10 Tips for Community Builders Looking for Work: What to Focus On

It’s been a tough year for many of us in the community space, with layoffs hitting hard across the industry. But now is the perfect moment to refocus and realign your personal brand with what truly matters to potential employers and clients.

Too often, community builders position their expertise around connections, relationship building, or engagement metrics like page views or member growth. While these are important, they rarely speak directly to the goals that leadership cares about, such as business impact and revenue.

To truly stand out, your messaging should focus on how your work in community building ties into business goals. Senior executives and hiring managers need to know how you’ve directly influenced areas like:

• Revenue Growth: How has your community strategy generated leads, conversions, or upsell opportunities?

• Cross-functionality: How have you worked with marketing, product, or customer success to drive meaningful results?

• Customer Retention: How has your work improved retention rates, secured renewals, or deepened customer loyalty?

• Driving Business Impact: What measurable outcomes have your community programs delivered that align with KPIs the C-suite cares about?

Sharing content that solely revolves around engagement metrics will not impress hiring managers. They are looking to know how your efforts directly impact their bottom line.

10 Tips for Community Builders Looking for Work: What to Focus On

1. Align your messaging with business goals. Demonstrate how your community strategies have delivered measurable business outcomes, such as revenue growth or increased customer retention.

2. Share case studies: Talk about a project where you’ve worked cross-functionally with marketing or product teams to drive key results.

3. Highlight impact over operations: Don’t get stuck reporting member growth or engagement rates—focus on business impact, like how your community efforts have nurtured leads or driven renewals.

4. Use metrics that matter to executives: Use numbers that speak the C-suite language—e.g., increased customer lifetime value (CLTV), reduced churn, or increased average revenue per user (ARPU).

5. Tell stories about collaboration: Showcase how you’ve worked alongside other departments to achieve common goals, such as enhancing product adoption or improving customer experience.

6. Lead with customer success: Explain how your community-building initiatives have increased customer satisfaction or amplified user advocacy.

7. Present yourself as a strategic partner: Position yourself as someone who understands the broader business and can contribute beyond just the operational running of a community.

8. Leverage testimonials: Share quotes from cross-functional colleagues or customers who can attest to the direct impact of your community-building efforts.

9. Focus on retention and upsell: Highlight your involvement in programs or strategies that have retained customers or turned them into brand advocates.

10. Stay visible and consistent: Regularly post and engage with content that aligns with business goals and demonstrates the strategic value of community building in today’s economy.

Remember, it's not about vanity metrics anymore. C-level executives only speak one language: revenue. Let’s elevate the narrative and show how community is a revenue-driving function. Keep pushing, sharing, and, most importantly, demonstrating your value.

Bonus Tip: Offer Free Mentorship to Build Your Reputation

While in between roles, consider offering free mentorship to build your reputation online. Mentorship helps others and positions you as an expert in your field. It’s a great way to give back, create new connections, and maintain visibility in the community-building space.

If you're interested, you can get started in minutes by signing up at ADPList.org and offering mentorship to those who need it. As someone who recently joined ADPList as Marketing Lead, I’d be happy to help you get started if you have any questions. Let’s grow together during these challenging times!