How to Deal with Low Engagement in a Community
Every community is powered by people and if people are brought in together but no one’s talking or participating, then that’s a big problem.
As a CM it’s expected of you to understand the ropes of engagement- get people talking and keep them engaged.
And one thing you’d always live with is the ups and downs of community engagement.
With this letter today, I hope to help you with what you can do in seasons of low or no engagement.
Before you dive in, please note this:
There are times that engagement may not be the problem but flawed onboarding. It’s important to know where the issue lies before pointing out engagement. If a community lacks a good and straightforward onboarding process, members may never get to engage. (I’ll share on onboarding another time)
Engagement is all about running and crashing, getting it and fading it out, trying something new again and again.
When engagement drops low in a community;
Let it be: Sometimes it’s okay to just let it be but not for so long. The break, the silence, and the pause are necessary, the community shouldn’t always be rowdy and hyperactive all the time. So yes, let it be but watch that it doesn’t get quiet for so long.
Re-evaluate your strategies: Just as I mentioned earlier engagement is all about getting it and fading it out, your strategies will not always be vibrant and exciting; it can get stale and boring. So always watch out for the response from the community and measure if your strategies are still effective and where they aren’t, tweak or dump them for something new.
Consider the phase your community is in: In addition to all your strategies, it’s important to consider and understand the stage in which your community is at- is there an event coming up? is the team working on a new program? are people on holiday? what’s the state of the industry your community is in? etc. Let this phase direct your approach to your strategies.
Speak to super members to hear from them about what can be improved on: There are set of members in your community that are always active and engaged, and they offer help to other members too. It’s important to take note of them and if necessary create a private space where you meet with them and hear from them.
When engagement drops and intervention is needed, talk to them and put measures in place to act on their suggestions or at least blend their suggestions along with your strategies. Remember that they are part of the community, so they will see from a different perspective than you.
Ask the community what they’d love to see more: What better place to hear from than the members themselves? Throw in a general poll and use whatever responses you get to stir up your strategies.
Learn from other communities: You can always learn from other communities who are doing great. Join these communities, check in from time to time, and pick up strategies to try out in your community. It doesn’t have to work, just keep trying, tweaking, and exploring.
An extra tip is to always be on a learning spree- get to listen to community podcasts, network with other community professionals, read articles/newsletters, and be inspired by what is been shared.
Don’t just stop at your community, join ot similar communities and watch how they engage their members and identify what can work for your community.
Stay educated on engagement through resources from CMX blog and Feverbee. Just search the word ‘engagement’ to filter out topics.
You can check out these podcasts- In Before The Lock, Community Signal, and Masters of Community with David Spinks.
Subscribe to these newsletters- Community Digest, Community Club, & Feverbee.
Community professionals to connect with 👇
In all of this, make sure you have a notebook (physical or digital) in which you put down ideas as they drop so you don’t need them and can’t find them.
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see you next weekend, I appreciate you.
