4 Community Manager Success Stories [2025]
A community manager business is a service that helps businesses and organizations build and engage with their online communities. This can include managing social media accounts, moderating online forums and discussion groups, and organizing events and campaigns to encourage community involvement.
Running a successful community manager business requires a strong understanding of social media platforms and online communities, excellent communication skills, and the ability to create engaging content. It is also essential to analyze data and metrics to measure the effectiveness of community-building efforts and continually adapt and improve strategies.
One essential tip for running a successful community manager business is thoroughly researching and understanding the target audience and their needs and interests. This will help create relevant and engaging content and campaigns to build and maintain a strong community. It is also essential to be responsive and timely in addressing any issues or concerns that may arise within the community.
Another essential aspect of running a community manager business is to stay up to date with industry trends and best practices, as well as any changes or updates to social media platforms and other tools used for community management. A community manager business can ensure long-term success and growth by constantly evolving and improving strategies.
In this list, you'll find real-world community manager success stories and very profitable examples of starting a community manager that makes money.
1. Vital Traffic Labs ($600K/year)
David Schlais, co-founder of Vital Traffic Labs, came up with the idea for his social media marketing agency after realizing the massive margins that larger marketing firms were making for mediocre work. With almost no experience in social media marketing, he and his partner set up their agency in a day and quickly secured their first client, leading to a successful growth trajectory and the ability to leave their 9-5 jobs within six months.
How much money it makes: $600K/year
How many people on the team: 0
This case study follows the co-founder of a social media marketing agency who left their 6-figure 9-5 jobs to build a business that has grown to between 50-60K in monthly recurring revenue in just 3 years, attributing their success to putting clients and quality of work first while scaling to new clients and opportunities.
2. Rebel Book Club ($156K/year)
Ben Keene and Ben Saul-Garner came up with the idea for Rebel Book Club after realizing they both had a habit of buying books and not finishing them. They decided to create a book club where members would commit to reading one book a month, attending a meetup, and enjoying a custom cocktail inspired by the book. The club quickly grew, and now has 570 subscribing members and generates £10,500 in monthly recurring revenue.
How much money it makes: $156K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 0
Two friends started an online book club that now has 570 members and generates £10,500 MRR, by addressing the problem of 'Tsundoku,' charging a monthly subscription fee for one non-fiction book, one inspiring meetup, and one custom cocktail, inspiring conversation and community.
3. 52Frames ($120K/year)
Started as a personal project for Yosef's personal photography improvement, he eventually started a Facebook page for other enthusiasts to join as well, and ran it that way as a passion project for over a decade, with people participating in weekly photography contests. It was only until 2021 when Yosef launched a premium site membership that generated him enough revenue to quit his freelancing career in video production.
How much money it makes: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0
52Frames is an online photography community that started as founder Yosef Adest's passion project, which grew into a successful business with over 3,000 photo submissions weekly and 700 paying members after ten years of incremental growth and centred around community building, organic word of mouth, and delivering value to customers.
4. Seedscout ($108K/year)
Mat Sherman, founder of Seedscout, pivoted from being a struggling musician to a startup enthusiast, eventually creating a network that simplifies introductions for founders, investors, and job seekers. Inspired by his own challenges in raising capital, Seedscout now generates $9,000 monthly from 65 paying users.
How much money it makes: $108K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 1
Case study: Seedscout is a social network for founders, investors, and job seekers that generates $9,000 per month from 65 paying users and has attracted over 1,500 users who are open to intro requests, offering valuable networking opportunities in the startup community.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
