Faking Members (Or Posts)
It’s not uncommon when launching a community to register fake members and initiate some activity between them.
This can work, but it’s dishonest, you won’t feel good about it, and you could be exposed at any money (whether through a mistake, an angry ex-staffer, or a suspicious member).
Once you’re exposed as a liar, it’s impossible to regain your members’ trust.
The tragedy of this approach is that there’s no need to do it.
Your audience isn’t dumb, be honest with them. You can always say:
“Hi everyone,
As we’re just getting started in the community, I’m sharing some of the most common questions we get through our customer support channels which I’m hoping we can answer here.
The first question is about [xyz]….”
You can do this until members begin to ask their own questions. You can even have support staff answer questions in the community too using the same honest approach.
