#CJE3XC0H3-announcements

With so many marketing disciplines/specialities and communities turning to paid, it’s become a little like the un-bundling of cable TV. A lot of $10/month subscriptions add up fast. I’m a marketing leader and a marketing generalist, and I personally can’t justify that. And my corporate L&D budget has dried up.

If the problem is a hard-to-moderate community, or quality, are there other solutions to address that problem that aren’t paid? Could an alternative be a more stringent vetting or application process, to keep quality high?

Hmmm. I’m a Superpath Pro member but lately I get more value from the Slack. Would Pro include the Slack access?

Just mentioning that I kinda understand the challenge, but aside from high level exces and individuals, I daresay most of the members are just growing their career and while $10 seems cheap, it may be a big deal to a few trying to survive this terrible time. To some, it may not worth it. To others, they can't afford to pay consistently.

I hope the community grows, and I wish that you find sponsors to make the efforts of growing Superpath worth it. Thanks, Jimmy.

@Nikolas Wright yes

That’s a great point, @Peace Akinwale. A paid community definitely gates the accessibility of the community. Depends on that goals of the community (and who runs it 😉 )

Perhaps a paid channel with more premium content/access could help? The unpaid folks would deal with a less moderated experience while the paid folks would get a more curated/high value experience.

@Justine Jordan this is a great point and probably my biggest concern.

very good point @Peace Akinwale

Yes, I agree with @David C Hoos

Some channels could be made paid only

I think the question answers itself. You're talking about making it paid to allow for a higher quality of content to be produced and discussed here. While I can absolutely sympathise with the "death by a thousand low-cost subscriptions" angle I think its obvious that the quality should come first. We're here because you have a rep for great content in the space, if that changes, why would most people stay whether free or not?

Totally understand @Peace Akinwale’s point BUT at the same time, I believe the intent of Superpath is to be for people with more experience. So while I never feel good about excluding people, if Superpath’s goal is to be for people with more experience, maybe that aligns with charging for the community

I already pay for a couple of subscriptions like this, and I'd happily pay for Superpath too.

Personally I get a huge amount of value from the job postings. If that were paywalled, I’d pay $10 a month 100%. Secondarily, I love the work-career-advice channel, and would gladly pay for that, too. I think both of those channels would also benefit ME if they were paywalled, i.e. I had less competition applying for jobs AND was getting/reading advice from folks further on in their careers.

@Katie Mittelstadt i've struggled with this. the original community was meant for senior content folks, but i didn't want to keep anyone who wanted to be here out either.

Also, you may lose members initially, but as quality improves with payment, I think you’ll gain people back who see the value

Gating the community for a monthly tenner doesn't seem like the right course of action here.

Providing free value through ungated content and free communities tends to generate more of a positive association with brands.

You'd also loose a significant share to RevGenius or any other free community and some of these are pretty good too. Being a part of several paid and free communities, I can add the following:
• Tighten the acceptance criteria. Eg. You need to have a legitimate linkedin profile to join. And maybe there's an acceptance criteria there to avoid spammers.
• Segment niche channels - Understand what your current audience wants.
• Create a separate paid channel for intimate convos + exclusive access to assets.
• Assign regional/channel community managers

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) I’m working on a client project right now navigating this balance. It’s a group for senior women in PE, and some people don’t want to exclude less senior women BUT we’ve ultimately landed on messaging that makes clear who the group is for. Unfortunately that means some people are left out, but it’s also a stronger brand position and message

@Katie Mittelstadt, @Jimmy Daly (Superpath) - in addition to seniority and experience, it's about geography as well. 10 - 15 USD is a big deal for people in India and other FX-disadvantaged countries.

I’ve been part of a lot of communities where they have a free version of the community like slack and then paid has exclusive content that brings value to your career and growth. There’s still a lot of value in having both options and many have benefited.

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) I propose a simpler solution: instead of posing the cost to subscribers, why not include more advertising opportunities that directly cover the cost of community management?

It’s not ideal, but I think many of us would prefer seeing tool and service recommendations here over losing members who can’t justify the cost. What if there was also a monthly review of members inactive for 6+months to cull and reduce community size?

Superpath is and has been the forefront of content marketing communities. Though I understand with grow the comes change, I think the appeal is it allowed entry and senior marketers to converse, grow, and learn from each other in a way we never have before. I’d hate to see us lose members after everything we’ve gone through to get here

@Sonali this is a very important point. one way i think we could help this is corporate sponsorships. e.g. a company pays for 50 people to join and gets to run a few ads in exchange kind thing

I’m happy paying $5 or $10 a month for the community - especially if it had more freelance leads. There is definitely hidden value in helpab2bwriter. As a tool it’s incredible that it’s free for both sides. Users all get what they want, but you don’t even run ads in the emails, let alone a subscription for it. Hope that helps.

