Minimum Lovable Community Or Why Platform Choice Matters | Community ROI with Todd Nilson

“There’s a big difference between marketing personas and understanding the community drivers that make people want to join a space.”

In this episode, we discussed how to connect community goals with business goals by designing for trust, stakeholder alignment, member needs, platform fit, and ROI storytelling, in particular:

👉 Why strong communities need one-on-one member interviews before strategy, platform, or launch decisions.

👉 How to choose a community platform based on goals, use cases, budget, and member needs, not just brand recognition.

👉 Why people “love to buy, but hate to be sold to”, and what that means for community-led growth.

Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Todd Nilson, a community strategy advisor who helps b2b enterprises and nonprofits build online communities that don’t just look good on paper, but actually hold up under real-life pressure, and the president of the Community Consultants Collective, an amazing place for independent community professionals to network, learn, and find projects!

Together, we're connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth!

Connect with Todd and Yurii on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tnilson/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Todd Nilson

(01:04) Events vs Community First

(03:30) Event ROI and Business Value

(06:29) Aligning Stakeholders

(10:51) Selling Without Selling

(16:33) Inspiring Community Missions

(19:13) Executive Buy In Matters

(23:18) Member Research Interviews

(31:55) Choosing Community Platforms

(38:56) What Makes Platforms Lovable

(41:56) How to Evaluate Options

(45:08) Proving Community ROI

#communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth