When You Have Lots Of Members, But No Activity
The LV= community has over 7,500 members but less than 5 posts in the past week, 3 of which were from the community manager. It’s a failing online community.
If you have lots of members, you’re asking good questions but you’re not getting a response you have a problem. Few people are returning to your community.
Resist the temptation to reach out to more people. The numbers game (more members = more potential posts) isn’t the solution. You don’t want potential members seeing a dying community.
Instead go micro. Start a thread everyone can participate in. Ask for opinions or recommendations. Individually message more active members of the community asking for their expertise on the matter. Then as you get a few responses message, reach out to more people. Summarise the post and thank those that participated.
Now repeat this again. Start another thread, write a personal note to members and include a few extra ones that didn’t participate last time. You want their expertise/opinions. Always use personalized messages, resist the urge to mass-mail.
Soon members will return out of habit. They will post and respond to each other’s comments. Now you can message others who have gone missing. Ask them what would be the perfect community for them.
It will take more time and effort, but gradually you will bring back a core group of regular members.
