Community isn't a channel. It's a retention layer. The metric isn't followers or reach — it's the second, third, and tenth purchase from someone who first found you through a comment thread or a DM reply.
The three surfaces that matter
- Comments. The public front porch. Every reply is content.
- DMs. The private conversation. Where the sale happens and the loyalty compounds.
- UGC + reposts. The proof layer. Turn every tag into a moment.
What we measure
- First-response time on DMs (target: under an hour in business hours).
- Comment-to-DM conversion (do public replies pull people into private?).
- Repeat purchase rate on DM-sourced customers vs the site average.
- Tag-to-repost ratio (are we noticing the people who notice us?).
Operating note
The reply that converts isn't the clever one. It's the fast one, from a human who read the whole thread.