Latest / Community Marketing with Fexingo: Discord, Slack Groups, and Brand Communities / How a Brand Community Vetted Its Own Social Media Calendar
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's a fitness app — I'm not going to name it because they've asked to stay anonymous, but they have about forty thousand active users in their community, mostly on Discord — and they just ran an experiment where they let the community pick the entire social media calendar for a quarter. Not the product roadmap, not the charity partner, the actual posts they publish on Instagram and TikTok. Luna: That's terrifying. And also kind of brilliant. How many posts are we talking? Lucas: About forty themes across the three months. Their community manager, a woman named Priya, she's the one who drove this. And look — if today's episode gives you even one idea you can steal for your own community, that's the kind of utility that keeps this show ad-free. If that's been true for you, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Right, and we genuinely appreciate it. So Priya — how did she actually pull this off without the whole thing turning into a mess? Lucas: She started with a list of forty themes she and her team had brainstormed. Things like 'beginner workout myths', 'how to stay consistent on rest days', 'user spotlights', 'behind the scenes at the office'. Then she put it to a vote in the community — first with a simple poll in Discord, then a more detailed ranking survey for the top twenty. Luna: So the community didn't get to propose the themes from scratch, they chose from a predefined set. That's the guardrail. Lucas: Exactly. She said they wanted the community to feel ownership, but they also needed to keep the calendar aligned with the brand voice and the marketing goals for the quarter. So the themes were all vetted internally first, then the community voted. And they were told, 'you're not just picking your favorite, you're picking what you think will help other people like you.' Luna: Did that framing change the results? Because that's different from just 'vote for what you want to see.' Lucas: It's hard to say definitively, but I think it matters. The top themes that came back were heavily weighted toward educational content — the beginner myths one won by a landslide, and a piece about 'how to talk to your doctor about starting a fitness routine' came in second. Both of those are more useful than 'funny gym fails' which came in somewhere like sixth. Luna: And what happened when they actually published these posts? Because engagement is what matters. Lucas: So they compared the quarter to the previous one, which had been planned the traditional way — internal team picks. Same number of posts, roughly the same content mix. The community-picked calendar outperformed by 37 percent in engagement rate. Not just likes — saves, shares, comments. And the beginner myths post specifically got a 2.4 times higher share rate than their average. Luna: That's a big jump. But I want to push back a little — because we've both seen community input go wrong. What about themes that were popular but didn't fit the brand voice? How did Priya handle that? Lucas: She had a rule — she'd pre-identified about ten of the forty as 'wildcard' themes, and she told the community that even if those won, she might adapt them. One of them, 'our CEO does a 5K in a dinosaur costume', actually made the top ten. She didn't do the dinosaur costume, but she did do a lighter version — the CEO did a casual run and answered questions on camera. She said it was about translating the spirit, not the literal ask. Luna: So she kept a veto, but she used it in a way that respected the community's intention. That's a really fine line to walk. Lucas: She did. And she said the most important thing was communicating that veto clearly. When she posted the final calendar, she included a short note for each theme that had been adapted — why, and what she changed. No one complained. Actually, someone said 'thanks for not making my boss run in a costume.' Luna: That's the kind of transparency that builds trust. But what about the mechanics — how did they actually structure the voting to get a clear signal? Because polls can be noisy. Lucas: They used a two-step process. First week, a simple poll with all forty themes, everyone could pick as many as they wanted. That got 1,400 responses — over three percent of their active community, which is actually a decent turnout. Then the top twenty went into a ranked survey, where people dragged them into order. That got about 900 responses. She combined the rankings using a Borda count — simple points system — and that's how she got the final ten. Luna: A Borda count — that's more sophisticated than 'most votes wins.' Why did she go with that? Lucas: Because 'most votes wins' can be skewed by a very vocal minority. With a ranked survey, something that's everyone's second or third choice can beat something that's a small group's first choice. She wanted themes that had broad appeal, not just a dedicated fan base. And it worked — the final list was pretty balanced across the community's different interest segments. Luna: So what did the final calendar actually look like? Give us a couple of concrete examples. Lucas: Sure. They had 'myth vs. fact' posts every Tuesday — that was the big winner. Then 'user success story Friday' where they featured someone from the community — but not just the most ripped person, they specifically told people they were looking for diverse stories, like a mom who started exercising at 50, or someone who lost weight without being miserable. And then they had 'coach Q&A' where they answered questions the community submitted in a thread. Luna: And the user stories — those are technically user-generated content. But they curated it. So the