🧵Let’s Talk About Rituals
Knock knock!
*virtual hug* What’s been up with you?
Me? I’ve had a great week! CMX summit happened this week and it was awesome to be around other community professionals virtually.
Though attending virtual events can be very chaotic- juggling home responsibilities with your device, crazy timezone and battling with network connection. All the same, I’m glad I could be a part of it.
Anyways, what have we got today?
Today we’ll explore;
What a ritual is,
How it applies to community,
Ideas you can try out, and
Things to note about rituals
P.S. I have been off social media for a while now (Needed to breathe!)… So I don’t have Twitter recommendations this week and won’t have till I get back out there. But I got you still with cool recommendations 😉
Let’s go!!!
What is a ritual?
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a ritual is “a way of doing something in which the same actions are done in the same way every time.”
This definition can be applied to community building as well- they are recurring community programs/activities that are performed daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.
When it comes to boosting engagement and facilitating bonding within the community, a well-thought-out ritual sure does it.
As a community manager, you have to cultivate rituals in your community so that it becomes a habit instead of a task, which in turn creates a deeper bond for community members.
As Noele Flowers puts it,
For members, rituals give them something to look forward to that they know how to engage with without learning any new information. For Community Managers, they can provide a cornerstone in your content calendar that reduces the amount of item to fill with original content.
Some community rituals ideas to try out;
Ask members to share their biggest mistake/success/fear/accomplishment.
Ask members to share their thoughts on one particular issue.
Challenge new members to complete a task- submit their biggest success, solve a simple problem, write two paragraphs about a topic, or analyze a current situation/data and produce an answer.
If you want to put up restriction or prevent less committed members, and attract the best people this is a great fit.
Richard Millington said:
Every community would benefit from having rituals newcomers go through. Avoid the shock and go for something fun and interesting. Try to get members emotionally invested in the community.
Themed months
Monthly member spotlight- You can add an interview / Q&A where members can ask questions to the spotlighted member.
Weekly recaps- for community members who don’t usually have the time to visit the community regularly, having this is a great way to make them feel included in the latest happenings.
Monthly meetups/hangouts
AMAs (Ask Me Anything sessions)
Community coffee chat- a dedicated thread/conversation that is opened once a week at a specific time for members to share both their personal and professional updates. You can make it more informal so members can be more comfortable. Some example topics include Weekend hobbies, Getting married, Changing job roles, Moving to a new state, etc.
Organize contests.
Richard Millington shared this thread on Reddit that records a range of shocking, funny, dumb, “okay that’s not funny/cool”, and unique rituals. You can go through it, probably to the end (I couldn’t go through to the end myself).
Here’s what to note
While rituals are great, they can get exhausting so at every point in time try to tweak it, add something new, and keep evolving.
Don’t overdo it! Noele Flowers suggest choosing one or two rituals per week at max. They are more effective when used sparingly.
Know when to pause! Sometimes you may need to hold off on rituals during times of crisis or events that may impact some of your members.
Have the right frequency
You can divide your rituals into either weekly, bi-weekly, or even daily. The main thing to keep in mind while deciding the frequency is to ensure that you do not cause fatigue to your members.
Got any rituals you want to share?
Did any idea from here inspire you to try out something soon?
I’d love to hear from you- hit reply or drop a comment.
This Week’s Recommendation
Deb Schell did something amazing this week- she didn’t just take notes during the CMX summit but shared it with everyone. If you’d love to catch up on all that you missed or couldn’t tune into, then just click on this image to get it.
Commsor shared a comprehensive guide to Community Management Tools. Check it out!
How do you show your community members that you appreciate them
If you love Canva but you missed Canva Create 2022, do catch up. The event was a deep dive into the biggest changes to Canva in the last decade. You’d be amazed!
see you next weekend, I appreciate you.
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