---
title: "The community-building method"
description: "A seven-step loop for building a community."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-personal-branding-playbook/the-community-building-method/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# The community-building method

> A seven-step loop for building a community.

Amelia Sordell's framework, from The Personal Branding Playbook, pp. 143 to 164.

Framework 10 of 10 from [The Personal Branding Playbook](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-personal-branding-playbook/index.md) by Amelia Sordell. Category: Content and packaging.

## The steps

1. **Define your goal.** Know what the community is for.
2. **Work out who to attract.** Name the people.
3. **Share valuable content.** Make it interesting to them.
4. **Create resonance.** Humanise the delivery.
5. **Deliver where they are.** Use their platform.
6. **Engage.** Respond to those who engage and learn.
7. **Repeat.** Repeat steps three to six.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: 9 Building a community, not a following, pp. 143–164

A following is a group you talk at and a community is a group you talk with. A community needs only a common interest and a common platform, can start with five or 100 people, and its superfans become advocates who refer you, which is the real goal: become the most referred person in your industry. Sordell covers emotion before logic, an engagement rate, responding to everyone yourself, involving the community in decisions, giving back through micro-versions of paid work, and mirroring the community as it changes. A long before-and-after example shows her tone moving from aggressive to open as her audience and confidence grew.

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-personal-branding-playbook/the-community-building-method.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-personal-branding-playbook/the-community-building-method-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-personal-branding-playbook/the-community-building-method.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-personal-branding-playbook/the-community-building-method-dark.png