Ep 213: The Best Community Platform for Your Membership

Mar 17

The Best Community Platform for Your Membership

Picking a community platform shouldn’t feel like spinning a wheel and hoping for the best. But when the options look the same, it’s easy to get stuck chasing shiny features and second-guessing your decision.

Here’s the truth: there is no perfect platform. There’s only the platform that fits your community’s needs now and in the future.

Let’s walk through how to choose the right one without wasting time, losing members, or switching tools six months in.

Step 1: Define the Purpose of the Platform

Before comparing features, ask yourself one question:

Why does this community space exist?

Every community needs a clear purpose. That’s the Cause inside the Community Cultivated Framework.

Are you hosting content?
Running trainings or live sessions?
Sparking conversations around a single topic?
Supporting multiple tiers of access?

You can’t choose the right tool if you don’t know what it’s supposed to do. Your platform exists to serve your strategy, not the other way around.

Step 2: Remember the Platform Is Not the Community

Your Facebook group, Circle space, or Kajabi Community isn’t the community.

Your community is the ecosystem of people. They interact, connect, and share identity. The platform is just the container.

Zoom can be a platform. So can a conference. Or a private app. Don’t confuse the tool with the goal.

Step 3: Run a Needs Assessment

Here’s where strategy meets systems. List out:

What features you need now (live video, content hosting, forums)
What you’ll need at scale (more members, complex roles, integrations)
What tools you already use (like your CRM or course host)
What your budget allows

For each feature, mark it as:

Must-Have: non-negotiable
Nice-to-Have: bonus if it fits

Your platform should match today’s needs and grow with you tomorrow.

Step 4: Filter with Non-Negotiables

Before diving into demos or free trials, cut the clutter.

Remove platforms that:

Don’t fit your budget
Lack a critical integration
Can’t support your delivery model

Start with the no-go filters first. Then compare what’s left using your “must-have” list.

Step 5: Ignore the Facebook Polls

Yes, people love their platform because they chose it.

But just because it works for them doesn’t mean it works for you. Ask yourself:

What’s the size and future vision of this platform’s company?
Who are they built to serve?
Do they support the kind of content, conversation, or cause you’re building?

Most new platforms won’t survive long term. Don’t build on shaky ground.

Step 6: Score the Final Few

Once you’ve narrowed it down to two or three, run a simple feature score:

0 = Doesn’t exist
1 = Exists, but terrible
2 = Functional, but not ideal
3 = Excellent

Score each platform against your top needs. One will stand out.

And that’s your best-fit platform.

Final Word: There Is No Best Platform

There’s only the one that fits your purpose, your people, and your programs.

Don’t rush. Don’t crowdsource. Don’t pick what’s trendy.

Build with intention. Choose with clarity. And design your platform to support the community, not the other way around.

👉 Want the full community platform evaluation process, templates, and retention systems?

Apply to RETAIN at joinretain.com
Download the Retention Roadmap at retainguide.com

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Shana Lynn