Hello everyone! Today, I’m thrilled to feature Chelsey Moir, a social media strategist, brand marketer, and community builder who has worked for T‑Mobile, Yesler, and PitchBook, and now leads global brand marketing at Ignition.

Before we dive in, a quick note: if you have any community opportunities or shoutouts you'd like to share, I'm happy to use this space to help amplify your message, completely free of charge. Just reach out at [email protected].

As Chelsey Nelson boarded a packed flight from Sydney to Hawaii, she had no idea a chance encounter 30,000 feet in the air would become one of the most defining moments of her community-building journey. Wandering down the aisle, she turned to find a familiar face behind her – a face she knew only from profile pictures and online interactions. It was Amanda, a member of Ignition's Women in Accounting community, and one of the “Top 50 Women in Accounting” honorees in 2021. The two had never met in person before, yet here they were, recognizing each other like old friends. They snapped a selfie, marveled at the coincidence, and later shared the story on LinkedIn, amazed at how “what a small world it was”. For Chelsey, that serendipitous meeting put a real human face to an online community and reinforced a core truth: behind every username is a real person craving connection.

Chelsey’s ability to forge these personal connections is no accident – it’s the product of over a decade of experience and a thoughtful approach to community building. An innovative community builder by trade, Chelsey is part of the driving force behind Ignition’s customer community and its global Top 50 Women in Accounting program. She started her career managing social media at companies like T‑Mobile, Yesler, and PitchBook, roles that taught her how to cultivate engagement on every channel. “Doing something around social media ultimately means you are building a community on each of those channels,” Chelsey notes, reflecting on her 12+ years in the field. Little did she know that these early experiences would pave the way for her to unite thousands of professionals across continents – and across platforms – into thriving online communities.

From Social Media Manager to Community Leader

Chelsey’s journey into community leadership wasn’t a straight line, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense. In her early career, she cut her teeth running social media strategies at major companies. This meant not just posting content, but actively engaging customers and followers – essentially functioning as a community manager before the role was even formally defined. Over time she realized that community was the common thread in her work. At Ignition (a SaaS platform serving accounting professionals) Chelsey found her herself diving deeper into community building - alongside managing Ignition's organic and paid social presence in a multifaceted role. Ignition handed her the reins to two key communities: their general user community (professional service providers around the world using Ignition’s product), and the Top 50 Women in Accounting program – an initiative Ignition sponsors to recognize 50 leaders in the accounting industry every year. Chelsey’s mission: grow these communities, keep members engaged, and deliver value that transcends any single platform.

Stepping into this role, Chelsey brought with her a philosophy shaped by years on the front lines of social media. She understood the importance of meeting people on their turf (be it Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn) but also the power of having a dedicated home base for deeper community interactions. “If you’re the one running the channels… ultimately you’re going to be looking to build a community in various parts,” she explains, recalling how even at big companies she would nurture niche sub-groups on private Facebook or WhatsApp chats alongside the main channels. At Ignition, this insight would soon be put to the test in a big way.

The Multi-Platform Puzzle: A Community Scattered

When Chelsey took charge of Ignition’s communities, she found members engaging on all sorts of platforms – and not always in sync. The Women in Accounting network, for instance, had alumni chatting in external WhatsApp groups, following the Ignition Facebook page, connecting personally via LinkedIn, and engaging with Ignition’s Instagram content. This platform fragmentation was a double-edged sword: on one hand, the community was everywhere, which meant convenience for individuals on their preferred app; on the other hand, it was hard to unite everyone for collective discussions. Posts and conversations were siloed, and members who weren’t active on a given platform risked missing out on important updates or camaraderie.

Chelsey recognized this challenge immediately. She knew that if the community remained splintered across Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram (and perhaps a dozen other channels), it would be difficult to build a strong, unified culture. Members might start feeling excluded if the “real action” was happening on a platform they didn’t frequent – for example, younger professionals less inclined to use Facebook might feel left out of a Facebook-centric group. The task at hand was clear: how do you unify members across multiple platforms without leaving anyone behind? It was time for Chelsey to solve the multi-platform puzzle.

Choosing a Common Hub: Why Facebook Groups Won Out

The first step was to pick a primary gathering place – a single platform that could serve as the community’s home base. This decision was not one to make on a hunch; Chelsey approached it with characteristic thoughtfulness and data. “That’s been one of the biggest debates… which platform is best,” she says, recalling internal conversations about where the community should live. Rather than guess, she went straight to the members. Chelsey ran a quick poll (via SurveyMonkey emailed to the Top 50 Women in Accounting alumni) asking how they would prefer to connect as a group. The responses came back as a mixed bag – no surprise given the diverse ages and tech preferences in the community.

