Welcome back to edition #3 of Pazazz, a monthly newsletter to help you build mind blowing communities, written by yours truly, Paz Pisarski.

If you’re new here, welcome. You can catch the first 2 instalments of this newsletter here:

1. Should every business build a community?

2. How can community builders leverage ChatGPT to become more efficient?

So what’s the focus today?

For this edition, we’ll be unpacking the question: How can you attract new people to join your program?

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about this. I was sharing email templates, social media post links and guidance so much over email that I thought, why not write an entire playbook for everyone to learn from?

So here it is. 24 community growth tactics that you need to know about.

Specifically, we’ll be diving deep into way to increase the number of new people that join your program (which can also be applied to your course or community), as well as unpacking:

• Why the hype around bringing new people into your program?

• What can you do before a program starts to reach new people?

• What can you do during a program to reach new people?

• What can you do after a program to reach new people?

• What can you do all year round to reach new people?

And so much more. Now grab a tea, play this music and let’s dive in.

Why the hype around bringing new people into your program?

No matter what kind of program you run (e.g. an accelerator for founders, wellness program for women, online course for freelancers) it can be tough to continuously find new people to join. Similarly to running a community and always having to attract new members to welcome in.

But without any people, the program wouldn’t be able to run right? This is why it’s important to continuously be spending time and effort into bringing new people into your programs.

24 Community Growth Tactics

Alrighty, I’m so pumped for this. These tactics are the sum of my experience running 10 x accelerator programs for founders at RMIT Activator, managing 4 x startup memberships for Startup Victoria and running 2 x Community Cohorts for The Community Collective.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s dive in.

Within each idea, I’ve included real life examples (yep not fake) of these tactics in action for my business, The Community Collective, to show what I mean.

Before the program

What can you do before a program starts to reach new people?

1. Countdown Post

In the music world we drum up so much excitement before an Album Launch. So why don’t we do the same for programs? Create a countdown post and build excitement 2-3 weeks before applications even launches by sharing exciting teasers. Example here.

2. Launch Post & Community Email

I’m sure you already do this for your program, but it’s important to post across socials once the new program applications have launched.

Plus for an added boost, you can share this social media post link with alumni, your team and friendly allies to share across their profiles to ensure the post can reach as many people as possible. Example here and email template below:

3. Cohort Badges (highly recommend)

Create a program Badge for the cohort to share across their own socials to announce their involvement in the program. This is a great way to showcase their acceptance and to share the program with their network. Example here.

Plus here are some example posts of how our Cohort have shared their badges:

If you have too many people in your cohort to create these badges individually (I get it, it’s time consuming), you can create 1 template and share a Canva ‘edit’ link to allow people to upload their headshot and create their own.

4. Open a Waitlist

It’s important to have a way to capture people who are interested in your program even when applications aren’t open. Create a simple waitlist form that anyone can join to hear about when applications open.

It’s great for them because they don’t have to worry about missing the application launch. It’s great for you because you have an email list of people to contact as soon as the program is live.

Even better if you can create a nurture email comms journey to offer value and build trust to this group. Here is an example of a waitlist on a website page and back end.

5. Personal Invites

Have you heard anyone say, oh I’d love to join your next program throughout the year? Or perhaps a spark of curiosity glistened across someone’s face when you explained the purpose of your program?

Amazing. Keep an active list (on Google Sheets or Evernote) of these people when you come across them. Then once applications launches, personally invite them to apply. The power of a thoughtful invitation is huge.

Here’s an email example of a personal invitation I sent:

6. Newsletters

It’s always great to have a running list of people who write great newsletters and have an engaged audience.

Then once applications opens, reaching out to them with the news and copy about your program to share in their newsletter about applications can help you reach new people. Of course this needs to be positioned in a way that benefits their audience (and not just a tacky promo sentence). Bonus points if you can share a special discount code or offer for that particular audience to make it really relevant to them.

7. Past Cohort Posts

Once applications open, email past cohorts to help spread the word to new people who could benefit from joining your program.

Here’s an email example I’ve sent in the past:

8. Speaker Posts

Create social media posts dedicated to showcasing the amazing speakers, mentors, instructors or guides involved in your program. This is a great way to appreciate and acknowledge them, as well as building trust with people who know them. Example here.

9. Program Info Session

If you don’t have one already, it’s always great to organise a live Info Session during applications to allow people to join, meet the team and ask questions in real time. This gives people an insight into the entire vibe of the program. We also bring past alumni in to share their experience. This could be a 45 minute Live Session before applications close. Example here.

During the program

What can you do during a program to reach new people?

Is there a better time to showcase the amazingness of your program than whilst it’s happening? I think not.

10. Kick Off Post

Pretty simple. At the start of the program, post across your socials announcing the new cohort. This is a great way to build excitement and encourage people to share and comment on the post. It shows the world how pumped people are to start too. Example here.

We also share the post links directly with our Cohorts in the Kick Off email comms (e.g. “We’ve just welcomed you on LinkedIn, check out the post here to welcome your fellow cohort.”).

Plus we tag each member in the post so everyone can connect with others easily. One more thing, we also share the post link with past Cohort’s so they can welcome the newbies too.

11. Program LinkedIn Position Update (highly recommend)

Ensure you equip your cohort with ways to showcase the skills and knowledge they are about to double down on to their own networks. You can share copy for your cohorts to update their LinkedIn profiles in their Experience or Education section with their program involvement.

Hot tip: Give them the exact copy they can use to update their profiles so they don’t have to think or feel weird about it. Example here.

12. Program Content Writer (highly recommend)

Welcome 1 or 2 writers per program to write a weekly reflection article summarising what went down in the program. This can be posted on your blog, socials and across the writer’s platforms.

