Why Your Forum Isn’t Your Community—And What to Build Instead

And why that misunderstanding is probably holding your business back.

When you hear the word community in a business setting, what comes to mind?

For many GTM and product leaders, it’s a user forum—where customers post questions, share tips, or report bugs. Companies often install sleek new platforms or in-app features, then point proudly to their “thriving community.”

But here’s the truth:Your forum is not your community.Neither is your power-user channel. Nor that shiny product feature facilitating customer conversations.

These are tools. Tactics. Infrastructure.If you reduce community to a place or platform, you miss the bigger picture.

Real, scalable community-led growth requires a strategic, people-first approach—one that empowers members, unlocks advocacy, and drives measurable business impact.

Let’s break down:

• Why this misconception exists

• What it’s costing your business

• How to build a truly cross-functional, multi-channel community

Why Leaders Confuse Forums with “Community”

The confusion is understandable—it’s how “community” has historically been implemented.

For years, community lived in the shadows of support. Forums were the most accessible way to enable customer interaction: easy to launch, low-cost to manage, and great at deflecting tickets. That positioning shaped everything—from where community teams sat (usually under Support or CX) to how success was measured (case deflection, response time, activity volume).

Community wasn’t resourced like a growth function. It was managed like infrastructure.

As technology evolved, forums became more sophisticated—embedding directly into products, integrating with CRM tools, and offering slick dashboards. But the mindset didn’t evolve with the tooling.

So it became easy to believe:Forum + activity = community.

After all, forums offer metrics that look good on paper: threads, replies, logins. But those numbers often provide a false sense of scale—activity without advocacy, participation without impact.

Here’s the good news: that mindset is changing.

Forward-thinking companies are starting to see community as a strategic lever for growth—not just a support channel.

They’re funding community differently. Hiring community leaders into GTM teams. Expecting outcomes like revenue influence, product adoption, and retention.

But if your company still defines community as “the forum”—you’re working from an outdated playbook.

And that’s holding you back.

Here’s the problem:

If you treat community like a feature, it becomes static.

You end up optimizing for clicks instead of connection, missing the full potential of what community can do for your brand.

Reducing community to a tool is like defining your marketing strategy by email open rates. Sure, it’s part of the picture—but it misses how marketing drives awareness, conversion, and loyalty.

The Hidden Cost of Forum-Only Thinking

When community strategy is limited to a forum, it creates ripple effects across your organization—and not in a good way.

You Miss Advocacy Opportunities

Forums might help customers solve problems, but they rarely inspire loyalty or connection. Advocacy stems from emotional engagement, recognition, and shared values—not just utility.

Without programs like:

• Ambassador or champion programs

• Member spotlights and rewards

• Relationship-building initiatives

…your power users will stay helpful, but they won’t become brand evangelists.

You Lose Executive Support

Forum metrics often don’t map to business impact. Engagement might look high, but without evidence of outcomes—like retention, upsell, or product feedback—executives deprioritize community investment.

You Create a Fragmented Member Experience

Your members don’t live in one channel. They attend events, follow you on social, read your newsletters, and collaborate across platforms. Limiting them to one space creates friction—and risks losing their attention.

You Hit a Scalability Wall

Communities need to grow with your business. A static forum can't adapt to new segments, products, or member needs. Without layered engagement—from niche groups to offline meetups—you’ll see diminishing returns.

What a Strategic, Multi-Channel Community Looks Like

Great community-led companies don’t rely on a single platform. They meet members where they are—and offer multiple ways to connect, contribute, and grow.

Dribbble (Creative Professionals)

Dribbble isn’t just a portfolio site. It connects designers through:

• Showcases (web)

• Live events (IRL)

• Career services (value-add)

Takeaway: Design layered experiences that grow with your members’ careers.

Peloton (Health & Wellness)

Peloton combines:

• In-app leaderboards

• Local Facebook groups

• Group rides and meetups

This ecosystem builds emotional connection and creates organic word-of-mouth.

Takeaway: Make relationships—not platforms—the heart of your strategy.

Duolingo (Education & UGC)

Duolingo involves its community in content creation:

• Volunteers contribute to course translations

• Members share journeys on YouTube

• Community drives product evolution

Takeaway: Empower members to build the community with you.

