Managing a thriving online community isn’t like popping a frozen dinner in the microwave—launch it, walk away, and return to perfection. Too many businesses assume that once their community goes live, it’ll magically keep humming along without active effort. But in reality, communities are less “set it and forget it” and more like cooking a great meal from scratch—you need the right ingredients, attention to detail, and regular check-ins to make sure everything comes together just right.
If you’re a community manager, marketing leader, or CMO, this assumption might be quietly holding your business back. Let’s talk honestly about why “Set It and Forget It” doesn’t cut it, and how investing in strategic, ongoing support can transform your community into a perfectly plated, five-star experience—more Top Chef, less ‘throw it in the microwave and hope for the best.’
Why Communities Can’t Grow Alone
Launching your community is just day one. The belief that it will organically flourish without regular attention can lead to low engagement, misaligned goals, and eventually, an empty digital space. Here’s why:
1. Fresh Content & Active Moderation Are Non-negotiable
User-generated content is fantastic—but it’s not enough. Your community needs regular attention, guidance, and meaningful interactions from you. Think of it like hosting a party: you wouldn’t invite everyone, then vanish as soon as they walk in. A study from FeverBee highlights how communities quickly lose momentum without continuous involvement from managers. Keep conversations lively, relevant, and responsive, and your members will stay engaged.
2. Support Should Adapt—Not Stagnate
Just like your business, the needs of your community evolve. Staying relevant requires frequent adjustments to practices, tools, and topics. A hands-off approach leaves community managers overwhelmed and unsupported, leading to burnout and missed growth opportunities. Research on scaled community impact shows that when communities are actively nurtured, they not only reduce strain on internal teams but also drive long-term customer success.
3. Customer Needs Evolve—Your Community Should Too
Your customers’ expectations aren’t static—they shift with market trends, competitor moves, and personal preferences. Strategies for keeping communities relevant highlight how active management helps you stay attuned to what your customers value today, not what you assumed they’d want when the community launched months ago.
Why Active Community Management Is Worth Your Time
The Essential Guide to Customer Communities outlines how an actively managed community keeps customers engaged, lowers support costs, and builds real loyalty. Here’s what your business stands to gain when you ditch “Set It and Forget It”:
Lower Support Costs. Communities are powerful: answering customer questions through a well-managed community can reduce traditional support costs by nearly half. Your members help each other, lowering your overall cost-to-serve.
Rich Customer Insights. Communities offer a goldmine of customer data. Businesses with active communities are 3.5 times more likely to understand their customers’ buying behaviors and journeys deeply, leading to smarter marketing and better products.
Increased Brand Loyalty. Active, engaging communities foster loyalty. When customers feel heard and valued, they become advocates. Plus, a strong community boosts customer retention, directly enhancing customer lifetime value.
Organic, Authentic Content. Vibrant communities create organic content that boosts your SEO and highlights your brand in relatable, genuine ways. User-generated content is not only powerful—it’s trustworthy.
How to Actually Succeed with Your Community
We’ve already talked about how managing a community isn’t like tossing a frozen dinner in the microwave and walking away. Think of Gainsight as your sous chef—helping you prep, refine, and adjust along the way so nothing gets burned or forgotten. After working with hundreds of best-in-class community builders, we’ve found that these seven ingredients are essential for long-term success:
1. Clarify Your Community Goals
What do you want your community to achieve? Reducing support costs, boosting customer retention, or capturing valuable feedback? Set clear goals, align your strategy around these outcomes, and measure success explicitly.
2. Invest in Expert Support
You don’t have to do it alone. At Gainsight, we partner closely with your team to provide the strategic guidance you need. We’re here to ensure your community grows and delivers continuous value, day after day.
3. Empower and Recognize Your Members
People love recognition. Use gamification tools like badges and ranks to celebrate and motivate community involvement. Recognize your members’ contributions, and they’ll stick around.
4. Regularly Check Community Health
Conduct regular health checks to spot gaps in strategy, engagement, or functionality. Simple questionnaires, member satisfaction surveys, and platform usage metrics can help you identify areas that need improvement.
5. Use the Right Tools
Some of the most successful communities, like the ones curated by Typeform and Gong, rely on the flexibility and support we offer here at Gainsight. Gong created an active online space for customers to share knowledge, leading to improved customer retention, product stickiness, and increased annual recurring revenue (ARR).
6. Don’t Skimp on Moderation
Moderation tools are critical for keeping your community safe, respectful, and well-organized. Platforms built with community management in mind offer features like trust levels, flagging systems, and automated moderation prompts.
7. Stay Adaptable
Communities thrive when they feel relevant. Listen to your members, adapt to feedback, and stay responsive. Being open to change shows your members their voices matter.
Hear From a Community Expert
No one knows the pitfalls of hands-off community management better than Julian Lindhorst, a Senior CSM at Gainsight who supports our Customer Communities customers. As a former Khoros customer, he experienced firsthand how their ‘set it and forget it’ approach left community managers struggling on their own. Gainsight does things differently. We’re with you every step of the way, helping you build a thriving, engaged community that actually delivers results.
Hear Julian’s take on why the right partner makes all the difference:
Break Free from “Set It and Forget It”—With Gainsight
It’s time to stop believing in the “Set It and Forget It” myth. True community success lies in continuous care, strategy, and support. Want to see this approach in action? Request a demo of Gainsight’s community platform today and watch your online community flourish.
