5 Signs Your Community Platform Isn’t Serving You (Or Your Members)

In theory, community platforms should be the heart of your membership experience - places where ideas are shared, relationships are built, and your organisation’s value comes to life.

Community Building

In theory, community platforms should be the heart of your membership experience - places where ideas are shared, relationships are built, and your organisation’s value comes to life.

But in practice? Many platforms fall short.

If you’ve ever felt like your community is more of a digital ghost town than a thriving ecosystem, you’re not alone.

Here are five signs it’s time to reassess your platform — and what to look for instead.

1. All the engagement comes from you, not your members

If you’re the one constantly posting, prompting, and trying to spark conversation… that’s not a community. That’s a broadcast channel with comments.

A healthy digital community should show signs of life without you in the room. Peer-to-peer conversation. Spontaneous activity. Organic connection.

If that’s missing, the platform might not be designed to empower members - only administrators.

2. Members don’t log in regularly

Low log-in rates are more than a tech issue - they’re a relevance issue.

When platforms are unintuitive, noisy, or don’t fit naturally into someone’s day-to-day habits, people stop showing up.

If you’re relying on constant email nudges to bring people back in, it’s time to ask: Is this platform really earning their attention?

3. You struggle to gather feedback or insights

Your community should be a goldmine of insight, not a black box.

If your platform makes it difficult to see what’s resonating, who’s engaging, or where members are getting stuck, you’re flying blind.

And if you can’t easily ask your members for their views or input, you’re missing one of the core advantages of having a digital community in the first place.

4. It feels like a forum, not a community

There’s a big difference between having a space to post and creating a sense of shared purpose.

If your platform is just a list of threads or announcements with no structure, no journey, and no real identity, your members won’t feel part of something.

A true community is built on relationships, not just replies.

5. You’re not seeing real-world impact from digital interaction

If your community activity doesn’t lead to event attendance, programme sign-ups, advocacy, or retention, then what’s it for?

Platforms should act as a bridge between digital engagement and real-world outcomes. When members feel connected and invested, they’re more likely to act.

If that isn’t happening, the issue might be the foundation, not the effort.