10 Ideas for Community Engagement to
If you've had the pleasure of running an online community or in real life, you've learned something. Inviting people to join to a group is great. Making them feel engaged and excited about attending is even better.
And sometimes that can be difficult. It's not always easy to convince people to dive in and get engaged. Certain people prefer to lurk on the sidelines for long periods. If you're unable to get participants to be involved it's possible that they'll be pushed out completely from your community.
It's enough of the scary things. The good news is, it doesn't have to be really hard to get participants involved in your community.
With the right tools and strategies and strategies, you could get your members engagement going in next week.
And you know what's the most exciting part? Engagement is like an iceberg. As more people are engaged as they become engaged, the more engaged members help others get involved. That means your efforts in getting the members of your organization involved will create an impact over the long term beyond what you could ever imagine.
So if you're ready to get started, these will help. These are the top 10 community engagement strategies you could use this week!
If you want more support to build your community online Join OUR Mighty Community for free as well as meet fellow new and established community owners! We'd like to get to know you. Sign up to join for no cost!
The piece...
1. Make it easier for new members to customize their experience
5. Find your ideal member with a Big Purpose
1. Personalize your new member's experience
Now, let's talk about the most important point on the journey of a new member: their first few minutes, hours, or days of a group.
This is the most terrifying part to your brand new friend. You're like the first student at school. Everyone else knows each other and knows what's going on, and it's a bit daunting to join in.
Then you'll need - drum roll please - an amazing first-time member experience. You want to make sure that every single person that joins your group understands how and where to start. The goal is to get participants into discussion, make them feel welcome, show them where things can be and how they could be to do, and remind them that you are there to help.
In an online social network it is possible to achieve this by creating an amazing online experience for new members.
In the example of a Mighty Network, we created a new member checklist that is customizable and can be made your own. Everyone who joins the network sees this, and it walks them through prompts like making their profile public and saying hi on the forum and asking the first question, and RSVPing for their first live events.
What you do with your own unique experience is completely the decision of you. What's for certain is the best new member experience won't leave people hanging. They'll jump in and start taking part.
*We have a free training on creating a fantastic new member experience in our Mighty Community! *
2. Go live... a lot!
We love live streaming. It doesn't matter if it's an event planned or an unplanned surprise live streaming brings the authenticity in your online network.
Live streaming could have the occasional "um" however don't be too concerned about this. Even with all the flawlessly created social media channels available some humanism is welcomed.
In order to boost member engagement, try going live regularly. Talk about the things you've learned, chat with members of your community, or an outside guest, or even have an answer-and-question time or an A-Meeting.
Also, before you ask the question, those butterflies that the moment you start live stream are completely normal. The process can be nerve-wracking to live stream when you've never tried this before. If you tear off the band-aid and try it, you'll be amazed at what you'll see. More engagement.
Also, your presentation skills will become better with time. Also, those butterflies will fade away. Try it out!
Get Your Free Trial There is no credit card needed.
3. Updates to emails
Okay, so as you think about your approach to community engagement take a look at the role that email can play.
One of the best things that a great community platform, especially one with an app that is beautiful and built-in and users don't have to be bombarded with emails on everything. They should be getting notifications with their community platform (and a good platform should provide them with options to modify the notifications). ).
This gives you the option to think strategically in your use of emails. There is no need for constantly emailing your clients every day. However, you could send information or let them be aware of events. If users have been absent from your platform for a long time, it could be an effective strategy to get them to the platform.
If life gets hectic, as it will every week, an update of what's happened in your community can help people stay connected and help them get ready to dive back in.
4. Incorporate play
Communities are supposed to be enjoyable. Sometimes, we have a tendency to get way too serious, especially when members are charged for membership. You might be feeling the pressure to try to deliver an event that appears... "professional. "
There's a time and a place for that. It's not that we're saying it's not appropriate to remain professional.
Being "professional" does not necessarily mean having to take everything seriously all the time. The best community will include a fun element. If you can get your members laughing together by sharing their vulnerability of playing and having fun, you will be building great experiences for members.
Consider incorporating some exciting things. An online game show. Karaoke. Things that break your community out of the serious and increase engagement through fun. If you're in search of ways to make your virtual events more enjoyable We have an extensive collection of suggestions below.
5. Find your ideal member with a Big Purpose
There's something that we recommend conducting during the planning phase of your community during the process of Community Design(tm). But even if you skipped this step at the time of planning It's not too late to start these activities now.
Every community needs two things. First of all, there must be an ideal member. You need to know exactly who your community is for. As specific as you can about the members you have; learn the characteristics of them, their desires and goals, and what they care about.
If you can create a specific ideal member, this will increase the community's involvement. Since instead of throwing objects on the ground to see what sticks, you can simply focus on helping others.
