Defining a community purpose beyond product promotion

A community purpose tells a member what they can achieve alongside others. Start with a recurring need, name who shares it, and describe the exchange the business will support. Product news may belong in that exchange, but it cannot be the whole promise.

Find the task members have in common

Ask what prospective members want to learn, solve or practise. Review questions they already raise through support, events or direct conversations. Group them by the task behind the wording: several questions about an account setting may reflect one setup problem, while similar words may describe different needs.

Choose a need that benefits from interaction. Members might compare circumstances, share experience, ask follow-up questions or build on an answer. If the business alone can give a definitive answer and peer exchange adds little, a clear help page may serve better.

Specify the intended members. “Small businesses” may cover people with little in common; “people responsible for onboarding staff at small service firms” gives a clearer clue about likely questions and experience. Treat that wording as a proposal to test with prospective members, not as proof of demand.

Join member value to business responsibility

Write two short lists. On the member side, describe what people should be able to do: find a peer facing a similar problem, compare approaches or obtain a useful answer. On the business side, describe what the organisation can responsibly provide: staff expertise, a maintained answer, a well-managed discussion space or a route for issues it must handle privately.

The overlap becomes the purpose. For example: “A place for operators to compare ways of training new staff, with the company’s specialists clarifying how the service works.” This leaves room for member experience while making the business’s role visible. It does not promise that peers will solve every case.

Community Purpose vs. Marketing Channel

Turn the purpose into a usable boundary

A purpose should help a moderator decide what belongs. Test it against three likely posts: a practical question, a member’s account of what worked, and a promotional announcement. Can you explain which belong and why?

If product announcements fit but a member’s problem does not, the purpose is too close to a marketing channel.

Write a brief statement for prospective members covering who the space is for, what they can do there, what staff will do and where account-specific help belongs. Keep promotion rules separate and clear. A member should not have to infer the community’s purpose from a list of prohibitions.

Check the promise with real people

Show the draft purpose to people in the intended audience. Ask what they would expect to find, what they could contribute and what would make them return. Listen for mismatches: perhaps they want staff answers rather than peer answers, or the topic is too broad for useful discussion.

Revise the statement until it describes an exchange the team has time and authority to support. Revisit it when actual conversations reveal a different need. The purpose is a working promise to members, not a permanent slogan.