Your Blueprint for Multi-Channel, Impact-Driven Community

Evolving your community beyond a single forum mindset requires intentional planning and cross-functional commitment. So how can you evolve beyond forum-first thinking? Here’s a framework to get started:

Set a Shared Vision

Begin by defining what “community” means for your organization and how it ties into your overall business strategy. It’s not enough to say your community will support users—you need to articulate measurable outcomes. For instance, establish a vision where your community is responsible for driving a specific percentage of referrals, influencing product improvements, or increasing customer retention. This vision becomes a rallying point, aligning teams from marketing to product development around clear outcomes. Use concrete examples such as, “Our community helps generate 20% of our referral pipeline,” to inspire accountability and encourage the entire organization to contribute to its growth.

Build Internal Governance

The success of your community depends on strong internal structures. Establish a governance framework that brings together leaders from multiple departments. Cross-functional alignment isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s the engine behind a scalable community.

• Executive sponsors give strategic backing.

• GTM and CX teams lead campaigns and nurture relationships.

• Product teams integrate insights back into the roadmap.

Executives must champion the overall strategy and allocate resources, while GTM and customer experience teams design and manage engaging member programs. Meanwhile, the product team should integrate community feedback directly into their development cycles. This collaboration can take the form of regular cross-departmental meetings, shared dashboards, and even temporary “community task forces” tasked with specific projects. 

Want faster buy-in? Get teams participating directly in the community—hosting AMAs, joining conversations, spotlighting members. Encouraging direct participation helps break down silos and builds a culture where community isn’t an afterthought but a strategic priority.

Segment Your Members

Not all members want the same things. Design journeys based on how they show up:

• Observers might be casual browsers who benefit from curated content or newsletters.

• Advocates are those who are vocal and influential; they thrive on recognition and seek opportunities to shine.

• Builders, the creative and collaborative cohort, are always looking for ways to contribute—be it through co-creation of content, product feature ideas, or peer mentoring.Understanding these different segments enables you to tailor engagement strategies appropriately, whether that involves targeted communication, specialized events, or unique rewards that resonate with each group.

Engage Across Multiple Channels

A robust community exists everywhere your members are. Instead of confining interactions to a single platform, develop a multi-channel strategy that blends branded experiences with organic, peer- and expert-led interactions. Consider a mix of synchronous and asynchronous channels:

• Online hubs or content platforms like Gradual offer self-directed experiences, connection, and learning opportunities.

• Chat spaces such as Slack or Discord foster real-time discussions and help members form sub-groups around shared interests.

• Expert-driven content, like AMAs or webinars, add legitimacy and draw members to engage.

• Offline events—whether regional meetups, conferences, or casual gatherings—provide the human touch that deepens relationships.

• Social media can extend your reach and enhance brand visibility.

This diversified approach makes your community accessible, enriching member experiences and ensuring that engagement opportunities align with various preferences and lifestyles.

Measure What Actually Matters

Step away from vanity metrics like post count and comment volume. These are useful for keeping the pulse on engagement within the community, but they are out of step with how most businesses assess value from programs. Instead, define key performance indicators that capture the true business impact and value of your community. These might include:

• Referred revenue: Quantifying the sales or pipeline influence generated through community interactions.

• Feature adoption lift: Correlate community activity with product and feature utilization and account growth. 

• Community-driven product innovation: Track the number of product ideas or feature improvements that come directly from community feedback.

By mapping these metrics to your strategic objectives, you create a feedback loop that continually justifies investment and drives improvements in the community experience.

With this blueprint, you’re not just setting up a platform—you’re building a cross-functional, multi-channel ecosystem that evolves with your business and fosters genuine loyalty. The challenge isn’t simply to drive activity, but to create strategic pathways that lead to measurable outcomes. Embrace these principles and reimagine what your community can truly achieve.

Community is a Strategy, Not a Space

If you’re still calling your forum “the community,” you’re missing the point.

True community-led growth doesn’t live on a single platform.

It’s cross-functional, channel-agnostic, and deeply connected to both human and business outcomes.

So here’s the question:

Are you building a community that scales—or just managing a forum?