How Slack communities help to grow your business

In today’s digital age, building meaningful connections and staying informed about industry trends is essential for any growing business. One of the best platforms to foster these connections and insights is Slack.

Originally built as a workplace collaboration tool, Slack has evolved into a hub for thriving online communities that can help entrepreneurs, professionals, and businesses of all sizes to grow. But how exactly can joining Slack communities boost your business? Let’s explore the top ways Slack can contribute to your success.

Slack communities. Benefits and limitations

Slack is used by over 750,000 organizations globally, a significant increase from previous years. The platform facilitates team communication and connects professionals worldwide through over 2,000 public communities.

Slack hosts a wide range of communities dedicated to specific industries, niches, and professions. These communities offer an excellent opportunity to connect with peers, learn from industry experts, and gain valuable insights into market trends. Whether you’re in tech, marketing, sales, or design, there’s likely a Slack community filled with professionals eager to share their knowledge and experiences.

By joining the right communities, you’ll have access to networks that can introduce you to new clients, potential partners, and business opportunities that you might not have found otherwise.

Pros:

• Most communities are free to join.

• A priceless source of information, where professionals discuss their needs and pains. Understanding buyer intent is crucial, as the needs of professionals often reflect broader business needs. Following these communities is a good practice to gather information about the market and identify leads in B2B.
• Allows you to gain industry knowledge through sessions where experts answer any questions the channel members have. It’s a great chance to get an up-close look into the lives of industry experts and better understand buyer intent.

Cons:

• Free plan limits access to the last 10,000 messages in the community.

• It’s tricky to find an open community. Most of them are invite-only.

Check how different professionals can benefit from Slack communities in the article below.

Entrepreneurs

For instance, if you are a CEO of a startup specializing in tools for designers, you may find it helpful to join a community for CEOs and Founders, such as

• Startup Resources — a community of 2,000 entrepreneurs that keep each other updated on the best tools for your startup.
• Founders & Creators — a community with 200 members with a mission to help 10,000 early-stage tech startups and solo founders.
• Tech Masters — with over 3,000 members ,the community unites a diverse group of entrepreneurs, technologists, and developers around the world.

Designers

To find out about about your target audience and their needs, you can join a community for designers, for example:

• Designer Hangout — 6000+ UX designers and researchers around the world.
• Team Sketch — 2000 Sketch designers share their experience.
• UX Mastery — a community with 896 members where you can find out about UX careers andjobs.

These Slack communities help you to get to the core of needs and demands of designers, offer your product or service in a non-intrucive manner and answer their questions about what you want to offer.

If you are CEO, HR, Sales, or marketing professional, you may want to understand how things work in sales, marketing, HR, and development. Join corresponding communities.

Sales and marketing

Slack communities are a great tool to introduce and promote your sales and marketing activities (campaigns, webinars, podcasts) to attract new leads, boost user engagement by answering user’s questions, and track how people perceive your and your competitors’ brands by taking note of what people are talking about and how they feel about it.

• Online Geniuses — internet marketing community with 7306 members.
• Buffer — a global community for social media with 2332 members.
• Women in Sales — a community with 223 female members working in sales roles who want to learn from each other.

HR

If you need to obtain advice, go to the HR and recruiting communities.

• #PeoplePeople — a community for HR, talent management, and recruiting. 2300 members.
• #Peoples — a community for operational people, HR people, and psychologists
• Slack Corporate Recruiter — Corporate Recruiter Slack Channel.

You can share experience in dedicated communities, and join the ones of professionals you are looking for (developer communities, for example). They are the right place to post job vacancies and find team leads or experienced developers who share their knowledge in the community.

For example, if you need to hire a developer, visit developers’ communities.

Development

Such communities are a priceless source of information about software development in general, and a place to find a job.

• DevChat — a community of developers with 19,000 members discussing software development challenges in general.
• iOS Developers HQ — Community for iOS developers with 9,600 members.
• DevOps — Slack Channel dedicated to chatting and learning about DevOps with 22,451 members.

Freelancers

Freelance professionals in different fields can boost their skills in a community dedicated to their profession, but also search for particular jobs and clients.

• NomadList — a community of freelancers around the world.
• Work From Anywhere — a community for remote, independent, ans self-employed professionals.
• Freelance Lead – a community that helps freelancers find work.

Startups and product development

Communities allow you to generate ideas, share experience about product development and the needs of the target audience. A lot of dedicated communities have job posts. So it’s a great place to search for a professional to join your team or find an employer.

• Mind The Product — an international product community with 10,000 members.
• Startup Study Group — a growing community of 600+ members to help founders, startups, and investors.
• Product Manager HQ — 7000 members, 6000 companies present and 40 active chat to learnabout product management.

Conclusion

Slack communities offer tremendous opportunities for business growth by fostering connections, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration. Whether you’re seeking partnerships, leads, or a space to learn and grow, Slack groups can provide invaluable support.

The key to success is finding the right communities that align with your business goals and consistently contributing value. So, take the plunge, join a few relevant Slack groups, and start leveraging this powerful platform to fuel your business growth.