10 ideas for community engagement to Take This Week
If you've ever run communities, either online or offline there's something you've learned. Getting people to show up within a community is awesome. However, getting them involved and excited to be there is even more effective.
Sometimes, that's an obstacle. It's not always easy to convince people to dive into the conversation and become involved. There are those who prefer to lurk on the sidelines for an extended period. If you're unable to get individuals to get involved, there's a fear that they might drop out completely from your community.
Okay, enough for the worrying stuff. There's a bright side, it doesn't have to be difficult to keep people engaged in a community.
Actually, with the right strategies and tools it is possible to get your member engagement rolling this week.
The coolest part? Engaging members can act as an iceberg. As more people are engaged as they become engaged, the more active members will help other members become more engaged. That means your efforts to get your members engaged will result in long-term, lasting effects which you're not able to imagine.
If you're looking to begin with your community, these tips will assist. Here are 10 ways to engage with your community that you can steal this week!
If you're looking for more help for building your online community, come join OUR Mighty Community for free as well as meet fellow new and experienced community leaders! We'd like to get to know you. Sign up at no cost!
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1. Customize the new member user experience
5. Find your ideal member and the Big Goal
1. Customize the new member experience
Let's chat about the most significant moment on the journey of a new member: their first few minutes, hours and days within a community.
This is the scary point to your brand new friend. This is like becoming the new kid at school. Everyone else knows each other and knows how things are going, and it's a bit daunting to jump in.
So you need for to provide a fantastic welcome experience for new members. Make sure that everyone who comes into your community understands how and where to get started. It is important to bring people to participate in discussions, make them feel welcome to show them where the opportunities can be and how they could be as well as let them know that you're here to help.
In an online community it is possible to achieve this by creating an amazing digital experience for new members.
For example, within a Mighty Network, we created a new member checklist that is customizable and can be made your personal. Every new member sees this, and it walks them through steps like setting up their member profile, saying hello to the community or asking their first question, and RSVPing to their first live event.
The way you design the experience is entirely the decision of you. What's for certain is an awesome welcome experience will not leave people hanging. They'll jump in and start playing.
*We have a free training to create a new and exciting members experience within our Mighty Community! *
2. Go live... a lot!
We love live streaming. It doesn't matter if it's an event planned or an unexpected surprise, live streaming brings the element of the real in your online network.
Live streaming might be accompanied by some "um", but don't get hung up on this. In the midst of all the perfect created social media channels available, a little bit of humanism is welcomed.
In order to boost member engagement, try going live regularly. Talk about the things you're learning, talk to members of your community, or an external guest or even have an open-ended question-and-answer time or an An AMA.
Also, before you ask Yes, the butterflies experienced prior to live streaming are normal. The process can be nerve-wracking to live stream when you've never tried it before. If you rip off the Band-Aid and try it, you'll be amazed at what you'll see. More engagement.
And by the way the presentation abilities of your students will get better in the course of time. Also, those butterflies will fade off. Try it out!
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3. Updates to emails
Okay, so as you contemplate your strategy for engaging with the community consider the function that email can play.
One of the best things of a community platform, especially one that comes with an app that is beautiful and built-in, is that your users don't have to be emailed about everything. You should have notifications with their community platform (and the best platforms will allow them to personalize these ).
This gives you the option to think strategically in your use of emails. There is no need for constantly emailing your clients every day. You can send out updates, or let people know about events. If users have been absent from the platform for some time, this is a great idea to bring people to the platform.
When life becomes busy, which it does, a weekly roundup of events that have occurred within your neighborhood can aid people in staying connected, and get them ready to jump into the next round of activities.
4. Incorporate play
Communities are supposed to be enjoyable. There are times when we show the tendency to become too serious, especially if members are charged for membership. It is possible that you are feeling the pressure to try to deliver an event that appears... "professional. "
There's a time and place for that. It's not that we're saying you should not remain professional.
However, being "professional" isn't always about having to take everything seriously all the time. An ideal community must also have a sense of fun. If you can get your members laughing together, connecting over the vulnerability of having fun and being playful You will create some awesome member experiences.
You can try incorporating fun activities. Virtual game shows. Karaoke. Things that break your community away from seriousness and increase engagement through entertainment. If you are looking for an event idea that is fun and engaging We have an extensive listing of ideas below.
5. Find your ideal member with a Big Purpose
We recommend doing at the planning stage of your community, during community Design(tm). Even if you didn't do it at the planning stage, it's not too late to start these activities right now.
Each community requires two essential elements. The first is that you need an ideal member. You need to know exactly who your community is for. As specific as you can about these members; know the characteristics of them, their desires and goals as well as what they are passionate about.
If you can create a specific Ideal Memberfor your community, it will help your community engagement. Because instead of throwing stuff on the ground to see what sticks, you can just focus on helping your
Ideal Members solve the problems that they have. This is the recipe for those who show up and get involved.
