Transforming Audiences into Allies: Podcast Community Building with Mighty Networks

Welcome back to the Community Strategy Podcast: The nexus where online community strategy meets intentionality. In this episode, Deb Schell and special guest Alex Sanfilippo discuss how he continues to grow an online community connecting podcast hosts with guests.

Alex Sanfilippo is an entrepreneur who is the CEO and founder of PodPros, a software company focused specifically on the podcasting industry. He is also a podcast host of the top-rated podcast called Podcasting Made Simple and a lead podcast educator.

In this episode, we dive into:

• The growth Alex has experienced with this quarterly community event.
• Mighty Networks transition to spaces and the benefits of the new architecture.
• Setting up quarterly events and how Alex repurposes the content.
• Benefits of hosting a community on Mighty Networks.
• The challenges and opportunities Alex has experienced.

If you are a podcaster or want to be a guest on a podcast, check out PodMatch.

Alex has shared a special gift for podcasters who are working on growing and improving their podcast or improving their influence as a guest. Click here to learn five quick things you can start doing today that will grow and improve your podcast or your influence as a podcast guest!

Mighty Networks deep dive for community builders

When Alex launched his community on Mighty Networks several years ago, he said there weren’t a lot of options in 2018. He’s happy that he’s chosen a platform that has been successful and is around for the long term.

The community that uses its platform to build community is one of the critical factors that helped Alex decide to use Mighty Networks. Alex said he’s happy with the Spaces transition because it now does everything he needed to do and gives more functionality than he even realized until this past year. Click here to learn more about Spaces.

The PodPros Community offers quarterly live events called “PODTalks,” combining several 30-minute pre-recorded interviews and a live question-and-answer session. The next event will be held in January, and you can get a ticket here.

Alex explains that the community strategy for the quarterly events is offered to the existing members within the community for an affordable one-time purchase. He offers speakers to record a 20-minute talk about the podcasting industry for the podcaster track and a speaker track for those who want to level up their appearances on podcasts.

Following each talk, the community can ask questions during the live event for the last 10 minutes. For context to understand the design and setup of this, Alex tells Deb that he set up a “collection” (Mighty Network term), and within that collection, he created group spaces for each event. The attendees can connect in a forum before, during, and after the live event.

The best feature Alex said he enjoys is that the branding is consistent throughout the platform, so as members navigate from one place to another, it looks like the same place. In addition to using the platform, Alex shared that the recordings of these events then turn into podcast episodes for Podcasting Made Simple.

Repurposing content to keep membership growing ​

Alex has streamlined his content creation process, organization, and implementation with a strategy, planning, and execution that has helped him grow the PodPros Community.

Deb’s new book, Creator to Community Builder, has helped Alex guide his decisions and developments since he’s been able to read and listen to audio excerpts. He references chapter ten, “Keep your members coming back,” as a chapter he appreciated. Click here to get your copy of the book.

“We have created engaging content but not only content; people want connection. When a member begins to feel that they are a part of this community, that’s what it’s all about,” Alex said. “People are looking for something real, real people, and Alex said he keeps things simple and works on connecting personally to community members.

There needs to be a way to connect members … they don’t need to be entertained. The beauty of an online community can be fostered with time, empathy, and consistent intentionality.

Finally, Deb and Alex discuss the Creator to Community Builder book and the previous podcast episode in detail. Click here to listen to that episode.

Join the Community Builders with Purpose to chat with fellow community builders. Send questions or comments to Deb@FindCalmHere.com. Looking for support for your community launch? Book a call, and let’s chat!