A community is an intangible feeling held by it’s members. Everything you can actually see is a manifestation of that feeling. I previously called it the tip of the iceberg.
We are hooked on these manifestations at the expense of the community. If you feel members aren’t posting enough, you don’t need a strategy to get members posting more often. You need to strengthen your community which will motivate members to talk to their friends more often. Thus, more posts.
A community’s strength is determined in it’s membership, influence each member has and the shared emotional connection. Spend more time making investments in these areas. e.g.
- Give members more control and relax the rules (influence)
- Ask members to state their honest opinion on the top 10 issues in your community (membership)
- Include more names & events in your community’s documented history (shared emotional connections)
These are all investments. Every investment will filter through to the measurable manifestations, e.g. page views, time on site, bounce rate etc.
Hi Rich.
Good points. However, could you elaborate on this:
"Include more names & events in your community’s documented history (shared emotional connections)"
I don't get it.
Anders
www.74pharma.com
Posted by: Anders | Thursday, 04 June 2009 at 21:08
Hi Anders,
Thanks for the message. Having a similar emotional states is common in a strong community. Emotional states stem from the history of the community (both short and long term).
An investment in your community is to write up it's history (beyond the corporate about page) and update it. You might include new events, new members, latest happenings etc. The more you update and include this the more people you bring in to that shared emotional state.
It's a little complicated, did I explain this well enough?
Posted by: Richard Millington | Thursday, 04 June 2009 at 23:23