This is a great way to provide people who aren’t in your program with a participant perspective of what it’s actually like. Plus you support up and coming writers by sharing their work across your channels.

Example blogs here and social posts here and here.

13. Live Session Wrap Up Posts

At the end of each live session (e.g. cohort workshops, socials, deep dives), post across socials the key takeaways to give a taster of what went down in those valuable workshops to those who aren't in the program. Example here.

14. Weekly Program Posts

We’re really doubling down on the program highlight posts here! This time it’s all about posting at the end of each week with the key highlights from a team perspective. This is a great way to tag specific people, guides, mentors or speakers to highlight the journey along the way. Examples here, here and here.

15. Sharing photos and quotes with the cohort (highly recommend)

Send a follow up email after live sessions and include group photos, screenshots of the workshop or quotes from speakers for people to share what they learnt. This is a great way for cohorts to showcase what they are learning and for new people to hear about it.

Example posts from our Cohort #2 here and below:

After the program

What can you do after a program to reach new people?

16. Certificates

Do people get certificates at the end of your program? They should. We create one for our cohorts on Canva to celebrate their efforts. Plus some share this on their profiles to showcase the skills they gained which is lovely. Example certificate here and post here.

17. Graduation Post

Back to the flagship posting! At the end of the program, post about everyone graduating. This is a great way to acknowledge participants and allow them to celebrate publicly about completing the program. Example here.

We also share the post links directly with our Cohorts in the Graduation email comms to ensure they don’t miss it (e.g. ‘We’ve created a graduation video for you, check it out here”).

18. Photo Album

The point I’m really trying to drill here is to equip your cohorts with as many high quality assets to make it so easy for them to share what they are learning during their program experience.

A great way to do that is to create a photo album at the end of the program for cohorts to showcase the key highlight moments. This arms your participants with tangible assets that they can share about their experience, plus is a beautiful reminder of what went down for them. Example album here and a post in action here.

19. Referral Programs

I have never actually tried creating a referral program, but I have seen them work wonders for various programs and communities. In short, create an incentive for program alumni to invite new people to join future programs. Ensure the reward is worthy enough to really appreciate their efforts for inviting people in their networks.

20. Gift Vouchers

Double down on arming your cohorts with incentives to invite new people to join. You can gift a PDF voucher to each cohort with $X off a future Cohort. They could use it themselves or gift it to another person in need to pay it forward. Example here.

21. Skills Test Results

If you’re running a program, you should be capturing data points to measure the impact that your program has on specific skills.

For example, we get participants to rate their skills on 4 key community building areas before and after the program. This way we actually know if our program has any tangible impact on each person. Plus it’s a great way for them to understand how they progressed too.

What does this have to do with attracting new people to join? Well you can actually use this asset to share publicly so people can see the TANGIBLE impact of your program. This really demonstrates to people that the program ACTUALLY makes a difference. Example here.

All Year Round

What can you do all year round to reach new people?

22. Community Partnerships

Can you partner with existing communities where your ideal participants are most likely to be hanging out? This way you can align yourself with large communities to reach new people. You could establish a referral program with them or special codes for specific communities.

23. Cohort Testimonials

Keep doing this! Or start doing this if you’re not! Gather testimonials from alumni to showcase their experience. Seeing how people talk about your program on video, quotes or in articles is amazing to showcase the value from their perspective (and not just yours). This is how we share quotes and video testimonials.

24. Ambassadors (highly recommend)

Alright, this is probably the biggest opportunity I see for programs. Do you even have Ambassadors? It would be amazing to champion alumni to be at the forefront of building the community and attracting new members to join your program. The purpose of these Ambassadors would be to spread the good word about your program and ensure members have a high quality experience.

How? Well. Creating an Ambassador program is a big topic and one that’s tough to cover in a few short sentences. So if you want to dive deeper, listen to this talk about how to launch an Ambassador program here (start at 9:08m), or read about our Ambassador roles here. They are THE best community-growth tactic I’ve ever had. Why? Because you’re actually involving your community to build the community alongside you.

Plus growing your program through word of mouth referrals as opposed to traditional marketing ensures people are more likely to join because it’s coming from a trusted source. This is one of the strongest ways to cut through all of the noise these days.

You made it

Alrighty. I hope you’re still with me, because that’s all I’ve got! Really, if there were 2 takeaways from this whole piece, it’s to ask yourself:

1. How might we double down on equipping our cohorts with quality assets to share about their Cohort experience?

2. How might we champion alumni to help us grow the community and attract new people to join?

Answer these and you, my friend, will be unstoppable.

And remember, program promotion happens all year round, not just before a program launches (which I hope you’ve understood by now).

Ok I’ll be back in your inbox on 17th July to answer your most pressing questions about what’s next to build a mind blowing community, in true pazzaz style.

Which reminds me, have a question you’d like to ask about community building? Hit reply to let me know. I’d love to help you.

Until then,

Paz Pisarski
Co-Founder of The Community Collective

You can expect this newsletter on the 17th of every month.
Enjoyed this edition? Forward it to a friend and make both of us smile.

Bonus Section

Still reading huh? Well you made it to the bonus section where I share an insight into my life.

Proud moment: We wrapped up our Ambassador #2 program at The CC on 2 June and I couldn’t be prouder of the team. We achieved so much together. Plus it was a cherry on top to get another 100 NPS score (?!) and have all 8 Ambassadors renew their roles to join Team #3.

Challenging moment: I’ve noticed a drop in engagement and growth in The CC’s free meetup community. We’ve had less members join each month and low attendance at meetups. I think it’s because we’ve shifted our focus to building the Cohort, however I’d love to address this.

Personal moment: I just celebrated my 1 year anniversary down the Great Ocean Road with a beautiful weekend away, plus have been puppy sitting for the past 2 weeks and omg I’m loving it.

See you next time.