A Platform Is One Of Many Pillars

Does it make sense to focus on a single platform when your members participate across many?

Your platform is a utility, like a clubhouse, that your members will sometimes choose to visit.

Like a clubhouse, people visit the platform because of a unique value it provides (privacy, intimacy, knowledge, fun activities, autonomy etc…).

Connecting Everywhere

What is the limit of your community? Who is or isn’t a part of it?

Is the community only the active participants on your community platform?

Is the community everyone who has registered on your platform?

Is it anyone that ever visits your platform (registered or not)?

Base Community Membership Projections Upon Current Metrics

Begin with your current metrics (usually your website or mailing list metrics), don’t guess or make these up.

If you have a mailing list of 20,000 and only 2,000 open your emails, you would be foolish to make a membership projection greater than 2,000.

It’s also unlikely all 2,000 people who open their emails will take the action you want (10% to 20% is more realistic). And only a small percentage of these will continue taking that action (5% to 10%).

What Should The Best Members Do?

Unless you’re in the advertising business, having members lead areas of the community (e.g. Reddit, StackExchange, and Nextdoor) isn’t the most valuable thing they can do.

Your best members, those with the magical combination of time, knowledge, and passion for the topic, should be guided to do the most valuable things. The very things that take the most time, knowledge, and passion.

Most people don’t really explore the full range of what this can mean. Responding to questions might be good, but creating incredible resources is probably better.

The Most Valuable Tips Target Beginners

In a short spell, Karen posted 12 short tips in the Adobe Photoshop Beginners community.

Every tip was targeted at beginners. Topics included:

Pick The Right Platform

If you’re going to drive advocacy, pick an advocacy platform.

If you’re going for customer service, pick a customer service platform.

If you’re going for loyalty and retention, pick a platform that helps build a sense of identity and share/document information.

A Survey Of The Community Manager

3 years ago, I worked on a community where about half the members I interviewed complained about the community manager.

She was too brusk, bordering on rude. She wasn’t the kind of person members wanted to help and build relationships with.

Her personality was undermining everything she wanted to achieve.

The Best Lurkers An Online Community Can Have

Don’t waste your limited time trying to convert lurkers into regulars. It’s an uphill struggle and most lurkers are already as active as they’re ever going to be.

Instead, turn your lurkers into the best lurkers they can be. Don’t try to create new behaviors, shift existing habits instead.

What is the most valuable thing your lurker can read, watch, see, like, or share?

The Bigger Payoff When Members Disclose Their Emotions

People tend to respond to discussions to increase their status or to help others.

But helping others is most effective when we change their emotional state.

Which of these two kinds of discussions are you most likely to prioritize and respond to?

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