Build Your Community

I founded my community in February 2021. A couple months later I heard Richard speaking about community building. I immediately bought his recently published book 'Build Your Community'. This wasn’t a snap decision, I knew what to expect. In 2014 when I first began looking into the benefits of building an online community, I read Richard’s first book, 'Buzzing Communities'. I highly value the way that he writes. Richard gives research backed details woven with real-life examples and practical tips that can be implemented for success.His most recent book, 'Build Your Community', has come at the perfect time. People today are looking for connection and a place to belong. They want to be part of a community aligned with their purpose, values and goals. Richard’s ideas that he details shape the strategy for engaging and providing value to the members of the communities you are building. He offers a step by step process that you can implement as you stay focused on your ‘why’ and plan to accomplish your short and long term objectives. I will continue to refer back to the wisdom, examples, and step by step processes that Richard provides.This book is for you if you are a business owner or someone trusted with the role of building communities within businesses. This book offers a sustainable blueprint into how to create and maintain successful, thriving communities today.

The author Richard is the leader in the budding professional field of building online communities, and man does he deliver the goods in this book! I'm still working my way through, but so far, he walks you through systematic steps of building a community from the ground up, including speaking with stakeholders, developing objectives, targeting an audience, and creating an experience for your members. And this was all in the first 50 pages.In addition to breaking down how to build a community, I think this is a practical book for anyone who wants to learn how to bring a project into reality in a business environment. It's so easy to get stuck into a position at a company and limit yourself to your job description. Richard's plan is for community building applies to more than just building a community. It applies to bringing any new and "scary" idea to fruition in a world of stakeholders and other priorities.Finally, the book is full of additional resources which you can check out on his website. Skip the MBA program. Just listen to Richard!

Rich does it again. His approach is a data driven approach. He's very detailed in his writing and gives a great level of insights for building a successful online community. I do this on a daily basis, it's my job. When I started to first build communities, several years ago, his Feverbee community was my go to place. This book is a must read."If you're not able to contact the people you want to join the community, you're going to struggle to get a community started. It's also going to provoke further problems down the line if two departments are competing for the attention of the same audience. In these situations, it's best get people in the same room and figure out how to make this work for both of you."This statement is true for many reasons. Being a good community leader involves brining departments together and making the magic happen. Thanks Rich for another great resource that I can use when building my community!

As with Rich's previous books, I appreciate that he is always very focused on giving actionable and tactical advice based on extensive experience and data. What I found extremely helpful in "Build Your Community" is that every chapter is full of specific examples and each one ends with a summary, checklist, and tools. This is not just high-level theory, instead you get specific, actionable advice and resources you can immediately put to use.This is a book I'd recommend to anyone who's interested in really learning the nuts and bolts of actually building and running a community. Whether you're just getting started, or have been managing communities for years, you'll walk away with a deeper knowledge. In fact, I've already encouraged my team to read it as it gives foundational advice and reiterates many of the practices we already incorporate into our community management practice with relatable examples.

Richard Millington has hit it out of the park with this one. This isn't just a book. It's a playbook. Whether you have been building community for years or have just started, Rich doesn't just give you information - he provides valuable resources, in book templates to help you immediately apply what you're learning, and he challenges you to think a bit deeper about the work we do as community professionals. Furthermore, Rich is amazing at getting practitioners to think critically about the theory that often gets applied broadly across community work and whether or not YOUR community needs to apply that theory. This is the book I wish I had when I was starting in community and I am now glad exists 8+ years in. A must read.

Even though building communities is something I've plied my trade in for several years, Rich provides things that I both started applying immediately and desperately wish I had seen six years ago.His book breaks complex topics (what motivates your members) into easily comprehensive, digestible action plans. Like many books on the topic, he builds on understandable examples and some known Communities.One thing I really appreciate about this book is that it walks the line of "here is the academic reason why this works" and "here is the on the ground, practical application".Be you a seasoned Community professional or a first-time solo community manager (eep!), this book pays for itself immediately with the takeaways to apply to your work.

Very helpful book on community building. Easy to read and relate to.

I learned quite a bit on community growth.

Wheter you are starting a community, or you already run one and want to enhance your users' experience, I recommend this book.

Another excellent community resource by Richard. I could not agree more with this quote by Richard “ While some approaches to building communities are timeless, others no longer work. Like every industry, we need to adapt and change. We can't continue to engage members the way we did five years ago.”Things have changed and there is no going back!

I am trying to start a community around an area of political interest. This book offered advice and direction in that area, but it does not. The author is almost entirely business focused. The other thing is - it's boring and tedious. The author spends far too long trying to sell the reader on why build a business community, and all the myriad options for doing so, instead of getting into the step-by-step practicalities for we the time-poor. He could easily cut 150 pages of guff. There is very little here about how to start a community, unless it is buried somewhere in the guff. Sent it back for a refund.

"Community" is such a buzzword for businesses these days, but I could never figure out how to execute it well, in a way that didn't feel like insincere lip service. I first saw Richard speak at a conference, and after that I knew I had to read his book. He's been doing this for ages, best in the business, and he's provided a clear step-by-step guide for how a company can create an active thriving customer community. I appreciate that he doesn't just give instructions, but explains the thinking behind them. You start with mapping out your goals and strategy. He asked all the right questions to focus my thinking. I hugely recommend this book!

I've read a few of Richard's books, and as great as they were, I did feel as though they were sometimes talking to bigger organisations and not smaller players like myself.That all changed with 'Build Your Community'.This guide has brought chapter after chapter of real value to me and covers so many questions you may have when first building an online community, and in such incredible detail as well.From similar resources that I've come across, nothing comes close to what you'll find in 'Build Your Community'.Highly recommended for smaller players like myself and more prominent organisations building online communities, both are well catered for, and the book strikes a nice balance to appease both parties.Such a valuable guide, and without a doubt the No. 1 reference material for building online communities now.