Patrick Woods walks readers through Orbit’s community journey from the beginning, offering the “nitty-gritty details” of how they bootstrapped their initial community. The community got its start on Slack with just two conversation channels, building credibility with members with quick turnarounds on requests. Quick responses and turnarounds led to more sharing from members, creating a cycle of engagement. Part of Orbit’s strategy was to let conversations expand organically, but plant the seeds themselves. The early Orbit team created a new Slack channel to show off members’ creations and allowed members to take it from there. 

Like many online communities, Orbit looked to events to facilitate connections between community members rather than just connections between members and community founders. Their inaugural event was a chance for members to put faces to names and forge deeper relationships with one another. Early on in Orbit’s time on Slack, several rituals emerged, including tagging members who suggested new features, gave feedback or reported bugs as a way to recognize those who shared ideas or frustrations. Rituals now play a large part in Orbit’s community engagement. 

Read about Orbit’s story in more detail here: orbit.love/blog/a-tactical-guide-to-kickstarting-your-community