However, a few clear patterns emerged. Many members were in their 30s and 40s (with a good chunk in their 50s), and for this demographic Facebook was a familiar, comfortable space. By contrast, some other suggested platforms had obvious drawbacks. WhatsApp, while great for quick chats, would be “one continuous feed” that’s hard to search or organize – fine for casual banter, but unwieldy for building a knowledge base or lasting discussions. And LinkedIn Groups, as Chelsey knew from experience, were largely a ghost town in terms of engagement. She felt LinkedIn’s interface treated groups like an afterthought (posts felt buried in the feed, with no real notifications or urgency), making it “one of the biggest misses on the platform right now… a very unengaging area” in her words. A trendy option like Slack or Discord was also floated, but many members weren’t using those tools daily for work, whereas nearly everyone had a Facebook account.

In the end, Facebook Groups emerged as the strategic choice for the community’s main hub. It wasn’t a perfect solution – Chelsey knew a few members (especially younger ones) were not keen on Facebook – but it was the platform with the least friction for the majority. Facebook offered a private, dedicated group space, easy content sharing (photos, links, events), and the familiarity of a social network people checked regularly. By consolidating on Facebook, Chelsey could create one central forum where announcements, discussions, and resources would live, rather than chasing conversations across five different apps. The Women in Accounting Facebook Group quickly became that unified home, and today it includes about 150+ women from around the globe sharing ideas and support. The puzzle piece of “platform choice” was put into place – but the work was just beginning. Now she faced the next challenge: making sure no one felt left out around that chosen platform.

Meeting Members Where They Are (Without Losing Focus)

After committing to Facebook Groups as the primary community hub, Chelsey did something savvy: she met her members where they were, while gently guiding them to where she wanted them to be. In practice, this meant crafting a multi-channel communication strategy around the Facebook Group so that even those who rarely logged into Facebook would still feel involved.

First, Chelsey personally connected with each and every member on LinkedIn – all 287 of them. This might sound old-school, but it ensured she had a direct line to everyone outside of Facebook. If someone wasn’t active in the group, she could still reach them one-on-one via a LinkedIn message. In fact, for about a dozen members who flat-out refused to use Facebook (we all have that one friend!), Chelsey kept a special list. “I’ve got a list of the top 10 who have said they’re really only LinkedIn people. I message them…while that approach isn’t scalable for communities of thousands, it works for our group,” she explains. It’s a manual touch, but those personal nudges on the platform of the member’s choosing go a long way in making them feel valued and informed.

Next, she set up an old reliable fallback: email. Every major announcement or piece of news that got posted in the Facebook group would also be sent out to the community via email . This way, nobody would miss out on an event invite, a speaking opportunity or a big update just because they didn’t log into Facebook that day. It’s extra work to double-post content, but Chelsey knew it was important. Email served as the safety net catching anyone who wasn’t checking the Facebook group regularly.

Through LinkedIn DMs and email updates, Chelsey kept peripheral members in the loop, but always with the goal of drawing them into the main Facebook space for deeper engagement. She would often mention, “By the way, there’s a great discussion happening in the Facebook group on this topic – come join if you can,” to encourage migration without forcing it. Over time, even the skeptics saw the value they’d get from popping into the Facebook hub now and then.

Crucially, all this multi-platform outreach did not devolve into running parallel communities. Chelsey was very intentional that the Facebook Group remained the source of truth for community content, and other channels were supportive satellites. The key lesson here for community builders is balance: you can maintain a centralized space while still leveraging other platforms to meet people on their terms. Chelsey’s inclusive approach ensured no member felt excluded due to platform choice, yet the community as a whole retained a coherent center of gravity.

The Power of Personal Connections (Online and Off)

What truly sets Chelsey’s community leadership apart is her emphasis on the people over the platform. The story of meeting Amanda on that flight is a perfect example – it wasn’t a planned “community event,” just a happy accident, but Chelsey seized it as an opportunity to strengthen a bond. “Moments like that can really strengthen your community. You’re seeing them, you’re recognizing them – they are real people,” she says of that encounter, noting how it even put a face to herself as the organizer in the eyes of members. After that chance meeting, Chelsey found the experience “really personalized it for me”, reminding her that everyone in the online group is a living, breathing person with a story. It reinforced her philosophy that community building is as much about human moments as it is about online engagement.

