There is a big difference between members that visit to see what’s new in the community and members that visit to see the response to their contributions (or because they’ve been prompted to visit).
For newcomers, the latter is usually true. They visit to see the responses to their contributions. If they don’t get a response to those initial contributions, they stop coming back.
Regulars visit to see what’s new in the community. It doesn’t have to be about them. This is a group they belong to. They’re embued with the sense of community spirit. They want to see what’s new. They want to know what other members are up to.
This is why it makes sense to change the way you interact with each group. If you have a mailing list, regularly segment the people that joined in the past few weeks from the regulars. Send a different message to them.
If you’re engaging individually, then with newcomers focus more on the response to their initial contributions. With regulars, focus on interesting things coming up in the community. Tell them what members like them have been doing. Tell them what’s topical about people in the community.
