Introducing the Community Experience Podcast

If you’ve been following SPI over the past year or so, you know we’ve opted to focus very intentionally on community building. So much so that we launched SPI Pro, a premium membership community for entrepreneurs. We also moved all our course communities off the big, messy social media platform that’s always in the news and into the private SPI Academy for our online course customers.

Each member of our growing Community Experience team brings a unique perspective and career experience to the collective table. And we realized our ongoing discussions about community strategy and trends could provide value to many more people.

So naturally, we created a podcast. Say hi to the The Community Experience podcast!

Why You Should Listen

The Community Experience isn’t just about running a digital community or business. On this show, we explore many aspects of what brings people together. Because at the end of the day, having a sense of belonging is integral to the human experience. And since we have the privilege to be a part of a thriving podcast family through SPI Media, we are using this opportunity to amplify the voices and perspectives of thought leaders who can help other community builders.

The truth is, the term community is easily diluted into a marketing buzzword. There will always be some overlap between a community and an audience, but they are absolutely not interchangeable. Anyone saying otherwise is trying to sell you something. Starting and running a healthy community takes dedication and strategies distinct from audience growth. The Community Experience Podcast is an effort to draw a clearer line in the sand to preserve the integrity of the community ethos.

Listen to the First Episode

In episode 1 of the Community Experience, Jillian and Tony talk to Un-Lonely Planet author Jillian Richardson about the growing role of community, how to build one authentically, ending the loneliness epidemic, and more.

Meet the Hosts

Tony Bacigalupo opened Manhattan’s first coworking space, New Work City in 2008 and has a passion for facilitating both in-person and virtual events. Tony is the Community Program Manager at Team SPI and runs the show of our bootcamps, coordinates our quarterly Demo Days in SPI Pro, and is leading the charge with our Audience Driven Summit.

Jillian Benbow has been professionally managing digital communities for over a decade and has seen and experienced it all: the good, the bad, and the trolling. She isn’t afraid to take on the messy and chaotic parts of community management and carry on with empathy. Jillian is the Senior Community Experience Manager at Team SPI and runs our premium membership community, SPI Pro.

Join the Conversation

This wouldn’t be a show about community if we didn’t want to keep the conversation going after each episode! Tag us with your thoughts on the episodes on Twitter @TeamSPI and let’s dive deeper into your takeaways and questions. And make sure to subscribe to The Community Experience wherever you listen to podcasts.