Why Community Feels So Complicated in B2B Media

The complex relationship between audience strategy, monetization and genuine human connection.

A room with good questions and open chairs.

A few weeks ago, Joe Pulizzi published an item on LinkedIn that caught my attention: Stop Trying to Build a Community.

Ever since “community” became a publishing buzzword, I’ve been a little suspicious of it.

Maybe it’s like that Groucho Marx quote: “I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.” Or maybe it’s the corollary to Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come” — but only if they like baseball.

What We Really Mean by "Community"

At least in publishing, we’ve become so focused on audience strategy, niche positioning, and “earned trust” that we risk forgetting something deeply human: people are drawn to places before they’re drawn to brands.

Maybe the real question is: what IS community?

Too often in media, “community” becomes shorthand for monetizing trust. And audiences can feel that immediately.

Maybe my skepticism comes from spending years in B2B media markets built around things that aren’t obviously emotional: poultry production. Cybersecurity. Business travel. Fruit growing. Industries where “community” can sound suspiciously close to engagement funnels, first-party data strategies, or retention tactics wrapped in warmer language.

And honestly? Sometimes it is.

The problem isn't monetization

But maybe the answer isn’t pretending commerce has nothing to do with community.

Humans have always gathered around shared work, shared identity, and shared economic interests. Trade guilds. Professional associations. Conferences. Local business groups. Farm co-ops. Motorcycle rallies. Knitting stores.

The problem isn’t monetization itself.

The problem is when the transaction becomes more important than the people. For media organizations navigating declining platform loyalty and fragmented attention, that distinction matters. Audiences know when “community” is just another engagement strategy — and when it’s a place where they genuinely feel seen.

I’d also argue that some of the strongest communities began before there was a clear “value proposition.”

Examples:

• early internet forums

• fandoms (think Swifties)

• Reddit communities

• knitting groups (specifically, because I’m a knitter: Ravelry.com and MDK.com)

• motorcycle rider forums (AdventureRider.com)

• open-source communities (think Drupal or WordPress)

Most weren’t built around a polished publishing mission. They formed because people wanted connection, identity, and participation.

Sometimes the campfire IS the reason

Pulizzi says, “Build the reason first. The campfire comes later.”

I disagree.

Sometimes the campfire IS the reason.

Not every community begins with a tightly defined audience pain point, content strategy, or publishing mission. Some begin because someone creates a place people didn’t realize they needed.

A field.

A forum.

A meetup.

A Friday morning Zoom.

A room with good questions and open chairs.

People don’t always gather around utility.

They gather around identity. Curiosity. Ritual. Shared language. Inside jokes. The relief of finding other people who care about the same strange thing they care about.

“If you build it, they will come” only works if the field means something to people.

But when it does?

Community often emerges before strategy.

Sometimes the campfire comes first.

Sometimes people gather because the light is on, the chairs are open, and someone made room for them to belong.

The communities we keep

I’ve experienced this myself.

More than a decade ago, a supplier launching a new platform created a small user group to help customers learn from one another as the product evolved. It started as a business initiative. A smart one.

But from that original group of about 20 people, five of us are still close professional — and personal — friends today. I still think of them as “my panel of experts.”

What began as a vendor-led user community became something much more human: a trusted circle of people who have supported each other through career changes, industry shifts, and life outside of work.

That’s part of why “community” in B2B media feels so complicated to me.

Sometimes, business interests and genuine belonging are more intertwined than we want to admit.

Why this matters now

In an era of fragmented, distracted, geographically scattered audiences, maybe the real challenge isn’t building community.

Maybe it’s learning how to create places where people feel recognized, welcomed, and worth returning to.

I’m genuinely curious: what professional communities have felt most meaningful to you?