Building a Successful B2B Community

In this episode of Demand Gen U, Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, and Katie Ray, Head of Community at Metadata, explore how to build a thriving B2B community from scratch.

Episode Summary

The discussion covers the initial planning process, determining what type of community to build, and identifying the priorities that make a community succeed long-term.

Key Takeaways

1. Build for the Right Reasons

Communities should prioritize delivering value to members rather than focusing solely on revenue generation. Leadership should genuinely believe they can add value before investing in community-building efforts.

2. Center Decisions Around Members

Community managers must prioritize member needs over business KPIs and analytics. Regular feedback and polling help identify what community members actually want rather than what the business assumes is valuable.

3. Communities Can Become Self-Sustaining

While revenue and growth are byproducts rather than primary goals, successful communities eventually generate returns. A thriving community may eventually offset operational costs through sales and growth generated within it.