LikeMinds unveils First-Of-Its-Kind Report "The State of Indian Community Management"

LikeMinds, a SaaS startup, in collaboration with Community Folks unveiled first-of-its-kind survey "The State of Indian Community Management Report". The report is the first-ever study that attempts to quantify and assess the impact of online communities in India and provide exclusive insights for working & aspiring community professionals working in the country.

LikeMinds enables creators to convert their audience into a branded private community and monetize it.

The data for the report was collected from 180 community builders, supporting over 4 million members from over 60 regions of India, and was conducted for more than 40 days (from 14th June 2021 to 24th July 2021).

As per the findings of the report, the Community Industry in India has started to pick up in the last three years and 64 per cent of online communities who participated in the survey were born during this period. After the COVID-19, many brands realigned their strategies and many organizations have started viewing communities as a more vital part of the business.

According to 40 per cent of the respondents, many Indian organizations have already started having dedicated community roles to engage with their audiences and build a strong relationship.

What is alarming as per the finding of the State of Indian Community Management report is that more than one-third of the respondents who took the survey identified themselves as a female in contrast to the global standards wherein the participation of women in community industry is found to be 2X compared to their other genders. Almost 57 per cent of the respondents experienced burnout in the first 6-12 months and thus there is a dire need for more awareness around self-care.

To build a healthy community ecosystem more than 60 per cent of the respondents expressed that there is a need for formal Community Management training programmes. 53 per cent of the respondents shared that they learnt building communities either while serving as volunteers for other communities or while working full-time jobs.

According to the report, around 55 per cent of the respondents feel that webinar fatigue is on the rise and find webinars stressful as they demand continuous participation in the webinars. Many also have complained that they have lost time in what they consider an unproductive task. Most of the respondents are of the view that the future of Community seems to be hybrid, as it unlocks deeper audience engagement provides data-driven insights, nurtures relationships between the community and its audience, and reimagines the community for the better tomorrow.

Nipun Goyal, Founder & CEO at LikeMinds, said, "The State of Indian Community Management is a first-of-its-kind survey in India, where we tried to bring out the recent trends and pain points of the community management industry in India. While the community management profession has historically been associated with working for a brand, we have seen a significant rise in this becoming a role that more and more independent professionals and entrepreneurs are taking. Our findings suggest that 48 per cent of such independent community creators are already monetizing their communities. Also, 24 per cent of community-led entrepreneurs are earning more than Rs 10 Lakhs annually from their communities. There is a huge potential in starting a community-led business today."

Monetized communities are primarily earning by making their events paid (30 per cent), running premium membership (17 per cent), selling their own courses (16 per cent), or doing paid partnerships with businesses (16 per cent). 73 per cent of the community builders in India are hosting events at least every month for their communities and the observation is that usually the duration of these events last from 40-60 mins (36 per cent) or 1 - 1.5 hours (36 per cent). The average income of an entry-level brand community manager is 3 - 6 LPA in our country. However, as we climb higher up the hierarchy, the earnings of Senior Community Managers / Program managers range from 15 - 30 LPA.

Paras Pundir, Founder of Community Folks, said, "The community Management industry in India has just started to pick up and there are many open questions that need to be answered. The State Of Indian Community Management is an attempt to help us fill those gaps and understand them to the core. 50 years down the line when anyone will talk about the inception of the Community Industry in India, this report release will be the pioneering moment that would be reflected on during the conversations."

Gurugram-based LikeMinds was founded in 2020 by Nipun Goyal, IIT Delhi Alumni, previously Co-founder at Curofy, who is also a successful serial entrepreneur and angel investor with over a dozen investments including 4 YC-backed venturers. It aims to fuel India's creator's economy through its SaaS platform that delivers all the tools any community builder needs to effectively manage and monetize their communities. The venture currently has 35 employees and already boasts of 100+ creators as its customers.