 months from the date of launch, the community is now thriving with more than 44,000 creators
✓ There are close to 7,000 answers in the community and the creators are benefiting from the incremental value generated from the community
ConvertKit is the leading email marketing software for online creators - the authors, makers, podcasters, photographers, YouTubers, teachers, artists, and other creators earning from online channels. There are tens of thousands of paying customers collectively sending more than one billion emails each month.
ConvertKit’s solutions are the primary driver of creators’ business since email remains the most important tool for building an audience and making a living online.
ConvertKit is a community-driven company, so the manifestation of an online community for creators was only natural. Hence, the creator community was launched in 2020 with the Tribe Platform. This community dedicated to creators is powered by creators.
The community membership is free and available to anyone who registers with ConvertKit (including the free plan). This is set up via Single Sign-On (SSO) so the members can use their existing credentials for the ConvertKit app.
Topics such as Feature Updates, Creator Stories, and Inspiration are used to categorize the content. These topics keep customers updated, motivate them, generate social proof, and celebrate their success.
There is also a dedicated Help Forum where the members can get answers to their questions from peers, product experts, and the ConvertKit team. Apart from that, ConvertKit also collects product feedback via a dedicated section.
Groups act as sub-communities and drive intimate discussions based on shared passions. For instance, there are Groups dedicated to YouTubers, Writers, and Podcasters. There are even Mastermind groups to help creators succeed alongside peers in small group settings.
In terms of post types, the ConvertKit community makes use of Q&A, discussions, short updates, and articles. The article post type is specifically used to share resources. Various workshops and podcasts are also shared in the community to educate creators.
The Reputation app is used for gamification by awarding scores to members for their community contributions and activities. A leaderboard system is used to inspire the creators.
The other key apps used in the community are Virtual Currency, SEO Boost, Moderation, and Amplitude Analytics.
The creator community has become a powerful asset for ConvertKit by integrating and driving value across the entire customer life cycle.
Creators discover community, engage with peers, learn and get help. As they become successful and improve knowledge, the members give back to the community by helping others.
With a community-driven model focused on helping and educating creators at every stage of their journey, ConvertKit has set a compelling example for the brands looking to empower their community.