@Sonali for sure. I bet that’s weighing heavily on Jimmy

@Jon Triggs hab2bw are on my mind for sure

Yes, corporate sponsorships seem like a good way to go @Jimmy Daly (Superpath)

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath)

The reason why I joined Superpath was - it was free. But then - I got hooked to it. If the community got paid, I'd subscribe in the blink of an eye. But, as @Justine Jordan said, "it’s become a little like the un-bundling of cable TV."

Superpath offers a lot of value, like a LOT. But I may also end up losing access to people, maybe my friends here, (who choose not to subscribe).

Challenges you may face here:
1. You'll find it hard to acquire new users - not sure if you want them considering you said you want a small yet tight community.
2. You will lose a lot of people. But that's fine, considering you want it to be for experts.
3. Even then, if my fellow people don't subscribe and I see myself not getting value, I may choose to unsubscribe.
You can, maybe, set some paid channels rather than locking the entire community, just like Mike and Elise have done at Peak Freelance.

i didn't put this in the initial post, but there's a financial consideration here. it's super tough time for content folks right now. superpath is definitely affected by that. i want to keep this going for many, many years and we may have to make some changes to do it. it's the hard reality of the times right now.

While I appreciate the thought behind asking the question here@Jimmy Daly (Superpath), I think you first need to decide what you want the community to be.

We can already see in this thread that there's a mix of 'should be for everyone' to 'should be for experienced' and a ton of individual skews of the above.

Otherwise the product will be muddy, and those that do pay (if you go down that route) are more likely to be disappointed with the end result

I think if getting more sponsors were the answer, Jimmy wouldve done that. Companies are less willing to spend money on channels that you can't directly attribute to revenue in the current climate, and I think channel sponsorships fall under that category (correct me if Im wrong)

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) keep the free community and use it as an acquisition channel for the paid community, where users can get exclusive access to xyz. You can also get sponsors for these.

And to expand on @Jason Mountford’s comment - I can see this is going to be a HARD decision. Totally empathize with what you’re going through

@Jason Mountford this is spot on. i don't want to be Hampton ($8k/year, very exclusive) and i don't know if we can sustainability grow as a free, open community.

@Leonardo Pizarro Don't you think 'exclusive content' almost always underwhelms?

thank you so much, btw, for hearing me out and giving feedback. this is why i love this community!

@John Blust been working my butt of to get more sponsors. it hasn't totally dried up but it's harder now than it was a few months ago

@Jason Mountford I think the term has gotten a bad rap, but it doesn't need to be underwhelming. Exclusive features could involve in-person events / C-level roundtables; 1-on-1 sessions and mentorship; polished template library like Pavilion's, but I reckon template libraries are best kept free and community-led.

I’m also curious, if your own financial stability is part of this (which is totally understandable), have you thought about a donation model? I’ve seen this work well in some other communities. I could donate from time to time, but I wouldn’t be able to take on a monthly subscription.

I would leave the Slack if it went paid. I don't think I'm getting $10 a month worth of value from being here and I just lost my second anchor client last week, so things are tight now.

@Justine Jordan thankfully we aren't there yet bc we have other revenue sources. tbh i haven't seriously considered a donation model but will add it my list bc i think there could be something there

Kottke’s membership model is another interesting one to consider: https://kottke.org/members/

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) do you have a sponsorships deck? Happy to review and see if you're a good fit for us (Lunio)

i do 🙂

I would gladly pay for this Slack. Professional development requires candid conversations in trusted environments. When 15k people are watching, it can be difficult to get that outside of DMs.

And if folks are not willing to at least consider investing $10/month into their professional development - they arent taking it seriously.

Totally understand your dilemma here @jimmy I can tell your heart is in the right place community wise. I think people like Matt could get more value from a paid community because there would be better quality discussions and opportunities and less competition. As the saying goes you get what you pay for even though most of us have been getting way more than that as part of this community for a long time. I can't really justify a large one time payment but the monthly model is definitely doable and I would gladly pay like Sean says.

