Not Sure How a Tech Stack Can Help Your Business and Brand Community? Read This.

As your business grows, managing the platforms and software that go into building and scaling your online community can get overwhelming in the blink of an eye. But the right technology can turn that chaos into calm.

Having the right tools (for you) at your fingertips can help boost productivity, clarify goals, and provide a clear view of what’s happening (or not happening) in your business and community.

So how do you identify the best technology that works seamlessly with the goals and mission of your business? You create and organize your tech stack. 

What exactly IS a tech stack?

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a technology stack (also called a solutions stack, technology infrastructure or data ecosystem) is a set of different tech and software that you use to effectively run your business and interact with your community.

🛑 Now stop! Before choosing your tech stack, here are a few tips….

• What’s good for others isn’t necessarily the best fit for you. Choose your digital tools based on your specific needs and preferences rather than on a friend’s recommendation.

• Selecting the wrong software now can lead to big problems down the road as your business and community evolve and scale. You’ll either end up having to implement costly migrations to a new platform, or you’ll spend needless mental energy second-guessing whether the software you chose is working for you.

• Take time now to identify, organize, and optimize a tech stack that you can stand behind. Doing this well the first time can save you costly, energy-sapping switches in the future.

So what’s the big deal if you DON’T have an organized, intentional tech stack?

Imagine a Lyft/Uber/Meituan driver with a GPS that doesn’t connect to the app and has no way to text or call you. They’ll get you there, but it will take a lot longer, and you’re likely to run into more than a few complications.

Without an intentionally organized tech stack, you’ll waste money paying too much for software you don’t need, or you’ll waste time, frustrated with a free version that doesn’t have the features you’re looking for or the ability to scale into the future.

Things will feel chaotic, and those bad vibes will spill over into the experience of your community members. You want to be a place where they can feel secure—not overwhelmed.

Not only that but having an organized tech stack helps you integrate different software and then automate and streamline your work. When you’re doing everything manually, it takes up more time, and you’re not taking advantage of the automation available to take mindless tasks off your plate.

You're letting essential data information pass right by you; things like important statistics on customer views, engagement, and satisfaction that will give you the metrics of your progress are missed when your tech isn’t integrated and talking to each other.

The different kinds of tech …

There are two important kinds of tech that you should be aware of:

1) Front-end Tech
Front-end technology refers to the platforms your customers or community members see and experience. Choosing tech that plays nicely with each other and gives the best user experience is important.

Your front-end tech would include programs that involve your emails, community platforms (Discord, Slack, Mighty, FB groups), software for client invoicing and payments (Dubsado), apps for events (Zoom), Learning Management Software (LMS, such as Teachable or Thinkific), and surveys (Qualtrics).

2) Back-end Tech 
Back-end technology is software that your community may not even be aware they're using, but that is powering critical business processes behind the scenes. These programs streamline your payment processes, pull analytics, and automate processes without ever interrupting the community experience. 

Back-end tech includes software for payment processing (Stripe), CRM (customer relationship management) (Hubspot), operating systems/listening/control center (Burb/Common Room), and analytics and automation (Zapier).

The best questions to ask yourself …

Before taking the plunge into any software or tech solution, ask yourself the following questions:

How easily will I be able to switch this software in the future? 
Even if you choose carefully, there is a chance that your needs will change in the future, and you will need to switch to different software. How hard will it be to make the switch if that's the case? The answer to this question should guide how much thought you need to put in upfront. Changing affiliate software for a small business might not be a huge move, but switching community platforms is a major uphill battle. That’s why the latter is a decision not to be taken lightly. 

What can I afford?
Are you only able to work with a free version, or do you have the budget to get something a little more expensive?  

Your options expand exponentially when working with paid software versions, so it might be worth it to carve out a budget to get more of what you want. Be sure to check out the feature limitations on free or low-cost versions. Does the price point jump drastically from free to paid? Or will the change be more gradual? Get ready to set aside some budget now because, if things go well, you’ll need to shell out some cash. 

Will the software integrate with other systems in my business?
The most important systems that need to work together are your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), your email, your community platform, and your Learning Management System (LMS).

If these aren’t integrated and playing together,  it’s much harder to track referrals, monitor revenue generation, or analyze business metrics. Knowing how engagement in your community improves business outcomes helps to keep you motivated and enthusiastic about continuing to invest your time and money.

Tech Stack Example

What does a tech stack look like? Let’s look at a real-life example! I’ve outlined our tech stack below. This is the tech we use to keep our business and community humming. This tech stack is perfect for where we are as a business right now because it is flexible, much of it is low-cost, and almost all these platforms integrate in varying ways with Zapier or directly with each other:

Marketing

Native social media
Squarespace (Website/CMS)
Deadline Funnel (Automated marketing funnels)

Invoices / Payments

Samcart (Course Sales)
Dubsado (Client Sales)
Stripe (Payment Processor)

Learning Management System

Teachable

Emails

Convertkit
Google Suite

Automation / Operating System

Burb
Zapier
Airtable

Internal Documents / Project Management

Notion
Google Suite

Community Platform

Circle.so
Notion (Knowledge Base)

Events

Zoom

Surveys

Google Forms
Qualtrics

Affiliates / Referrals

Linkmink

CRM

Hubspot
Burb

Now it’s your turn!

I hope this article has motivated you to look at your current tech stack. You may be missing something you didn’t even know existed, or you may decide if what you’re currently using is working for you.

But remember, there’s no set it and forget it.

If you’ve been running a business for more than 2–3 years, you’ll find yourself changing things up 2 or 3 times! Hopefully, with this level of forethought, those changes will be relatively painless and straightforward. 

My advice? Keep it to a minimum.  

Constantly modifying your programs can create systemic and operational problems that only grow as your business and community grow.

Getting your tech right at the beginning of your business journey or when you first launch your community can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

This stuff doesn’t have to be dry and boring. When your tech stack fits seamlessly into your business and community, it can be fun and exciting!

For more awesome tips on building an engaged and robust online community, come and visit me on IG @carriemelissajones