Ideal member to solve the issue they face. Ideal Member is a way for those who show up and take part.
Another aspect of this is to create what we refer to as an Big Purpose. The purpose of your Big Purpose is to define who you are in your community and the things you'll help them do. It looks like this.
By the way, we have totally free instruction on how to find your ideal members as well as your Big Purpose in our mighty community.
Start With a Free Trial There is no credit card required.
6. Moderate that one thing
Being a great member of your community isn't just about what's within your local community. The main thing is knowing the things your community shouldn't have.
And that's the point where a well-thought out community moderation strategy comes in.
Members should feel comfortable in the community. They must be assured that they'll never be bullied, or abused. They must be confident that they won't be exposed to posts that contain sexism, racism or homophobic or different form of discrimination.
So if you want to build a community in which residents feel safe it is essential to develop a good moderation strategy. Let your members know what their expectations are and refer back to them often. Don't be afraid to use the moderator tools available on your community platform to flag or block offending material. Consider securing the most active, loyal members to help in the process of moderating.
Moderation isn't very exciting from the beginning. There is nothing more thrilling than taking a seat and writing down rules.
Trust us when we say that the safety and psychological security of your community members is well worth the risk. And when people feel safe in their surroundings, they're much more likely to engage.
7. Create rituals
Imagine stepping all the way back to human settlements that were in existence many thousands of years long ago. Our ancestors would gather on campfires. What was it that made those communities stick in their bonds?
A big part of social bonds was the importance of rituals. Rituals served to signify belonging in the group. They were utilized for significant life transformations, like the rites of passage between being a child and being an adult. Or, they were used to mark the passage of time. This included weeks, months, and even years.
Your community can benefit from the power of rituals too. When you are navigating the daily activities of your group be aware of the occasions that should be ritualized. Perhaps it's something that you've tried at first for the new members of your community that you'd like to continue doing to all members - similar to the new member experience mentioned above. Maybe once a year you organize a specific community event, something people look for. It could be an annual community party.
By creating these moments by naming these moments, and making them unique, you are creating rituals. This is something that humans have done for centuries, which makes rituals a potent community engagement tool.
Get Your Free Trial There is no credit card is required.
8. Ask questions
In our research on communities, we've discovered one thing again and again that creates the sense of engagement. There's no secret about it.
The point is...questions!
Questions draw members in. Questions ask something of them. Questions get them to pull on their own experience and know-how, something that everyone is excited about doing. Questions could be the ultimate secret to member engagement.
We care about asking questions that a while back we came up with this amazing checklist of 1000 discussion questions you can use to get your community talking. Get it here for free.
9. Go on quests
There's something else we've built into the game that we're really overjoyed about. Quests. Like knights from the past Quests are a way to take your group in a quest. There is a comprehensive and free training on creating quests for Our Mighty Community too!
10. Unscript
Another tip for getting at the magic of engagement with the community. Are you prepared?
Unscript.
As community managers, it is tempting to manage every aspect. To scrub all the things. To make everything look flawless. But ask anybody who's lived in a community , and they'll say that the most memorable moments are often the ones nobody expects. They're the ones that aren't scripted.
This could be the live stream where the guest can't come on and the resulting discussion ends with more power than the session could be. This could be the time that a fellow member tears down in tears as other members jump in to support and encourage their fellow members.
There's simply no way to plan for spontaneous moments. It would defy the point.
However, do allow spaces and times to work with each other in ways that don't seem to be completely scripted. And be willing to let the magic happen.
11. Empower your best people
Community, as the word implies, should not be managed alone. Leadership of a group shouldn't be performed alone either.
One of the key ingredients to a great community engagement is to attract people without trying to become a one-person show. It might mean formally hiring an administrator for the community. However, often it is just that you empower the people who are there.
You can do this with programs like the Ambassador Program. It offers members rewards to invite new members. You could also consider promoting the best of your members to become co-hosts or moderators. This could be unpaid or paid positions You may also be surprised to find those who are involved in the community are thrilled by being able to step into the role of a leader and dig more deeply.
Ready to start?
These tips should get you excited about bringing an exciting new dimension to your neighborhood. Keep in mind that even having thousands of members will not make much difference when they're not engaged. Using these tips will assist you in getting your members in and retain them. It has been proven time and time again that people join communities for the benefits or the courses, but people stay in communities long-term because of the bonds they build there.
If you are looking for an amazing platform to create your community, then give us a to give it a try ! It's an all-in-one community engine which connects subgroups, messaging, forums and live streaming, courses along with integrated events and more. Members can be charged for their membership, sell courses and access to subgroups or bundle any and all of them. Plus, it's an awesome app that is loved by your customers.
Don't believe our word for it; you can test it completely absolutely free in up to 14 days!
Do you want to build your community?