Maybe sponsors could get a "Superpath Trusted" logo for their website like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval that they support the community. Maybe you have that already though. It could be a way for companies to gain favor from employment candidates.

oh i love that idea

What about a "Superpath Blue" feature? I'm kidding 🙂. Thank you for opening this up, Jimmy. As @Jason Mountford mentions, I think after a little more soul searching as to what you want the future of Superpath to be, know that we'll trust your decision/direction.

I can imagine it's difficult to run a community this size for free, but $10 per month may be a bit steep considering many members here are from third world countries. Maybe the membership amount can be a little less? Or maybe you could implement an annual stipend amount like some others suggested @Jimmy Daly (Superpath)? Me, personally, I wouldn't mind paying $10 for a more curated experience. I also agree with what @Zulie Rane said. Gating some channels to keep content premium for those who are a little higher up the ladder will probably turn out to be a great move in the long run. I love the Superpath community and will continue to be a part of it, no matter which way this goes. 🙌😄

haha $8/month and i'll let you edit your posts 😆

@Mark Burdon brilliant suggestions;

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) If you haven’t read Priya Parker’s “The Art of Gathering,” she has some super helpful advice on what she calls “generous exclusion” and creating meaningful gatherings, online and off. Her frameworks might help you think through some of this! Would happily pay $10 for a more focused community—but as others have said, it depends on what Superpath is “for” — is it a more exclusive, high-value community for higher-ups in content? or is it a place where anyone interested in content and marketing can come and learn from a huge group of talented folks? not an easy decision!

i've not heard of that book but i will check it out. sounds like exactly the kind of resource i could use

I think one of @Leonardo Pizarro’s points deserves some more attention: if there are more niche channels, I think that would organically improve the signal to noise ratio. I have enjoyed the community getting larger but it’s harder to keep up with as much just due to size. I’d be on here more often if there were, in my case, a technical content channel. I think a broad channel like <#CUYDAGXKR|> is bound to get busy if things keep growing.

@Nick Moore agree w you. the challenge in practice is that lots of channels are difficult to manage. most people gravitate towards density, and we spend a lot of time asking folks to move things. there are better ways to manage that of course, but i'm generally a fan of fewer channels. we should probably just archive the <#CUYDAGXKR|> channel bc it's far too vague. #content-podcasting is an example of a niche channel that's very quiet. most podcast questions end up in <#CJ7QQKJ73|>

Jimmy while you do the soul searching to settle on what you want Superpath to become as pointed out by Jason upthread, I think a quick win would be for you could spread the moderation burden out a bit by asking for long-standing members to volunteer as moderators.

@Saïd - Ayewo that's a great point

I'm not a fan of excluding people and I am an infrequent poster. Some months I'll post a lot and others not. I don't think I'd pay $10 a month. But $20 a year yes so long as it's not mandatory for everyone. I'd also maybe pay for exclusive webinars or virtual conferences depending on the topic. Which I think is your better monetizatoon strategy. You might also consider empowering some frequent users to be volunteer moderators and tell people to move posts. If you see it you say something. Encouraging the community to self moderate might help reduce the work.

One approach I’ve seen work well is “pay what you want/can” with a few different tiers (I know Stripe allows for this). The folks I know who have used this for their workshops/subscriptions have gotten a reasonable amount of monetization out of it, while still making content accessible to other people.

While I get the need to curate a better experience, I also have subscription fatigue and have been looking consolidating or letting things go wherever possible. Unfortunately this has meant letting some of my favorite communities go.

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) One thing to consider when absorbing all the feedback, there is often a difference between what people will say they will do and what they’ll actually do.

Unfortunately, they only way you’ll know for sure if people will pay $10-15/month for the community is to set up a paywall and see who pays to go through it.

You may want to consider if there is some form of reversible test you can try to see what the actual uptake will be of a paid community, if you’re still wavering about whether you want to do it or not.

yes this is a very good point. last thing i want to do it is put up a paywall, no one pays and i'm SOL

A couple of thoughts from reading this thread:
• I like the idea of having some skin in the game, and $20 a year seems like it would be accessible to most everyone (and hopefully drive people to actually get more value out of the community). I feel like when people get something for free, they're more likely to ignore/undervalue it. If someone really can't afford it, I'm sure Jimmy would work something out.
• I think $10 a month is fair for the "premium" tier of channels, especially if Superpath Pro includes it. I'm thinking we could have a few broad channels open to everyone (<#CJE58H0P2|> <#CUYDAGXKR|> etc) so that it's accessible, but then channels like <#CJ7QQKJ73|> could be in the premium tier. And then use some of those proceeds to create more value in those channels, like more AMAs, guest moderators, etc.
• I would absolutely contribute more for free in Superpath for the $10 tier to add more value, whether it's committing to answering more questions or doing an AMA or moderating or whatever. And I'm sure others who have benefited from Superpath would feel the same...
• Maybe we think beyond the Slack community for additional value in the $10 tier... optional small groups? Group Guru account like Pavilion does? There are other things we can do and I know from experience this community isn't contained by the bounds of the slack group

