Anyone who establishes a community does so with aspirations of an active place: humming with fantastic discussions, visited by regulars, and vital to its members. You’d never start a community assuming that nobody engages there. And yet, this is a frequent outcome—especially for community managers and entrepreneurs who adopt an “if you build it, they will come” attitude.
Sparking early involvement is one of the most challenging jobs that community administrators of newly-launched communities confront. But, like other challenging projects, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You may use these tactics to plan your community launch or to reinvigorate a community that’s failing.
As a community manager, keep in mind that you should always avoid placing too much value on involvement for engagement’s sake. Keep your broader objectives in mind—the real-life effect you think “engagement” will have on your members or business—as you put these methods into action.
1. Preserve the established, encourage the new:
The goal is to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Existing members want to continue their journey with you; new members want to discover what you’re doing that’s beneficial to them. Each member of your community needs to have a feeling of belonging – therefore, invite them to share a piece of their lives. This is the first step toward increasing community engagement – a process that will continue.
2. Emphasize their uniqueness:
After establishing a community and initiating involvement, the next stage is to tailor the approach. Therefore, start with content curation. Create material that members may relate to. Appeal to their emotions and arouse their brains. Humor is an excellent strategy in this instance. Allow them to contribute to your community platform’s content sharing. Develop mentorship programs and seminars.
3. Be authentic and inactive:
Often, engagement wanes when you settle into a rhythm. Change things up a little by inviting members to actual meet-ups. It is worthwhile to invest in such efforts since they are just as beneficial as business networking sessions. You can use these offline events as product predecessors, offering exclusive deals to community members.
4. Make things simple for them:
Avoid erecting excessive barriers to member engagement. Frequently, businesses obfuscate access and participation methods. This will result in your page or group being unfollowed. While collecting user data for analytical purposes may be tempting, refrain from doing so regularly. One of the first steps in this direction is to ascertain the sort of community your target audience desires.
5. Maintain a regular schedule of interactions:
Plan prudently. Once a week, twice a week, or twice a day — adjust the frequency of encounters according to the character of your community. This is crucial once individuals expect something from you consistently.
Parenting groups, for example, publish up to four postings every day – and it works for them because parenting is a dynamic process, and parents often consult the internet or local communities for information.
6. Recognize regular participation:
You must take an active role. Naturally, by honoring the best participants. Not only will this increased involvement, but it will also provide something for inactive members to strive towards. Distribute digital stickers or recognition badges (Facebook accomplished this well by giving ‘top fan’ badges to regular users), allow them to get special discounts on your items, and create a sense of ‘luxury.’
7. Recognize user-generated content; make your brand community-friendly:
The cardinal sin of community group administrators is not publishing enough user-generated material. These are just a few of the often-cited reasons that are not consistent with our mindset’, ‘no positive feedback,’ ‘it just will not work.’ However, keep in mind that internet forums are for open conversation and exchanging material, ideas, and criticism, among other things. Assume the role of moderator, filter abuses, and provide a safe place for everyone to submit their work freely.
8. Provide them with add-ons:
Another critical component in sustaining community participation is moving ahead with some activities by giving all members a weekly mailer or newsletter with weekly updates or what to look forward to the following week. Additionally, it may be a blog/vlog. Alternatively, you may send them greetings on their important days. It gives consumers a sense of belonging to know that the brand is sharing information. The benefit is that you can immediately contact each member with offers, discounts, and other buy-now services – as well as upsell them.
9. Communication:
Connect Brands that establish communities but fail to communicate with their members will suffer low user engagement. Utilize all accessible channels – such as forums, comments, and so forth. Nothing turns people off more than a sense of being overlooked. Therefore, if a member asks a question and must wait a week to answer, the engagement is finished. Therefore, be prompt in responding to inquiries and resolving problems.
10. Collaborate with members of the community:
Bear in mind that developing an online community is an excellent marketing technique. Therefore, once you have significant membership, you must devise a strategy to include them in your marketing efforts. Begin by identifying important stakeholders, determining their alignment with your organization’s aims, and collaborating with them to advance your community’s cause.
11. Foster a feeling of common purpose:
Active involvement in professionally selected polls and surveys may also be used to increase online community engagement. Indeed, it’s an excellent method for navigating evolving algorithmic landscapes and retaining user interest. Share the findings with members — inform them of what they stated collectively.
12. Recognize and use community influencers:
Each vibrant community will always have a segment of super-users who may urge the quiet observers to become active participants. You may assign them the responsibility of mentoring and engaging new members – tag them in chats, ask them private questions, credit their virtual identities, and empower them to invite other members to in-person events.
13. Stabilize the community:
A self-sustaining community will also support your company. Therefore, invest in broadening your community’s social reach and ability by assisting members in sharing their knowledge and skills. Organize community resilience-building activities – and once the community is self-sufficient, you can reach out to generate leads, establish brand loyalty, and retain existing consumers.
Conclusion
With AtomChat creating an engaged community takes less effort, attention, and a commitment to analyzing your community’s patterns and habits to provide a better experience for members.