I'd go with Telegram too!

go where you like best - you won't want to check a platform you don't like

a warning though - communities are super hard

Telegram is the besttttt

I think Telegram is pretty fringe in the US/barely anyone using it - I'd go with Discord, but ultimately go with whatever you're most comfortable with and see what happens. You can always add other platforms later.

Oh, hi! I actually help create [and grow] communities for clients, and I'm a marketer + strategist (so ideal member all around). :)

1.) What's the purpose of it? How are you positioning yourself?

Social - marketers coming together to casually talk + support + accountability
Educational - teaching marketers new concepts/providing educational resources
Networking - marketing coming together to connect + share contacts/swap services
Something else

2.) Is it paid?

3.) Do you have additional offers you'd like to sell (or offer) to this audience? If so, where does this community fit within that offer structure? Do you need it to integrate with your ESP, CRM, etc?

4.) Which platforms are definitely out for you? (Either because you don't use them or because your audience isn't on them or it's not a good fit for the purpose?)

• Facebook is good for free social communities if people are there, but NOT good for educational communities (or more serious accountability communities) because people get distracted/don't go there to learn or work. You'll also be at the whim of algorithm gods + could get shut down any time/lose access to your entire community overnight

• Discord is busy af, and it's not a great space for educational stuff or for neurodivergent people who get easily overwhelmed with lots of chaotic notifications, but a lot of people like the platform

• Telegram isn't as common in some places, and in the US, it has a reputation of being a little spammy, but some people do use it for memberships. It also wouldn't be a good place to house resources, though.

• I'm in a few Slack communities (all OTP, not recurring payment), but they're ALL work focused. If yours is more social, people might have resistance going there. But they do allow for gamification.

All that being said, I typically lead my clients to Mighty Networks. (And not just because I have an affiliate link lol.)

Here's why:

• they don't advertise it, but they have a free plan (just let your trial expire), so it's great for people who are still growing or who don't plan on monetizing their community

• they organize conversations wonderfully and everything is easy to find PLUS you can make some conversation spaces/forum spaces private (paid-access only or they have to qualify another way)

(I have founders-only spaces in my membership for people who joined when I first created my membership.)

• it has self-containing sales/landing pages (that also integrate with whatever you possibly want -- I have mine integrating with Convert Kit)

• you can sell multiple things AND it's a holistic ecosystem, which means people in one offer (let's say your community) can see and easily purchase other offers

(I run writing accountability cohorts, so people in my free or paid community can see these and join whenever they'd like -- AND they get to stay in the same place they're already familiar with because it's all housed in MN.)

• you can have education content or resources right there and easily organize it (you'll need to be on their paid plan -- second tier -- for this)

• you can easily gamify their experience (which is something I absolutely LOVE)

• there's a Mighty Network app for easy community on the go (so no laptop/desktop required)

• if you want to get REALLY fancy with it, you can white label their service and make your own branded app (but this is VERY pricey, fair warning)

• it's not on social media, which means you don't have to fight the algorithm to be visible

Anyway, I'm happy to chat more if you'd like, whether market research, strategy, or something else! Feel free to reach out any time. :)

Check out Booklet, which is a modern email community. It’s my indie project, and I started it for the same reasons you highlight. Chat is noisy and people don’t pay attention. So, I build it on email - and use AI to make really good summaries and subject lines, so people can stay updates without staying logged in or getting tons of notifications. And, with email there’s nothing to install.