Creating a highly Engaging community is the most popular need of any business in 2022. Communities help their customer to get connected with thousand of like minded people and have fun together. Communities also help to increase the engagement of customer with brands product and services and they also stay updated with the trending topics. But the main question is how to build an engaging and profitable community online.
There are top 10 ways to create an online community which can be monetise:
1. Start every member’s journey with a warm welcome
You could say something like that. Or you could say nothing at all and cross your fingers! But if you do, you’re missing an opportunity to help new members make themselves feel at home. All it takes is a few quick words of encouragement and direction to let them know they’re in the right place, among the right people. An automated email or DM would do the trick nicely.
For bonus points, consider setting up weekly or monthly ice-breaker events along with fun ways for newbies to greet each other.
2. Give members a reason to invest time in their profile
Online, your profile is your passport. A way for others to see who you are, what you’re about, why they should know and trust you. For sites like Amazon, it’s stuff like postal address and bank details. For an online community, it’s passions, experiences, and opinions.
Without a profile, it’s harder for people to get to know each other. So to avoid them leaving dissatisfied, give a little encouragement. As part of your community engagement strategies, you can explain what they could gain or, better yet, inspire them! Your community is likely built on a shared passion, so ask them to tap into that. You could even run competitions for the most interesting new profiles. Get creative!
3. Be responsive, lead by example don’t miss out!
You’ve built the space, attracted the people, got things going – the dream is on track! Now for the fun part… meaningful connections with people who share your vision.
Dialogue is what it’s all about, and your members look to you to show them the way. It’s not enough to post and run, or start a conversation and not listen for the answer. Instead, respond to comments with observations, feedback, follow-up questions, or tag other members who might be interested. Otherwise, your people could start to feel invisible.As the community manager, you don’t have to micro-manage every conversation but you should try to be present on the Community platfrom, visible, and approachable.
4. Moderate firmly but fairly to keep trust and order in your community
Leading by example extends beyond inviting people to take part. You also need to set the expectation of how to behave. And remember, you get to define exactly what that means, especially if your community space is owned by you instead of Facebook or any other tech company. So what makes sense for your individual community?
Whatever your rules and guidelines are, it’s up to you to enforce them. So plan your community-building ahead. What will you do if a debate gets too heated? Where do you draw the line on appropriate content? How will you balance being the friendly face with the authority figure? It’s nothing to worry about but it’s best to be prepared
5. Forge deeper connections in the community with sub-groups
Who are your community members, really? They all share an obvious connection – it’s how you brought them together – but a closer look could be revealing.
In most thriving communities, especially larger ones, leaders notice trends in what members do and say and evolve the community accordingly. For example, if you ran a yoga community and consistently saw members talking about practicing during their workdays, you could create a space dedicated to that topic. This usually leads to deeper conversations and connections and shows you understand what your members want.
Another great community engagement strategy is to seek out your most and least engaged members. If they’re quiet, you could offer encouragement to help them get involved more. If they’re loud and proud, you may be able to bring them closer to your inner circle and get their help. We call these ‘super members’, and there’s more on that later.
6. Migrate from social media to your own private community
When you’re starting out, using social media to build a following is a given. Millions of potential fans and followers gathered in one place is attractive. But it’s also distracting, risky and increasingly controversial.
If you’re after genuine loyalty, deeper connections and a more meaningful space online to call your own, social media isn’t a long-term solution. A far more rewarding and reliable option is to create your own purpose-built platform (don’t worry – it’s easier than it sounds!) and to help your members migrate across.
You’ll likely trim the fat a bit and lose some of your unengaged members in the process, but that’s no bad thing. To help smooth the transition, make sure you have your community engagement strategies all polished up. You can highlight the benefits of your new space, post a steady stream of high-quality content there, and stay visible and accessible in case of questions.
7. Give people the courage and tools to express themselves
Most online community members don’t set out with the intention of staying silent in the shadows, lurking and liking but rarely pitching in. Some are happy to just absorb information and do still feel part of the club, but most people join for human connection and self-expression.
We’ve already covered how to foster early connections between members with warm welcomes, but it needn’t end there – especially if you have control of your own private community space. Experiment with opinion polls, brainstorms and debates, creative challenges, digital get-togethers. Get creative! You could even ask your members for ideas.
A great way to make people feel at ease with sharing is to give express permission – create a ‘Photos Thursday’ or ‘Sunday Reflections’ ritual where everyone is invited to share, comment and connect without judgment.
8. Make it meaningful and fun to be your fan
Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Surprising then, how many online communities seem to fall at this hurdle, making their spaces feel like one long advert. While promotions are important, especially if you aim to monetize your community, there must be a balance.
As a rough guide, aim for 50/50. No more than half of your posts should be promotion-focused – everything else should be your original, engaging and exclusive content and conversations.
Also, remember your community engagement strategies can involve other people. Let your members bring the fun too. Across the communities we build and support, over 98% of content comes from the members. When you give them the space to be themselves, using features like our fan wall, fun has a tendency to create itself.
9. Include eye candy wherever possible
Online, a picture’s value isn’t just that it tells a thousand words, it’s that it grabs attention better than anything else. Walls of text have their place, but visually pleasing content is more likely to make someone stop, look and feel something instead of scrolling on.
It’s a neat trick. So the next time you write a post, or create a new feature, think about how you could make it pop. You don’t need an art degree – simply attaching a relevant image or GIF can do wonders. Or if you really want to add a personal touch, shoot a quick to-camera video. You could try a few practice runs first if you need to get comfortable with it.
10. Let the games begin for next-level engagement.
Gamification is the process of making something more playful, interactive and engaging by tapping into our emotions and psychology. Combining positive experiences, instant feedback, motivation, competition and rewards, gamification keeps members hooked.
One basic idea you could try out is Top Fan Points, which you award members each time they take part in activities and honour on a leader board. What might you offer as a weekly prize?
Better yet, what game would suit your community’s vision or purpose? Fitness communities might host weekly ranked dance challenges. Literary communities might collaborate on a story, taking turns to write a paragraph. Learning communities might award badges for completing a course. If you can tie gamification as a community engagement strategy to what your members love, you’ll surely be onto a winner.