Executive Summary
We analyzed 143 marketing communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.
The big picture: marketing communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.
Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically
- Communities
- 143
- Platforms
- 17
- Avg members
- 117K
- Median members
- 4K
Where Marketing Communities Are Hosted
- Slack: 33 communities (23%)
- Independent Platforms: 26 communities (18%)
- Reddit: 17 communities (12%)
- Facebook: 15 communities (10%)
- WhatsApp: 10 communities (7%)
- LinkedIn: 8 communities (6%)
- Skool: 7 communities (5%)
- Discord: 6 communities (4%)
- Nas.io: 5 communities (3%)
- Circle: 4 communities (3%)
- Mighty Networks: 3 communities (2%)
- Telegram: 2 communities (1%)
- Quora: 1 communities (1%)
- X / Twitter: 1 communities (1%)
- Campfire: 1 communities (1%)
- Disco: 1 communities (1%)
- Turf: 1 communities (1%)
- 33(23%)
Slack - 26(18%)
![Independent Platforms]()
Independent Platforms - 17(12%)
Reddit - 15(10%)
Facebook - 10(7%)
WhatsApp - 8(6%)
LinkedIn - 7(5%)
Skool - 6(4%)
Discord
Format mix
- 59(41%)Forum / feed-based
- 47(33%)Chat communities
- 23(16%)Other platforms
- 14(10%)Private membership
Forum / feed-based is most common (41%), but chat communities is also well represented (33%).
Slack leads, but Independent Platforms and Reddit also represent meaningful shares.
Audience Size & Access
Community size
- Tiny: 3 communities (2%)
- Small: 10 communities (7%)
- Medium: 35 communities (24%)
- Large: 29 communities (20%)
- Huge: 24 communities (17%)
- Massive: 16 communities (11%)
- Gigantic: 4 communities (3%)
- 3(2%)Tiny<20 members
- 10(7%)Small20-100 members
- 35(24%)Medium100-1,000 members
- 29(20%)Large1,000-10,000 members
- 24(17%)Huge10,000-100,000 members
- 16(11%)Massive100,000-1M members
- 4(3%)Gigantic1M+ members
22 communities have unknown member counts.
Free vs paid
- Free to join: 105 communities (73%)
- Paid or apply-to-join: 38 communities (27%)
The average is much higher than the median (117K vs 4K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.
How Marketing Differs From Other Categories
Marketing is less free-to-join, smaller, more platform-diverse, more chat-heavy, and more paid or gated, compared with typical Hive Index topics.
| Metric | Marketing | Hive Index average |
|---|---|---|
| Free to join | 73% | 85% |
| Median members | 4K | 25K |
| Average members | 117K | 657K |
| Paid or apply-to-join | 27% | 15% |
| Live chat | 62% | 41% |
| Discord share | 4% | 18% |
Feature Mix
Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.
Common Features
- Forum: 89 communities (62%)
- Live Chat: 88 communities (62%)
- Online/Offline Events: 56 communities (39%)
- Newsletter: 43 communities (30%)
- Job Board: 34 communities (24%)
- Member Perks: 34 communities (24%)
- Courses: 28 communities (20%)
- Paid Community: 24 communities (17%)
- 62%Forum
- 62%Live Chat
- 39%Online/Offline Events
- 30%Newsletter
- 24%Job Board
- 24%Member Perks
- 20%Courses
- 17%Paid Community
Niche Features
- Requires Application: 18 communities (13%)
- Pairing: 10 communities (7%)
- Tools: 8 communities (6%)
- Token: 1 communities (1%)
- 13%Requires Application
- 7%Pairing
- 6%Tools
- 1%Token
Live Chat appears on 62% of listings.
What Visitors Click
- Outbound clicks / mo
- 1K
Platform supply vs. clicks
| Platform | Communities | Share of communities | Outbound clicks | Share of clicks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slack | 33 | 23% | 561 | 47% |
| Independent Platforms | 26 | 18% | 20 | 2% |
| 17 | 12% | 6 | 1% | |
| 15 | 10% | 16 | 1% | |
| 10 | 7% | 315 | 27% | |
| 8 | 6% | 22 | 2% | |
| Skool | 7 | 5% | 18 | 2% |
| Discord | 6 | 4% | 70 | 6% |
Share is calculated within this topic.
Slack hosts 23% of listings and 47% of clicks, so supply and interest line up.
Most-clicked formats
- 946(80%)Chat communities
- 174(15%)Other platforms
- 44(4%)Forum / feed-based
- 22(2%)Private membership
Most-clicked features
- 1K(90%)Live Chat
- 644(54%)Online/Offline Events
- 563(47%)Forum
- 431(36%)Member Perks
- 385(32%)Newsletter
- 279(24%)Job Board
Most-clicked size ranges
- 399(34%)Large
- 279(24%)Medium
- 185(16%)Small
- 91(8%)Huge
- 18(2%)Massive
Top-clicked listings
- 133(11%)Growth Partners
- 114(10%)LinkedIn Growth Hub
- 105(9%)Growth Marketing Pros
Most clicks go to chat communities and other platforms communities.
Trends
Founded year
- 1997: 1 communities (2%)
- 2003: 1 communities (2%)
- 2004: 1 communities (2%)
- 2008: 5 communities (9%)
- 2010: 5 communities (9%)
- 2011: 1 communities (2%)
- 2012: 1 communities (2%)
- 2013: 1 communities (2%)
- 2014: 2 communities (4%)
- 2015: 2 communities (4%)
- 2016: 3 communities (5%)
- 2017: 3 communities (5%)
- 2019: 1 communities (2%)
- 2020: 11 communities (20%)
- 2021: 7 communities (13%)
- 2022: 7 communities (13%)
- 2023: 4 communities (7%)
87 communities have no founding year on file.
Most listed groups were founded around 2020.
Community Quality & Ratings
Rating breakdown
- 22(92%)
- 1(4%)
- 0(0%)
- 0(0%)
- 1(4%)
24 reviews across 10 communities · 4.8 average rating.
Among highly rated communities
- Live Chatover-indexes89%vs 62% overall
- Member Perksover-indexes67%vs 24% overall
- Newsletterover-indexes67%vs 30% overall
- Forum56%vs 62% overall
- Online/Offline Eventsover-indexes56%vs 39% overall
Based on 9 communities rated 4+ stars.
Among reviewed communities, highly rated groups often include live chat, member perks, and newsletter.
Methodology & FAQ
Methodology
This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Marketing. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.
Updated periodically
FAQ
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