Inspired by this, Chelsey doubled down on creating more opportunities for personal interaction. If members could randomly meet on airplanes, imagine what could happen if you brought them together intentionally! In the past year, she helped organize the first-ever in-person meetups for the Top 50 Women in Accounting alumni – gatherings in Las Vegas, Sydney, and London that coincided with industry events. For many members, it was the first time meeting a fellow Top 50 alumni they’d only ever seen in a tiny profile picture. These meetups were full of laughter, swapping stories, and the kind of easy camaraderie that only blossoms when you finally meet face-to-face. By all accounts, they succeeded in “bridging that gap between all these people who had interacted with each other’s posts and content but had never actually met in person”. Chelsey expects to see a lot more of this online-offline crossover in the future, because the boost in trust and friendship afterward is immeasurable.

But you don’t need frequent flyer miles to create personal connections in a community. Chelsey also infuses a personal touch into daily digital interactions. She makes a habit of congratulating members on their professional milestones (thanks to being LinkedIn-connected, she sees their promotions and project posts), and will even reach out to ask if they’d share their experience or do a short interview for the group. “If I see something pop up on LinkedIn… I send them a note: ‘Hey, this is a really interesting project…could we chat?’ That’s a really good way to approach things on a personal level,” Chelsey says. Not only does this make the member feel seen, it often surfaces great insights or stories that benefit the whole community.

Even at scale, small gestures matter. When inviting members to an event or asking for volunteers, Chelsey doesn’t send a faceless mass blast – she takes the time to personalize the message and address people by name. Members aren’t just “@user123,” they’re “Amanda” or “Susan” with unique talents to offer. That individualized outreach has an outsized effect. As Chelsey observed, “those broader messages are personalized with their name [and] I’ve seen engagement go way up when it’s directly addressed to them.” It’s a simple tactic any community builder can use: speak to one person, not an amorphous crowd, and you’re likely to spark a better response.

Fostering an Active and Inclusive Community

With the right platform in place and strong personal bonds forming, the final piece of Chelsey’s strategy is nurturing a culture of engagement and trust. A community is only as good as the participation within it. In the survey Chelsey sent out, one message came through loud and clear from members: they wanted a space that’s active and doesn’t “start off strong and then die” after the initial excitement. We’ve all seen it happen – a new group launches with fanfare and a burst of posts, but a month later it’s a ghost town except for the same handful of die-hards talking to themselves. Chelsey was determined that Women in Accounting (and Ignition’s user community) wouldn’t suffer that fate.

To keep things lively, Chelsey wears many hats: discussion moderator, content curator, cheerleader, and occasionally gentle enforcer. She seeds the Facebook group with fresh discussion topics regularly, often inspired by what she hears from members. If engagement seems to be dipping, she isn’t above tagging a few individuals (who she knows are knowledgeable on a subject) to invite their perspectives and get the ball rolling. By proactively prompting members to share their stories and questions, she ensures it’s not just the same five people posting all the time. In fact, one of the community guidelines Chelsey put in place is essentially “don’t be the loudest voice in the room; allow space for others”. This norm gently reminds the more vocal members to step back occasionally and encourage quieter members to speak up, keeping the conversation diverse and inclusive.

Perhaps most importantly, Chelsey cultivated trust as the foundation of the community. Many of the Women in Accounting members join the group specifically seeking like-minded peers and a safe place to discuss challenges – whether it’s balancing work and family or handling a tough client situation – that they might not feel comfortable airing in a public forum. Chelsey understood that if members were to open up, they needed to feel 100% confident that what’s shared in the group stays in the group. She honed the community guidelines to be very clear about confidentiality and respect. “Creating a space where they can have those conversations builds trust,” Chelsey explains, which meant spelling out rules such as nothing shared in the group should be shared outside of it without permission. Members are asked to keep each other’s stories confidential (no screenshotting someone’s vulnerable post to gossip about it elsewhere), and to treat one another with kindness and professionalism. These might seem like obvious rules, but by explicitly stating them and enforcing them, Chelsey helped set the tone for a supportive, inclusive environment. The payoff? Members feel safe to candidly discuss issues they care about, which deepens the community’s value for everyone.

