With the latest MemberWise Digital Excellence report revealing that nearly half (46%) of all UK membership organisations now have an online community, it’s clear to see that these platforms are becoming essential for adding member value.
A successful online community can be a powerful tool to strengthen relationships, foster more collaboration, and even attract new members to your organisation. Here are our 10 top tips for growing a thriving online community for your members.
1. Lead with Purpose
Community management doesn’t usually require a full-time role (although it certainly can), but leadership and orientation to a community’s specific goals should be managed by staff and/or volunteer leaders.
Once your community is established, engagement often becomes self-sustaining as your members take the lead in driving those conversations.
2. Prove the Concept
A proof of concept is a strategic way to introduce your community to a select group, fine-tune your approach, and populate content. Use this phase to develop targeted strategies for member segments and ensure your community aligns with wider organisational goals before going all in.
3. Showcase Community Features
Your members won’t realise the power of online community until they see all it can offer. Show them that a community is so much more than just a forum by adding interactive elements like images, GIFs, polls, video content, @mentions, and quote-formatted replies. Members won’t know these tools exist unless you show them in action.
4. Pre-populate? Yes!
Bring in members before the full launch, or at least your leaders. Your marketing team shouldn’t be responsible for pleading with members to “sign up and check it out”; they have enough on their plates. Community features like the directory will have no value unless you ensure your members can be found. Using the community to manage segments like committees and special interest groups (SIGs) will falter if they are not in the platform initially.
5. Train and Support Your Leaders
It’s crucial to equip leaders with the resources and training they need to succeed. This gives them a clearer understanding of how to use the platform to manage the routine business of their committee, section, SIG or other segment.
6. Make it Easy for Busy Leaders
Your most respected members are often the busiest! Community managers who assist them by drafting posts on their behalf (with their permission) allow them to be present in the community without a major time commitment. Senior respected members posting in the community strengthens your community’s credibility and demonstrates its worthiness for further conversations and questions.
7. Share the Load – and Make it Fun!
Monitoring and managing volunteers tasked with making replies in the community can be easy and fun. Gamification leaderboards spark friendly competition and get members involved, fostering a more self-sustaining, lively environment.
8. Promote Light Interactions
You can’t expect the average member to post immediately upon community launch. There is an acclimation period where they get to know and trust the platform. The ladder to full engagement starts with “lower risk” content creation activities like liking content, voting, and responding to polls. Ensure these are in place and promoted at launch.
9. Integrate Community into Your Processes
Community platforms offer plenty of tools that can be tailored to your specific needs, whether that’s for content creation, segment management, or data handling – these are often a simple configuration away. Using community tools tactically to achieve broader strategic goals makes it an operational resource as well as a social space.
10. Consider a Mobile App
Members are far more likely to stay engaged if they can access your community anytime, anywhere. A mobile app can make understanding what is happening within the organisation, including its community, as easy as browsing in apps offered by the leading social media platforms. Real-time notifications reinforce the value of a one-stop content hub.
We’ve seen this work first-hand with The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), who have seen success with their mobile-first approach, making their online community indispensable.
Ensure modern member experiences
Building a thriving online community for your members doesn’t have to be a burden, but it does require a thoughtful approach. Lead with purpose, support engagement, and your community can become an invaluable asset that deepens relationships and enhances your organisation’s member experience. We’re happy to show you how.
Cantarus is a multi-award-winning full-service digital agency specialising in delivering websites & with deep expertise and an outstanding client portfolio in the membership sector.
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