I do think enough people would pay if the value was there and the positioning was right... I'm grandfathered into Exit Five which is a paid B2B marketing community and I get way more value out of free Superpath. They have a lot of paying members.

i can definitely imagine keeping a few free channels and paywalling others. and yes, i'd be happy to try to find ways to help anyone who wanted to be in.

First of all, kudos to @Jimmy Daly (Superpath) for being transparent and asking the question. Any time you ask folks "would you like this free thing to cost money now", most folks are going to say no. I get it. It's a business, and sponsored posts can only go so far (tbqh I ignore them all).

Sorry for the essay, but TL;DR: I would gladly pay $10/month—the value this community has given me is easily in the 5-figure range in terms of salary boosts, freelancing opportunities, connections with smart people, etc. And I'm sure my employer would pay it.

From my perspective, this community has changed a ton over the past few years. It started specifically for mid-career, in-house content folks and has changed into more of a "content education for everyone" community. That doesn't mean it's worse—it's just different.

So as others have said, it's more of a decision to make about what this community is about/for.

If I had a vote, I would argue there are many free online communities and resources for beginners out there. Lots of free education on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. There are very few meaningful places to have nuanced/detailed discussions about content strategy with other experts, so that's what I would prefer this community to be.

If there's a way to achieve that in this community without putting a paywall on it, I'd be down. Or different ways to segment the community/create connections without heavy moderation.

Re: get long-time members to moderate for free. Not gonna lie, I'm not gonna do that. Maybe someone would. I already consider actively helping folks in this community every day a "give a penny, take a penny" act.

All the other arguments folks have brought up are totally valid. Just my personal preference for what I want from this community.

I agree with Eric above. I joined because it was for more senior level people. In fact I signed up for pro before the slack community because of the value I saw. Personally, I would like something like the private groups where we can workshop on a specific idea or get feedback. And I would also like to see something geared toward more mid-senior level so I can level up my career.

@Eric Doty (Superpath) makes a great point that I missed, thanks for the transparency @Jimmy Daly (Superpath)!

of course! it's very important to me that members have a say and i deeply care about each of these responses. it's incredibly helpful

I disagree with @Eric Doty (Superpath) that there are a lot of free resources available for early career or international people. I can't name another online community that provides that specifically for content people and Twitter or LinkedIn isn't an actual online community. Regardless, one of the best ways to learn is to be a fly on the wall of discussions that people who are more senior are having. I generally don't get responses to my questions from people who are unqualified to answer them. I also lean towards mentorship and helping our profession develop -- since it helps us all -- as Maggie generously points out time and time again in here. The kind of cross-level advice and support she always so generously provides is extremely valuable to our field. I think we would lose a lot. Not least of all quick responses to a question -- trim the forum too much by gating it and suddenly you have a reinforcing pattern where you post and no one answers so you just stop posting. If something needs to be gated, choosing some channels that are exclusive conversations would make sense. But others seem to be gesturing towards a desire for a paid group with a forum, meetings, or events with more senior content people within the existing free community. Which is something I'd be more willing to pay for as it has a very different value proposition and adds more value. You could also have a waiting list and only accept X number of new members a month going forward unless they subscribe to Pro to limit community growth.

$10 is a small price to pay, to ensure quality and that those who run this amazing community are supported, plus I could write off a portion on my taxes anyway.

And to add, I've received several leads for projects in here over the last year. The value I've received far surpasses at this point.

Just throwing out another idea, not sure if it’s even possible in Slack—perhaps there could be paid and free models where if you’re on a free model, you can read / observe channels (i.e. “listen in” “fly on the wall”) and only paid members can comment / post (similar to how many paid substacks run). That would allow for free learning / observation / etc. for some while reducing moderation needs. There could also be some paid-only channels for more niche / private questions. Or perhaps there could be a free mentorship / learning channel for all while having other channels locked for paid subscribers only (I think someone else has mentioned this)

i love this idea @Rachel. slack is very limiting in this regard. you're either a member or not. they give us very few controls. i have thought about moving to another platform but i thnk it'd be too much, i think we'd lose nearly everyone in the process.

