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How to build a discovery community so people find your business

By Queen Sika · Updated

A discovery community is a group of people who already have the problem you solve, in one place you can reach. It is not the same as a following. A following watches you. A discovery community talks to you, tells you what they are struggling with, and buys when you finally offer something.

This guide covers how to build one from Ghana using TikTok to be found and WhatsApp to keep people, and what to post so the right people join instead of everybody.

Watch it: How to build a discovery community for your business online

How to gather people who already have the problem you solve into one place, and keep them warm until they are ready to buy.

What the video covers

  • A discovery community is people with the problem, not people who like your videos.
  • Post about the problem, not about yourself, so the right people find you.
  • Move the people who reply into one group — WhatsApp works fine in Ghana.
  • Give the group something useful every week so it stays alive.
  • Sell only after the group has seen you help, not on day one.

What a discovery community is

Two people can both have 5,000 followers and get completely different results. The one with sales has followers who share one problem. The one with silence has followers who liked one funny video.

You are not collecting people who like you. You are collecting people who have the problem you solve.

FollowingDiscovery community
WatchesReplies
Mixed interestsOne shared problem
You guess what they wantThey tell you in their own words
Views go up, sales stay flatFewer people, more enquiries

How to build one

  1. Step 1

    Name the problem, not the product

    Write down the one sentence your buyer would say about their situation. Every post starts from that sentence. If you sell skincare, the sentence is not “natural skincare”, it is “my face breaks out every time I try something new”.

  2. Step 2

    Post so the right person recognises themselves

    On TikTok, the first line decides who stays. Say who it is for and what is going wrong. The wrong viewers scroll past, which is exactly what you want.

  3. Step 3

    Invite the people who react into one place

    Comments and saves are not a community yet. Invite them into one group — a WhatsApp group or channel is fine, and it is where Ghanaian buyers already are. One link, in your bio and in your replies.

  4. Step 4

    Give the group a reason to stay alive

    One useful thing a week: a short answer to a question someone asked, a small checklist, a live session. Quiet groups die in three weeks.

  5. Step 5

    Let them see you help before you sell

    People buy from the person they have watched solve a small version of their problem. Solve small things in public first, then make the offer once.

What to post in it

  • Answers to the exact questions people send you in the DMs.
  • The wrong fix most people try, and why it does not work.
  • A short story of one person's situation and what changed.
  • One thing they can do this week without paying anyone.
  • A clear note when you have something to buy — once, not daily.

Common mistakes

  • Adding anybody who will join, so nobody in the group has the same problem.
  • Selling on day one, before the group has seen you help.
  • Posting only about yourself — awards, milestones, thank-yous.
  • Letting the group go quiet for weeks and then dropping a price list.
  • No way to pay: people say yes and there is nothing to click.

Not sure whether the problem is your audience or your offer?

The free sales audit checks it in order — attention, offer, buying path — and names the one thing to fix first, so you are not building a community to solve a problem you do not have.

Questions people ask

How many people do I need before it works?

A group of 30 people with the same problem is enough to make sales. Size matters far less than whether they share the problem you solve.

WhatsApp group or channel?

Start with a group if you want replies and questions, which is what tells you what to sell. A channel is better once the numbers grow and you mainly want to broadcast.

Does this work without TikTok?

Yes. TikTok is just the place strangers find you. WhatsApp status, Instagram or referrals from happy customers can feed the same group.

How Content to Sales handles this

Content to Sales gives you the group and the posts in one place. The free community is where you see how a discovery community is run week by week, and the weekly content the app generates is written from the buyer and problem you validated — so the posts pull in people with that problem instead of a general audience. Your business page is the place they can pay, so an interested reply has somewhere to go.

Find your blockage, then fix it

Start with the free sales audit — it names the stage where your sales stop before you change anything else.

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