community picked the themes, but the actual content was still produced by the brand. That's an important distinction. Lucas: Right. They didn't hand the keys over entirely. Priya and her team still wrote the captions, filmed the videos, designed the graphics. The community decided what to talk about, not how to say it. That's a really clean split — it gives them ownership without sacrificing quality or consistency. Luna: I think that's the model that makes sense for most brands. But I'm curious about the downside. Did anything go wrong? Any theme that just flopped despite the community predicting it would be great? Lucas: Yeah, there was one — 'workout music we love' turned out to be a dud. It got decent votes, but the posts had almost no engagement, and some people even commented 'why is a fitness app telling me what to listen to.' But Priya said she wasn't surprised. She said 'the community is good at telling you what they want in general, but not necessarily what will perform well.' Luna: So the community vote is a starting point, not a guarantee. That's a healthy way to look at it. It's not about abdicating responsibility, it's about using the community as a source of ideas. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why she's going to do it again this quarter, but with a few tweaks. She's going to run the vote earlier, share the data from the last quarter with the community so they can see what worked and what didn't, and she's going to add a 'performance bonus' — if a community-picked theme gets above-average engagement, they get a small shoutout in the community newsletter. Luna: That's a nice feedback loop. It turns voting into an ongoing conversation, not a one-time event. So what's the takeaway for a brand manager listening who wants to try this? Lucas: Start small. Don't hand over your entire content calendar. Pick one content type — maybe your weekly tip post, or your monthly newsletter theme — and let the community vote on that. See how it goes. Measure the engagement against your historical averages. And be clear about your guardrails from the start, so you don't end up in a situation where you have to disappoint people. Luna: And be okay with adapting, not just rejecting. Let the community see that their input shaped the final thing, even if it's not exactly what they asked for. That's the trust-building part. Lucas: Yeah. I think that's the real win here — not just the 37 percent engagement bump, but the fact that the community now feels like they have a stake in the brand's social presence. They're not just an audience, they're contributors. And that's the kind of relationship that keeps people around long after a single post fades. Luna: Speaking of keeping people around — I heard the community retention rate also improved during that quarter. Is that true? Lucas: It did, actually. They saw a 12 percent drop in churn among community members who voted. Now, that's correlation, not causation, but it's suggestive. When you ask people for their opinion and they see it taken seriously, they're more invested. It's a classic ownership effect. Luna: That's a compelling argument for giving up a little control. So what's next for Priya and her team? Are they going to expand this to other parts of the business? Lucas: She mentioned they're considering it for email newsletter topics, and maybe even for choosing which product features to highlight in app onboarding. But she's being careful — she doesn't want to overuse the community's goodwill. Voting fatigue is real, so she's thinking about doing it quarterly, not monthly. Luna: That's a smart limit. Because if you ask too often, it becomes a chore, not a privilege. So the key is to make it feel like a special event, not a routine form. Lucas: Right. And she always pairs it with a clear outcome — here's what you chose, here's what we did with it, here's what happened. That closes the loop. That's the difference between a community that participates and a community that just gets surveyed. Luna: So if I'm a listener with a smaller community — maybe a few hundred people — is this still viable? Or do you need a certain scale to get good signal? Lucas: I think you can do it with any size, but the method changes. With a few hundred, you can have a live video call and just ask people. With ten thousand, you need a structured survey. But the principle holds: give people real choices, show them the results, and follow through. Even fifty responses can tell you something if you ask the right questions. Luna: And what's the biggest mistake you see brands make when they try this? Lucas: They ask for input and then ignore it, or they don't communicate what they did with it. That's worse than not asking at all, because it breaks trust. Priya's rule was: if you ask, you have to close the loop. If you can't commit to that, don't ask. Luna: I'd add another one: don't let the loudest voices dominate. That's why the ranked survey was smart, it levels the playing field. Lucas: Good point. And that's why having a clear voting structure matters. It's not just about being democratic, it's about being fair and getting a representative signal. So if you're thinking about trying this, plan the method first, not the content. Luna: So, next quarter, they're doing it again. Any bets on what's going to win this time? Lucas: I'm putting my money on 'how to stay motivated when you miss a week' — that's a classic fear, and the community loves the accountability angle. But we'll have to see. Maybe Priya will share the results in a future episode. Luna: I hope so. This is one of those experiments where the process is as valuable as the outcome. It's not just about better content, it's about a stronger community. Lucas: Yeah. And honestly, that's what we're all here for. Thanks for listening, everyone. We'll catch you next time.