Stop Hiding Community in the Wrong Department | Community ROI with Joshua Zerkel

Why Relationships Drive Better Business Than Funnels | Community ROI with Rochelle Sonnenberg

“90% of a relationship is friendship and that 10% is business. We always think it’s the other way around." In this episode, we discussed how community leaders can turn authentic human relationships into measurable business impact by aligning community initiatives with company goals while staying deeply member-focused, in particular: 👉 Why community growth without retention and engagement is a dangerous metric. 👉 Why understanding “what keeps members up at night” changes everything. 👉 The balance between business objectives and protecting member trust. Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Rochelle Sonnenberg, an experienced community leader who has spent years leading large-scale community initiatives (such as a global network of 700+ Most Valuable Professionals and Regional Directors at Microsoft), designing programs that drive retention, partnerships, and long-term growth, and even founded her own communities, such as Her Tech Community, a connection‑driven space for women and nonbinary professionals in tech! Together, we're connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth! Connect with Rochelle and Yurii on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochellesonnenberg/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/ Timestamps: (00:00) Meet Rochelle Sonnenberg (02:05) Value Of Small Roundtables (07:05) Small Events Meet Business (08:59) From Attendee to Leader (13:06) Facilitating Inclusive Talks (16:05) Office Hours Value (18:21) Setting Goals and Programs (22:32) Cross-Team Partnerships (26:22) Art and Science Cadence (29:40) Internal Community Glue (31:11) Hard Truths and Next Steps (33:35) Winning Leadership Buy-In (39:20) Fast ROI Move: Find Champions (43:04) Sustainable Community ROI #communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

How To Make Community Impossible To Ignore | Community ROI with Michelle Baltrusitis

“The first step is understanding what that team is trying to accomplish, and how community can slot into that.” In this episode, we discussed how community teams can position themselves as strategic cross-functional partners rather than isolated engagement teams, in particular: 👉 Why community ROI is more than engagement metrics. 👉 How to get leadership buy-in for community initiatives. 👉 How to make community a cross-functional business asset. Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Michelle Baltrusitis, a Head of Community and Social Impact at Fiverr, who's helping freelancers and underrepresented entrepreneurs grow through community, coaching, and real opportunity! Together, we're connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth! Connect with Michelle and Yurii on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-baltrusitis-aa1700136/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/ Timestamps: (00:00) Meet Michelle Baltrusitis (01:03) Michelle’s Social Impact Path (03:28) Building Internal Advocates (06:48) Getting Team Buy-In (09:43) Freelancers and Marketplace Strength (12:36) Trust and Success Stories (16:50) Metrics and Content Strategy (21:58) AI and Community Workflows (25:44) Tool Stack and Collaboration (29:46) Proving ROI to Leadership (32:19) Social Impact vs Community #communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

The Community Dinner Strategy That Generated $3M in Pipeline | Community ROI with Ed Giansante

“Sometimes one deeply trusted conversation is worth more than a thousand shallow impressions.” In this episode, we discussed how curated community experiences generate real ROI by bringing the right people together, and connecting community work directly to sales, marketing, product, and leadership goals, in particular: 👉 Why smaller, highly curated community experiences can outperform scalable events. 👉 How to turn community conversations into warm, consent-based leads. 👉 What community professionals can do right now to prove their value internally. Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Ed Giansante, a community professional with decades of practical experience from driving millions in savings at Zynga to scaling engagement and support for over 500 million Dropbox users, and beyond that, creating his own platform, Edublin, reaching millions, who turns communities into real business outcomes by trusting guts, backing it up with data, and telling compelling stories! Together, we're connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth! Connect with Ed and Yurii on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/ Timestamps: (00:00) Meet Ed Giansante (02:33) Small Events Big ROI (06:17) Dinner To Pipeline Engine (13:08) Community Is Revenue (16:12) Keeping Sales Out In A Good Way (19:10) Jeffersonian Dinner Format (22:05) Choosing Right Topics (23:44) AI for Community Scale (25:09) Proving Community Value (26:44) Awareness to Revenue Funnel (30:36) Questions That Matter (35:38) Cross-Team Community Work (38:01) Leadership Buy-In ROI (40:47) Internal Allies First (43:38) Stop Overthinking Start Doing #communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

Stop Hiding Community in the Wrong Department | Community ROI with Joshua Zerkel

“We need to stop saying community can do everything and start defining what it is uniquely built to do.” In this episode, we discussed why community should stop being treated as a “nice-to-have” support function and become a strategic business layer that connects the entire customer journey, in particular: 👉 How community placement inside an organization impacts its perceived value. 👉 Why “being helpful” is not enough for community teams anymore. 👉 What the ideal community org structure could look like in the future. Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Joshua Zerkel, a community-integrated go to market professional with 20 plus years of practical experience and the author of The Community Code (go grab it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ4NYQ5N/)! Together, we're connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth! Connect with Joshua and Yurii on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/ Timestamps: (00:00) Meet Joshua Zerkel (01:19) Key Lesson from Writing (02:29) Why Org Placement Matters (04:28) Risks of Wrong Department (07:53) Where Community Usually Sits (08:24) Marketing vs CS vs Sales vs Product (13:42) Community as Horizontal Function (14:55) Earning a Seat at Table (20:10) Programs and Metrics by Team (26:14) Co Creating Not Just Helping (31:24) Best Cross Team Tandems (33:32) How Community Evolves with Growth (35:48) Building the Community Team (38:17) Ideal Org Structure Blueprint (39:37) Why Community Sits Where It Does #communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth

How to Turn Community Signals Into Business Impact | Community ROI with Jenifer De Figueiredo

“If your community disappeared tomorrow, what signals would your company lose? That’s your return on investment." In this episode, we discussed how community becomes business-critical asset helping other teams to understand where the market is moving, and which community members are ready to contribute, advocate, or convert, in particular: 👉 Why community ROI starts with understanding what signals the business would lose without community. 👉 How to identify leading indicators before trying to prove final business outcomes. 👉 How community can reveal product needs, expansion opportunities, brand momentum, and ecosystem trends. Join Yurii Lazaruk, the Community Consultant, and Jenifer De Figueiredo, a community and program manager who blends data science, creativity, and strategy to turn communities into real growth engines: from scaling an AI community by 260% to bridging product, marketing, and data, she definitely knows how to herd some cats! Together, we're connecting community goals with business goals to drive business growth! Connect with Jenifer and Yurii on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenifer-de-figueiredo/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurii-lazaruk-community-consultant/ Timestamps: (00:00) Meet Jenifer De Figueiredo (02:31) Mediating Change for Members (03:51) UGC Flywheel Basics (05:45) Automating UGC with AI (09:40) Business Value of UGC (11:25) Finding Content Everywhere (15:32) Community Health Metrics (19:57) Reporting Impact Internally (22:24) Getting Leadership Buy In (25:21) Top Teams Community Serves (29:37) Ideal Community Tech Stack (33:29) Proving ROI with Indicators #communityROI #communitybuilding #businessgrowth