ICYMI: How Creators Can Get You Into the Group Chat

With Sara Wilson | Expert Series

The ICYMI series of trusted industry voices continues with Sara Wilson, a strategist who specializes in helping brands tap into online communities.

I’d been talking with Sara about doing a community-focused guest post for a while, and this one turned out to be the perfect companion to last week’s newsletter about the LeBron James WhatsApp group chat.

She shares four lessons on how creators can help brands enter closed communities with credibility — and thrive there.

How Creators Can Get You Into the Group Chat

by Sara Wilson

While creators still dominate headlines, they've become gateways to something far more powerful: a thriving ecosystem of organic communities that represents marketing's most untapped goldmine.

From WhatsApp groups where obsessive thrifters share their latest finds to Discord servers where Fortnite players strategize their next victory, from local run clubs transforming strangers into friends to forums where Swifties meticulously decode every Easter egg in Taylor's latest video, to dedicated members of the Bellion Army dissecting every note of Jon Bellion's unreleased demos—these spaces, both online and offline, unite people around shared passions, values, interests, and obsessions.

In these spaces, people aren't passive consumers of content—they're active participants in a collective identity.

How did we get here?

I first wrote about the proliferation of these spaces in 2020 for Harvard Business Review, where I called them "digital campfires."

In the years since, they've exploded in scale and influence.

Discord has grown from 56 million to over 200 million monthly users, while private messaging communities on platforms like WhatsApp have become central to how Gen Z connects, with users spending 50% more time in groups than in one-on-one chats.

Even Reddit, long a hub for community-based interactions, saw its active communities increase by 41% in 2023 alone, with over 100,000 active subreddits where like-minded individuals gather around increasingly specialized interests.

This community renaissance isn’t limited to online interactions.

According to Eventbrite, in-person gatherings around niche interests have seen a 35% increase since 2022, with board game nights and specialized hobby meetups quadrupling in frequency on their platform.

Though communities are taking center stage, creators are often essential bridges between these worlds and brands. Whether founding their own spaces or earning insider status in existing ones, creators can function as gatekeepers who can either welcome your brand into these powerful communities or lock you out completely.

The brands that master creator partnerships to enter these spaces can unlock levels of attention, relevance, and loyalty that traditional marketing dollars can’t buy.

What makes these communities so uniquely valuable to brands is that they function as what I call PIPEs—Personal Identity Ports of Entry.

Unlike passive content consumption, participating in a community becomes part of who someone is, not just what they do.

These spaces aren't just where people gather; they're where identities take shape and solidify.

This identity formation creates a psychological attachment no traditional advertising can match.

Showing up in communities can be one of the fastest paths to cultural relevance. The data is clear: brands with high cultural relevance grow nearly six times faster than those without it.

This makes community not just a nice-to-have, but a powerful business advantage.

"But brands can't actually show up in closed communities, right?”

I get this question from brands constantly, and it reflects a legitimate concern.

Yes, these communities are usually private or semi-private spaces with their own established dynamics and protective boundaries. But this doesn't mean your brand is automatically unwelcome.

The key lies in how you approach these spaces—with respect, authenticity, and proper introductions.

Rather than barging in with brand messaging, successful entries happen when you're invited in by those who already have the community's trust. This is where thoughtful creator partnerships become essential to your strategy.

Below, four crucial lessons for brands looking to partner with creators as their entry point into communities.