Chelsey’s multifaceted approach – combining an optimal platform choice, inclusive outreach, personal engagement, and a trusted atmosphere – has paid dividends. Both the Women in Accounting and Ignition communities are thriving. Members frequently share success stories, seek advice, and collaborate on projects. Newcomers remark on how welcomed they feel, and alumni stick around because they genuinely enjoy the interactions. The community isn’t tied together by technology or a single Facebook group; it’s held together by the relationships and norms that Chelsey has carefully nurtured.

Key Takeaways for Community Builders

Chelsey Nelson’s journey offers a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to build or strengthen a tech community, especially in an era of platform overload. Here are some actionable takeaways inspired by her story:

• Give your community a “home base.” Don’t let your community float aimlessly across ten different apps. Use surveys or member feedback to identify a primary platform that most members are comfortable with, and establish that as the central gathering place. It could be a Facebook group, a forum, Slack, or anything – what matters is that everyone knows “this is where we come together.”

• Meet members where they are. Even with a home base, be mindful that not everyone will live on that platform 24/7. Find creative ways to accommodate members’ preferences without diluting the core. For example, Chelsey supplements her Facebook group with email updates and LinkedIn outreach to loop in those who aren’t on Facebook often. Similarly, you might share key announcements on Twitter or send periodic round-up emails. Make sure no one feels left out just because they prefer a different channel.

• Keep the conversation alive. An empty platform won’t magically become a community. Plan ongoing engagement to prevent the dreaded “launch and fizzle” syndrome. Seed discussions, ask questions, and involve members in creating content. Pay attention if activity lags and jump in with fresh prompts. Members appreciate a space that stays active and dynamic over time – it’s a sign of a healthy community.

• Add personal touches to engagement. People respond when they feel seen as individuals. Whenever possible, personalize your interactions: address members by name, acknowledge their achievements, and invite them to share their expertise. Small gestures like a personal DM celebrating someone’s work anniversary, or a shout-out in the group welcoming a new member, can massively boost a sense of belonging. It might not scale to thousands of one-on-one chats, but even at scale you can personalize some element of the experience (for instance, using personalization tokens in emails or highlighting a “member of the week”).

• Build a culture of trust and inclusivity. Community flourishes when members feel safe and respected. Set clear guidelines that encourage respectful dialogue and protect privacy. Intervene promptly if anyone violates the trust or civility. Also, strive to amplify diverse voices: encourage quieter members to contribute, and ensure a few dominant personalities don’t monopolize the space. Inclusivity doesn’t happen by accident; it’s a result of consistent, thoughtful moderation and community norms.

• Bridge online and offline when possible. There’s nothing quite like meeting your community in person or at least face-to-face on video. Look for opportunities to take online connections into the real world – be it informal meetups, an annual user conference, or virtual hangouts on Zoom. These interactions create powerful bonding moments (who knows, you might even run into a member on your next flight!) and can re-energize your community. Even if your community is global, regional meetups or virtual events can replicate that “we’ve met and now we’re closer” feeling.

By implementing these strategies, community builders can navigate the complexities of platform fragmentation, engagement fatigue, and member diversity. Chelsey’s story shows that you don’t have to be everywhere all the time; you just need to be intentional about where and how you show up for your members.

Conclusion: Reflect on Your Platform Strategy

Chelsey Nelson’s journey is a testament to the art of community building in the digital age – it’s equal parts strategy (choosing the right platform, setting up processes) and heart (making people feel valued and connected). She found success by unifying her community in one primary space without alienating those on the margins, by forging genuine relationships with members, and by fostering an environment where everyone feels they belong. It’s a balancing act many of us in the tech community space face: How do you bring people together in one place, yet still meet them on their own terms?

Now, take a moment to reflect on your own community and platform strategy. Are your members scattered across Slack, Discord, Facebook, WhatsApp, and beyond? Do you find yourself stretched thin trying to maintain a presence everywhere? Perhaps it’s time to identify where your community’s true “home” is. Consider polling your members or observing where they naturally congregate – the answer might surprise you. Once you have that home base, think about the creative ways you can welcome those who prefer other platforms. Maybe it’s reposting key news on LinkedIn, or hosting a quarterly Zoom chat for those not active in the forum.

Most importantly, remember to infuse that personal, human element into your community efforts. As Chelsey’s experience shows, a simple personal touch or an honest conversation can spark engagement more than any flashy new platform feature.