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) agree. As much as I love superpath, I think I’d simply forget to check it if it wasn’t on Slack…

Ok, this is going to be slightly dramatic, but bear with me.

TL;DR: I’d likely pay $10 — but I’d be sad about it.

We’re all going through a rollercoaster these days. Lost clients, layoffs, AI — anxiety is through the roof.

Although I’m mostly in the shadows, I like lurking around here. It’s been 1+ years I believe and when I first found out about Superpath I thought I landed in some sort of content heaven. Just being able to read so many interesting things from so many interesting people, watch the discussion, and even feel some sort of tacit camaraderie — these things are priceless for me. I spent years of my life in a bubble and when I found this place, I found “my people”.

Superpath is part of the reason I chose to stop living under a rock.

BUT. If it goes paid, I know a lot of people will go away, and the pleasant background buzz this place is will not be quite the same. It would just add up to the fractioning of the world of content right now (IMO).

Next thing we know, there would be about 60 other Slacks (free), trying to copy the model, but it would all be just noise.

Let's please keep in mind that Superpath doesn't get funding from the United Nations and that advertisers are challenging to come by, they aren't lined up with credit cards and stacks of cash. Yes the economy is challenging but Jimmy can't be the sponsor of struggling freelancers everywhere. He has to keep the lights on, a roof over his head and the infrastructure of this community running. I sympathize with you and share your pain but we can't expect Superpath to just be free for most forever.

thanks @Mark Burdon. there are so many great communities that have come and gone because they couldn't nail down a win-win financial incentive. my feeling has always been that i won't shy away from this being a for-profit business. without that, it's a side project and i'd need a day job. but i think that financial incentive can be a benefit to the members too bc it can create a really nice experience.

As a former community manager, I feel the need to stand up and say that moderation is a hard job. Expecting people to volunteer to do it is a big ask.

But @Rocco Brudno's comment reminded me of a tactic I've seen before. Please don't come at me with pitchforks, but what about hosting recruiters? Have a premium offering wherein companies buy a "spotlight" piece, and then they'll get a shoutout on the job board and an opportunity to have an AMA with us here. We could ask them questions about the company and what they need, recruiters could make connections, and anyone who isn't interested could easily ignore it. I know a lot of companies that would happily pay for the opportunity to directly reach a lot of high-level folks.

So I can see the benefit of both sides of this discussion. One of my clients has a slack community which is part of a paid offering (similar to Superpath Pro). It is one of the best communities I've found (I can say this even as I work with it) and I think that's because it's a paid model. BUT - we offer two types of memberships - an individual membership, and an exec membership that is double the price (where someone is paying for another person's membership - sort of like a scholarship). I could see this being an option.

As someone who has been on a job search for a long time and is currently freelancing, I wouldn't be able to afford it right now, so yes, I would love for it to stay free (or offer some sort of trade for a few people who can't pay). But this is a business, and I get whatever choice you make will be the best for the company and I'll respect that @Jimmy Daly (Superpath) - we love Superpath!

Slack Segmentation? 😅

Just an idea. Similar to a customer journey, having a slack journey. It could look something like that:

1 or 2 free channels for beginners (freelance, hire me, intro?)
1 or 2 low priced channels (job listing, career advice)
1 or 2 higher end channels (strategy, seo,..)
1 exclusive channel (not sure here)

You could also use referral?
ex: whenever you refer someone you get one paid channel for free

Superpath is hands down one of the best slack communities. In @Jimmy Daly (Superpath) we trust 💪

very interesting, i'm intrigued!

I could see the tiered channeled thing being a moderation beast. Everyone would dump their SEO/strategy/etc questions into career advice.

Free channels like intro, job listings, and freelance make sense because the scope of them is super clear.

Part payment is something can consider. Definitely up for it. Doesn't take a large portion of my (unsegmented) salary.

Or even an annual payment - pay once a year, like I pay for Headspace.

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) I would absolutely pay to stay in this community. You've built a product/community that is worth a monthly subscription cost. I think it's particularly valuable for freelancers and agency owners. I can directly attribute at least $56,000 in revenue to the connections I've made here. Way better ROI than coaching I've paid thousands for. As with any other community, I think a lot of the value is in how deeply and proactively you engage. For folks doing that here already, paying a small fee is a no-brainer.

whoa that's amazing!

Thanks to everybody for sharing ideas.

If Superpath Pro doesn't have a slack a channel, you can add it and increase the price. Because the people in this free community is more than those in Pro.