The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage

"A tactical primer for any business embarking on the critical work of actively building community."--Seth Godin, Author, This is Marketing

"This book perfectly marries the psychology of communities, with the hard-earned secrets of someone who's done the real work over many years. David Spinks is the master of this craft."--Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable

The rise of the internet has brought with it an inexorable, almost shockingly persistent drive toward community. From the first social networks to the GameStop trading revolution, engaged communities have shown the ability to transform industries. Businesses need to harness that power. As business community expert David Spinks shows in The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community your Competitive Advantage, the successful brands of tomorrow will be those that create authentic connection, giving customers a sense of real belonging and unlocking unprecedented scale as a result.

In his career of over 10 years in the business of building community, Spinks has learned what a winning community strategy looks like. From the fundamental concepts--including how community drives measurable business value and what the appropriate metrics are--to high-level community design and practical engagement techniques, The Business of Belonging is an epic journey into the world of community building.

This book is for decision makers who want to better understand the value and opportunity of community, and for community professionals who want to level up their strategy. Featuring a foreword by Startup Grind and Bevy cofounder Derek Andersen, it will give you a step-by-step model for strategically planning, creating, facilitating, and measuring communities that drive business growth. Attracting and retaining community members who are also loyal customers, brand evangelists, and leaders--that's the goal for today's connected businesses, and this book is the map to getting there.

David Spinks is Cofounder of CMX, a 20,000 member organization dedicated to helping community professionals thrive. David is also the VP of Community at Bevy, an enterprise software platform that powers event-driven community programs and virtual conferences, following its acquisition of CMX in 2019. David has personally advised and trained hundreds of organizations in community strategy, including Facebook, Waze, Salesforce, Airbnb, and Google.