In an increasingly digital world, the power of community is more vital than ever. Whether you're leading a club, organizing events, or simply seeking to connect with like-minded individuals around your interest, building a thriving community can unlock extraordinary opportunities. Embers has been born out of inspiration from experts within different areas, experienced and successful community builders in large scale or in micro-format. In this article we’ll explore the art of community building and how you engage and create a purpose-driven group.

If you take the following steps, I won’t guarantee a successful community, but you sure have done everything you can to achieve it. Further down, I’ll explain what I mean by every step. The recipe as follows:

1.     Define and align around a purpose for your community

2.     For every member, create a sense of belonging

3.     Encourage and promote active participation by your members

4.     Overcome challenges in your community

5.     Use the right technology for the right purpose

6.     Every club needs a leader – Be that leader!

Anyone who has been engaged in driving a community knows the amount of effort it takes to gain engagement. But the reward, when people meet in real-life around the mutual purpose of your community, is magic.

The power of purpose-driven communities

Experts emphasize the importance of aligning activities and goals with a community’s core purpose. Similarly, when building any group, defining a clear mission is crucial. This sense of purpose not only attracts members but also enables deep, meaningful connections. The purpose defines why your community is relevant for its members, why it should be clear and uncomplicated. This purpose is what brings people together, so be honest, and ask yourself why members of this group belong here and what do they achieve by being here. A clear purpose will attract members for the right reasons which also will boost your members engagement.

Creating a sense of belonging

There are many reasons why people join communities. It could be to feel as a part of something larger than themselves, getting confirmation for achievements, exploring new relationships, or reaching something they cannot do alone. Gaining these insights from your community members is an important component in being able to see everyone’s needs making them feel included as their personal purpose is being fulfilled.

Engagement through participation

Engaged members are the lifeblood of any community. By using the right tools for communication, event management, and for interacting with your members the community will be alive. It takes a lot to reach a self-sustaining community, and it takes dedication and hard work to keep a group engaged. That's why the tools to help any community leader is essential. Using one app for messages, another for handling attendance, or sharing digital content from your meetings, and adding email to that! I bet you won't get everyone engaged in all channels. Find a tool that can keep it all in the same place. Your main assignment is to get your members to actively use the tool you select since this is where you'll build your community and make sure everyone responds and interacts with the information that is added.

Overcome challenges

Even the most thriving communities face challenges. From managing no-shows on events to ensuring consistent engagement. When the community is quiet, members tend to seek their answers elsewhere. This will be the toughest challenge of any group, to stay active. One way of overcoming this challenge is to schedule regular meetups around your community purpose and actively push your group to join these events. This will both keep your group active and alive while giving your community value out of being a member.

Leveraging Technology

The right technology can transform community engagement. Make sure that with minimal effort you can manage interactions, organize events, and maintain continuous engagement with the tool you select for the community. For some micro-groups where everyone already knows each other, it might be enough to have a chat group. But when your group grows and it is no longer just your closest friends. Inefficient technology might hinder you from securely manage payments for events or memberships, even being in control of who is a member of your group and has received important information or announcements.

The Role of Leadership

Great leaders inspire, guide, and support their members. Start a community and take on the role of leader of the group. At start, you will manually need to engage every member, but as you grow, new members with a passion for your community purpose will be engaged and support you in the activity level of your group. But as mentioned, don’t count on your group to be self-sustaining, it needs you as an activator!

Conclusion

Building a successful community takes effort, dedication, and the right tools. By drawing on the principles from experts in community building and utilizing our application’s comprehensive features, you can create a dynamic, engaged, and purpose-driven group. Whether you’re a group leader, event organizer, or simply someone looking to connect with others, chose a platform that is designed to support and enhance your community-building efforts, or you’ll be stuck in unnecessary pain.

At Embers, you can quickly get feedback on what your members think, what they want, and when they can meet.

Whether you're leading a running club or organizing cycling events, keeping members engaged starts with understanding them. Embers helps club owners create quick polls, gather preferences, and plan meetups at the best times. No more back-and-forth messages—just a clear overview of what works for your group.

Here are the tools we are working on right now:

1.Poll
A simple poll is always useful and quick. Whether you are an admin or a user, you can easily create and run polls to gather opinions or decide on important topics. This flexibility ensures everyone in your group has a voice, making planning and decision-making more inclusive and efficient.

2. Find a time
The 'Find a Time' feature helps you quickly determine the best time for your next meetup. Once the poll closes and a consensus is reached, you can create the event directly from the poll, streamlining the entire process.

We’re excited to announce the launch of paid ticketing on Embers!

With this new feature, Embers moves from just a community hub to a powerful platform for managing events of any scale. Whether you're organizing small workshops, trail running events, wine tastings, or similar activities, you can now easily sell tickets and manage attendance—all from within Embers. This addition makes event planning more streamlined, enabling you to focus on creating meaningful experiences without dealing with the headaches of third-party ticketing services.

Our platform offers flexible ticket pricing and handles payments securely through Stripe, giving you complete control over how you want to charge for your events. You’ll also benefit from lower fees and advanced analytics, making it easier to understand your audience and grow your event series.

We believe Embers can make the entire event experience—from discovery to participation—more effective and rewarding for both organizers and attendees. This is just the beginning, and we can't wait to see what you build with it.

If you’re ready to take your events to the next level, give paid ticketing a try today on Embers. Your audience is waiting.