In a city with endless meetups, how do you find the groups with the most value? When I first created the Meetup group, Cloud Mafia, it was meant to be a networking tool for a select group of companies in San Francisco; however, demand quickly gained traction amongst professionals within the city. Cloud Mafia grew from 500 to 2300+ not because of topic or product, but rather a member-centric focus that built a passionate community.
Despite Cloud Mafia’s growth, one piece of feedback remained consistent: members wanted to curate their own experiences versus having outside influencers and sponsorships. As a result, the group has a continuous loop of contribution from members who host, sponsor and present at our monthly functions.
The cycle of support is a core principle to Cloud Mafia and we got here by following three key steps:
- Great customer experience establishes loyalty and customer voice
- Great product only gets you ½ way there, the other ½ is creating an experience that is entirely customer-focused
- Ask for feedback – while new customers are exciting, loyal customers create a brand
When organizing an event, ask yourself the question: is this experience valuable enough for guests to forfeit a night with their family? If the answer is ‘yes’, you’ll see no problems with attendee numbers and odds are, you’re putting your customer first and overlying objective second.
Come see a customer-centric group by attending Cloud Mafia’s monthly meetups. Next one is on 11/5.

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