Another aspect of this is to create what we refer to as the Big Purpose. The purpose of your Big Purpose is to define who your community is for and how you can aid them to achieve. This is how it looks.
By the way We offer absolutely free instruction on how to find both your Ideal Members and the purpose behind your participation within our massive community.
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6. Moderate that one thing
Being a great member of your community doesn't only revolve around what's happening going on in your neighborhood. The main thing is that there are some things your community shouldn't have.
That's where a solid community moderation plan comes into play.
The members of your community should feel secure in the community. They must be assured that they will not be bullied or victimized. It is important to trust that they won't see posts that contain sexism, racism homophobic, racist, or any another form of discrimination.
If you're looking to create a community where members feel secure it is essential to develop an effective moderation plan. Inform your members of what their expectations are and make sure to review the guidelines often. Do not be afraid to utilize the moderation tools within your community platform to flag or block offensive material. And think about choosing some of your most engaged faithful members to aid in the process of moderated content.
Moderation isn't very exciting from the beginning. There is nothing more thrilling than having a pen and paper to write out the rules.
But trust us, the psychological safety of the members of your community will be worth it. When people feel secure, they are way more inclined to be involved.
7. Create rituals
Imagine stepping back in time to those human settlements that were in existence many thousands of years back. The time when our forefathers gathered in campfires. What was it that helped those communities stay in their bonds?
One of the main factors in social bonds was the importance of rituals. Rituals helped to define being part of the society. They were used for major changes in life, such as those rites of passage that mark the transition from being a young person and becoming an adult. Or, they were used to commemorate the passing of time. They were used to mark the passage of weeks, months and even years.
Your community could benefit from the benefits of rituals, too. While you're going through the daily activities of your group, pay attention to instances that are worthy of being performed in a ritual. Perhaps you've done something once for new members that you want to keep doing to all members - similar to the experience for new members you mentioned earlier. You might once in a while hold a particular type of community-based event that everyone looks for. Perhaps it's an annual community party.
When you create these special moments in time, naming these moments, and making them special it is creating rituals. This is something that humans have done for centuries, which makes rituals a potent instrument for community involvement.
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8. Ask questions
When we've studied the communities we've found one factor repeatedly that causes the sense of engagement. There's no secret about it.
The point is...questions!
Questions can draw people in. The questions ask them to think about something. The answers are based off their own experiences and know-how, something that people are all happy about. The short answer is that questions could be the most effective way to increase member engagement.
We care about questions so much that, a few years ago, we put together this fantastic guide for 1,000 discussion questions which you can utilize to spark discussion in your group. Get it here for free.
9. Go on quests
We've also built something into the game that we're really overjoyed about. Quests. Similar to knights from the past they take the community in a quest. We offer a complete and no-cost training for creating quests within our Mighty Community too!
10. Unscripted
This is a second tip to help you get into the mind-blowing power of engaging with your community. Are you prepared?
Unscript.
As community managers, it is tempting to manage every aspect. To scrub everything. So that everything looks flawless. If you ask any person who's spent any time in a group and they'll inform you that the most powerful moments tend to be the ones nobody expects. Unscripted moments.
It might be the live stream that guests aren't able to join and the resultant discussion end in being much more effective than that session would be. This could be the time where a community member breaks into tears while other members jump into the fray to help and support them.
It's obvious that there's nothing you can plan to include spontaneous moments. It would defy the point.
But do create spaces and times to work connected in ways that aren't completely scripted. And be willing to let the magic unfold.
11. Empower your best people
Community, as the word suggests, shouldn't be done on its own. The leadership of a community shouldn't be performed by itself also.
One of the key ingredients for a successful community engagement strategy is to attract people and not try to be an all-person event. Sometimes, it is necessary to hire a community manager. But often it just means giving members the tools they need to be in the community.
It is possible to do this through things like an Ambassador Program, that gives your members a reward to invite new members. Also, you could promote your best members to co-Hosts or moderators. This could be unpaid or paid positions You may also be shocked to discover that people invested in your community love having the chance to assume a leadership role and go deeper.
Ready to start?
We hope these tips have you excited about bringing fresh life in your group. Be aware that the presence of thousands of members won't bring much value if they aren't engaged. Using these tips will assist you in getting your members in and retain them. We've seen repeatedly members may join communities for the benefits or classes, however people stay in communities long-term because of the relationships they develop within them.
If you're in search of an incredible platform to build your community on, come try ! It's a complete community engine which connects subgroups, forums, messaging, live streaming, courses along with integrated events and much more. Members can be charged for their the membership fee, offer courses for sale or subgroup access, or bundle any and all of these. It comes with an awesome app that users will love.
However, don't just take our word for it; you are able to try it for without cost in up to 14 days!
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