Building an online community: Proven tools and strategies for self-employed people

Building an online community is more than just a trend—it has become a necessity. But as a self-employed person, how can you build a successful community that not only strengthens your brand but also creates real value for your followers?

In this article, you'll learn step by step how to build an engaged community that supports your business and helps it grow. From defining your target audience to tools and monetization strategies, we cover everything that makes for effective community management.

An online community is much more than just a group of people who gather on social media. It is a digital space where like-minded people come together to share ideas, support one another, and pursue common goals.

According to a study by Facebook and NYU’s The Governance Lab , 77% of respondents said that the most important group they currently belong to operates online.

A successful online community is characterized by the following features:

• Strong relationships between members
• Common needs and interests or goals
• Active participation and commitment
• Continuous development

Building a successful community means creating an environment based on trust and mutual respect, where every member can contribute to the overall experience.

Before you start building your community, it is crucial to know your target audience inside out. A precise target group definition helps you to create relevant content and choose the right platforms for your community.

• Create detailed buyer personas (German: customer avatars)
• Analyze your existing customers
• Conduct surveys and interviews
• Use social media analytics

Remember: the better you know your target audience, the easier it will be to build a community that is truly engaged.

I currently work (still) less with fully developed buyer personas and instead rely on the insights gained from the more than 100 SEO Bootcamp audits I’ve conducted so far. This is how I define the target audience(s) for my German-speaking SEO community “KlickDojo” on skool.com are currently, for example:

1. Self-employed individuals, startups, and entrepreneurs with limited budgets: These individuals cannot or do not want to invest much in their website, but are willing to do the work themselves. Although I usually don't earn anything from them, they often benefit the most from my expertise. As loyal fans, they act as my best inbound marketers.
2. Successful entrepreneurs with digital sales problems: These entrepreneurs wonder why everything in their business is going well except for sales or lead generation on their website.
3. Successful entrepreneurs who need an SEO audit: These entrepreneurs want to have the work of their advertising or SEO agency reviewed. They are looking for inspiration for future projects or want to know whether their service provider is reputable.

Defining your target audience involves more than just collecting demographic data. It’s about developing a deep understanding of the desires, needs, and challenges of your community members.

The key to a successful community is consistently creating value for your followers. As long as your content offers value, the form of interaction with your followers—whether text, audio, video, or images—is actually irrelevant.

Keep in mind that building a community is a journey, and even small gestures can make a big difference. A personal thank-you in the form of a custom Loom video, an exclusive discount on a premium product, or simply taking the time to respond to comments in detail and honestly can make your members feel like they’re part of something special.

• Share exclusive knowledge, experiences, and insights
• Offer solutions to specific problems faced by your target group
• Encourage interaction between community members
• Run a useful newsletter
• Organize in-person and online events and webinars

Ferhat, the former Bundesliga boxer from Hamburg, has founded the Boxing-Arts Academy , a dynamic community where he brings together fitness and boxing enthusiasts. His main channels for marketing, visibility, and gaining followers are SEO, his YouTube channel, Instagram, and TikTok, where he generously shares his knowledge and provides commentary on current boxing events.

To turn his reach into leads, he gives away a free training plan that helps his new contacts get to know him and his training better. He also runs an online academy where interested individuals can access both online boxing courses and weekly live training sessions with Ferhat himself. And for those who still want more, Ferhat offers one-on-one coaching sessions and an in-person event.

Types of communities	platform	benefits
forum software	Discourse, WordPress with BuddyPress	Here you can delve deeper, share knowledge, and engage in discussion.
Social media platforms	Facebook, Instagram, Discord, LinkedIn	They provide a broad stage for fast and dynamic interactions.
Community platforms	Skool, WordPress with Digimember	A protected space for exclusive exchange and deeper connections.

You should choose the right platform for interacting with your followers carefully, since moving to a new platform or changing your platform of choice always involves a significant administrative effort and the loss of quite a few past followers.

As you can probably imagine, I personally recommend Skool in 90% of use cases because the platform has been developed with extreme care and is very well-designed. It combines all the essential basics and, with “Skool Games,” also offers you the professional training you need to build a community the right way.

• Premium memberships with exclusive content
• Online courses and workshops
• Affiliate Marketing Recommendations
• Sponsorship and advertising partnerships
• Sale of own products or services
• Value bombing for loyal brand ambassadors

Not so long ago, it was common practice in the world of infomarketing to divide up one's knowledge and release it bit by bit. For example, a free webinar in which I was shown supposed account statements from a dubious provider led to an online course on creating my own homepage for €50 and an upsell with an online course on traffic generation for €500 and more.

With his "New Generation of Marketers," Alex Hormozi has completely broken away from this outdated paradigm. His motto is, "Generously share your expertise—including all your 'secrets and hacks'—and inspire your followers so much that they can't help but tell their friends and family about you."

Building a community like this takes time and effort, but Alex Hormozi’s success shows that it’s worth it. His book, *100M$ Offers*, became a bestseller on Amazon in the Marketing & Sales category and sells thousands of copies every day without him spending a single cent on advertising. The key to his success is his loyal fans, who enthusiastically recommend his book to others. This kind of attention is invaluable in our fast-paced digital world, where TikTok videos and declining ad impressions dominate.

Although the focus is on the online aspect, offline meetings can significantly strengthen your community. They transform abstract profiles and avatars into living, breathing people.

Ideas for offline events:

• Annual community conferences
• Local meetups
• Workshops and training courses
• charity events

These events not only offer networking opportunities, but also strengthen community spirit and brand loyalty.

• Ask questions regularly and initiate discussions.
• Celebrate community successes and milestones
• Conduct regular surveys to gather feedback
• Appoint active members as moderators or ambassadors

It's not so much about what you say, but rather how you listen. Being open to feedback, being willing to adjust your plans, and involving your community in shaping the future are crucial steps toward fostering a vibrant, growing community.

Building an online community is a rewarding but challenging task. With the right strategies, tools, and ongoing commitment, you can create a thriving community that not only supports your business but also offers real value to your followers.

Remember: Although there are no specific current growth figures available for the entire Internet community market, various indicators such as the increasing use of social media and the growing importance of online interactions show that this area continues to gain relevance. Now is a good time to start building your own community and benefit from this trend.

Take the first step today—define your target audience and create a test account on my favorite platform, Skool. Your future community is already waiting for you!