Stop Using So Many Platforms

My definition of community is when members are able to meet and build relationships with other people who are in the community, and the community exists for those members to achieve some type of result or transformation in their lives. That includes being up to speed and being able to navigate, for example, how to interpret the news, or that means how they can navigate life as a product manager, for example. When you can have members meeting and building relationships with each other as the core of your business and attention, and also what it could bring you just as a creator in terms of energy and creativity and innovation. I'm gonna unapologetically make the case that that is where you want to be. Hey, I'm Gina Bianchini, and this is People Magic, where we talk about how to build a $1 million community and create a business that you love.

Hi Gina, I've been expanding my brand for a while and it's all in different places— Instagram, podcast, Substack, book, etc. I love the idea of it all being in one place, but it's not. I'm excited about building a community, but I'm curious how you would weave in all these other things I've done on different platforms into my community.

Yeah, this is a great question. Let me just start by saying, being in different places, it's a personal decision where you invest, what brings you energy, where you wanna be, how it is attracting the people that you want it to attract. And look, in modern life, there's a lot of things fighting for our attention as creators and then as human beings and, and members. I'm a huge believer, like, take inventory. Start with the data and, and not just the data, but then also your own inventory of how it's making you feel, what it's generating for you. Is it helping you be more creative, less creative? Is it something that's always hanging over your head? Like, for example, like posts for me, like long thought pieces always feel like papers that are hanging over my head with like leftover from like high school or college. And I, it, it just bums me out to like have a weekend where I'm like, ugh, I don't wanna like, so I, I do it every like quarter or something, but it's just not necessarily something that I'm like really excited to do. Now, on the other hand, cruising up here to this room in my house and making some podcasts with people who are cool and have interesting questions and are excited about these kinds of businesses, what we call people magic businesses, that I could do all day long. Yeah. Number one, figuring out what you have the most fun doing and what's also dragging you down. That's kind of inventory one. And then inventory two is what's getting the most attention? Are you getting attention on Instagram? Do you have a Substack that is working really well? Is the comment section of your Substack actually generating some interest and attention by your subscribers or by your readers? And then the third inventory to do is what's making you money. And so understanding what is making you money is gonna also be really important because the more money that you're able to make, the more that you're able to invest, going all the way back to the first inventory, the more you're able to invest in things you wanna do. And maybe that's, I want to not do Instagram, or I might want to not do my podcast, or I love my podcast and I don't really wanna do Instagram. So really taking a step back. And doing a thoughtful inventory of sort of the, the human cost and also the, the human return on investment, the what's actually getting attention, and then finally what's actually generating revenue. I think that's probably the best suggestion that I can make is, is get real clear about what each piece is doing for you and having a clear intention for each piece. Super, super important. Now let me make a case for what it would mean to bring these different pieces together. Number one, when you have social media and Instagram, a podcast, you have a newsletter, and those things are different, it sometimes feels like they have to be separate, or it feels like, you know, your, your newsletter platform just added X or Y or Z, so maybe you can build a community here. My definition of community is when members are able meet and build relationships with other people who are in the community, and the community exists for those members to achieve some type of result or transformation in their lives. That includes being up to speed and being able to navigate, for example, how to interpret the news, or that means how they can navigate life as a product manager, for example. So all of these different things, when, when you can have members meeting and building relationships with each other as the core of your business and attention, and also what it could bring you just as a creator in terms of energy and creativity and innovation, I'm going to unapologetically make the case that that is where you want to be because number one, it's going to make you more money. When people are connecting with other people, it means that they have more reasons to come back to your brand than waiting for your next newsletter or waiting for the next podcast drop. Those things you can do when you have your core community, which is all about, again, creating people magic, creating connections between members who are on the same path. And then your podcast, your newsletter, You, you can integrate those in really effectively, but it's very different than thinking about all of those pieces first and then trying to stitch them together with like some tape and gum and like maybe a couple staples. So thinking about having your community, again, member-to-member connection monetized with a membership, monetized with courses or programs, monetized with challenges, monetized with events. Only a community where members are able to meet and build relationships with each other because there's profiles. And not only profiles, there's profiles and DMs, but all customized and tailored to your particular brand and your particular transition or intention. That then becomes something that can scale much faster. It's easier to advertise, it's easier to market, it's easier to discover, It's easier to share. And then once you've done your inventory, you can decide, well, wait a second, I can actually do my newsletter from within my community. So I don't need to have an email list or an email newsletter. And by the way, I own not just the audience at that point, but I own the relationships that they are building with each other so that they're much more likely to come back because they have Many people to come back for, not just you when you push something out. And then the question becomes, well, do you want to keep doing a podcast? And if that's bringing you joy and energy and new people who are coming into that community, and also that community is giving you great ideas for your podcast, keep doing the podcast. Same for Instagram. Same again for the newsletter. But when you think about where the world is going, Number one, as an individual, you probably don't need 4 more places to go. Probably not. That's one of the reasons why, you know, so many new services and things are kind of DOA because it's like people are like, oh my God, I cannot do— I cannot do something else. What we have found as it relates to people magic and creating people magic, the beautiful thing is that it's super durable, it's super sustainable. And because people are meeting and building relationships with each other and that's only getting more and more interesting and fun, that becomes something That is the strongest foundation to build on. And then you get to do all the other things that you like to do as they come naturally and you like doing them and they're fun. You're able to bring more people in, but your members are also bringing other people to your community as well. So the TL;DR, start with inventories, understand what brings you energy, where you think you want to scale to. what brings attention, what brings revenue, and then consider how you build the strongest foundation, not with an all-in-one platform. That, that's not what I would recommend. That's not what we do. The, the problem with sort of all-in-one, if that is your driving motivation, it, you really are gonna find things that are like kind of doers of all, master of none. You want to, you want to believe in platforms for the thing that they do better than anybody else. And, We've chosen people magic because with 93% accuracy, we can predict whether your business, whether your community, whether your courses, your memberships, your challenges, your events will succeed or fail based on one metric. And that is member-to-member conversations. And those member-to-member conversations, the frequency and the volume does not happen on podcasts. It does not happen on Instagram. And it Unfortunately doesn't happen on Substack, even though there's really healthy debates that happen in the comments. And they've certainly gone ahead and added some really cool features like live streaming, and they're trying to be TikTok now. All great, but they're not starting with how to offer you as the writer or the creator or the host— how am I actually able to create the most valuable relationships within the community you're creating on Substack? Or the community that you're trying to create on Instagram. How am I creating that network effect? So that's probably the best way to think about it. And those inventories are going to be your best friend. I'm Gina Bianchini, and this is People Magic. Thank you for being a part of People Magic. If you want more of a deep dive in any of these topics, but certainly having the framework of People Magic Profit, head on over to the website. The link is in the show notes. Have your own burning question about creating people magic? Well, I wanna answer it. So here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna just drop your question in the review section wherever you're listening to this podcast and keep tuning in.