Jordan Miller Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Happy Hump Day, team! During my community building journey, I've seen a lot of fellow community managers feel frustrated that their communities aren't getting enough engagement. Wondering... what are some of the best ways to engage with your community to generate activity? Based on my own experience, here are a few things I personally lean into: Being visible As your community’s leader, it’s important to be accessible to your members. Post frequently and know Create content that invokes an emotional response It's one thing to make content, it's another to create valuable content. Value is quantified by whether it produces some type of positive affect on another. Aim to have the content produce an emotional response from the member versus exclusively educational (hopefully my post is tingling your senses! 😅). Use your voice Lead by example and use your voice in your own community! You can’t expect your members to speak up if there isn’t a community leader or brand ambassador doing so first. What do YOU do to engage with your community?! Would love to hear from you! Before I bring this plane home, check out a list of updates and fixes from our development team. Quote - Adjusted cache headers to make sure set-cookie response headers are not cached by CDN/Edge. - Fixed an error shown when the deleteOrMove content task tries to move content to an item that no longer exists. - Fixed an issue applying patches where there was only PHP changes. - Fixed an issue where a topic in a Q&A forum may throw an uncaught error if it has zero posts (typically caused by the archive database link being broken) - Fixed an error shown when the deleteOrMove content task tries to move content to an item that no longer exists. - Fixed an issue where guests that do not have permission to see the site cannot view stream RSS feeds with a shared member ID and key. - Fixed an issue where missing images are shown when a mail client is unable to view SVG images. - Fixed an issue where a comment to an existing blog entry appeared as a new entry in streams.- Fixed misleading language in streams used when other members uploaded into an owned album. (Gallery) - Fixed an issue where missing images are shown when a mail client is unable to view SVG images. - Fixed an issue where the all activity stream in condensed mode showed duplicate items when using ElasticSearch. - Fixed an issue where missing images are shown when a mail client is unable to view SVG images. - Fixed the missing Zapier related REST API endpoint access permissions. - Fixed an issue where block visibility settings would show incorrectly when creating blocks via the admin control panel. - Fixed an issue where more than one block on a page of the same type would always show the same orientation. - Fixed an issue where uploading multiple files to Pages could cause Safari to crash. - Upgraded plupload to 2.3.8. - Fixed an issue where themes may appear out of order in the theme selector. - Improved error message when creating a template group that already exists. - Fixed an issue where Gallery uploads could timeout when building thumbnails for animated gifs. Looking forward to chatting with you! Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Miller Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 *Makes topic about ways to engage the community, does not receive engagement* nodle, Sonya* and Jim M 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodle Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 I’ll chime in. Something simple to engage in conversation, is try to end your posts with questions. ” Has anyone ever used this before “ ” Has anyone tried this before “ ” What do you think? “ This way people have an opinion and want to respond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethanyrayne Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Do you like cheese? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Miller Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 20 hours ago, nodle said: I’ll chime in. Something simple to engage in conversation, is try to end your posts with questions. ” Has anyone ever used this before “ ” Has anyone tried this before “ ” What do you think? “ This way people have an opinion and want to respond. Love that! And thanks for chiming in :] What'd you think of the hump day post? 😛 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim M Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 19 hours ago, Bethanyrayne said: Do you like cheese? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Miller Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 19 hours ago, Bethanyrayne said: Do you like cheese? 7 minutes ago, Jim M said: Did someone say cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davyc Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 (edited) One the most fundamental problems is actually acquiring members that want to be part of a community; once you have established that core base engagement would be a natural progression, but getting that core to engage with is problematic. It's a difficult paradox because it's easy to create content that most would agree should spark an emotional response that someone will be willing to register and comment. So great content doesn't automatically equate to engagement. There is no easy solution to the Catch 22 situation that many community managers face. You can engage with people on SM without breaking into a sweat, but getting those same people to register with your own community is nigh impossible. I know that is dampening the enthusiasm that this topic hopes to generate, but the lack of response in the three days this post has existed kind of bolster this issue of non-commital from people. I also find this sad because those same people you can engage with on SM simply have no idea how much more rewarding it is to engage outside of SM without the many limitations that SM imposes. I'm completely 'old school' on this and find engagement in forum communities so much more rewarding, whereas the banalities of SM is just one big yawn 🙂 Edited February 25, 2022 by Davyc Jordan Miller and Bethanyrayne 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethanyrayne Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 It's very true, they'll spend hours evryday Twittering on Twitter, Facetiming an Facebook, InstaGratting on Instagram, checking how many strangers LIKED their post or shared it. etc. But really hard to get them to register on a forum. Even if they like the content, they'll just consume it and leave. Davyc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethanyrayne Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 (edited) A thought, maybe development of the forum is going the wrong way or should I say going the wrong way for those of us who aren't corporate entities. A corporate wants to be all over social media its their advertising without the cost. They're NOT interested in making money from a community or running an information resource other than the sale of their own product(s) or service(s). In addition, if they have knowledgable people on their "community" they can outsource their support costs by using their members as UNPAID support staff thus relieving the burden and cost on their own organisation. I'm sure there are many other benefits for a corporate client. But aren't we as small/medium niche forums just playing the social media game? Trying more and more to integrate with, look like and offer the same things as social media. Are we social media wannabes? and is that the right way to go if the forum is to flourish and survive? We bend over backwards to make it easy to register on our forum using social media accounts, WHY? Do we think (I hope you have all thought) that the majority of individuals that can't be bothered going through the simple registration process wil turn out to be active productive members of your community? They just want to consume the content that you have shamelessly barred them from while they are a guest. Never mind though they'll just join your forum through a social media link that you enabled, consume what they want and be on their way. Thank you very much for giving me the solution to my problem, the answer to my dilemma and knowledge I didn't previously possess and ALL at no cost plus a ridiculously easy way to login through my beloved social media account. I've searched for answers to many problems on the web such as, How to? The answer to any of those problems has NEVER come from social media and has a lot of the time come from someone's forum and inevitably shared on social media which completes the circle of "my beloved social media". You are providing your competitor with valuable content. The main problem as I see it is, you don't value your own content, you suffer from an inferiority complex. In the battle for views and the fear of your content not being listed on the almighty Google or shared on social media you've hoisted the white flag, (nearly) given up, (nearly), thrown in the towel, (nearly) afterall why should anyone be interested in becoming a member of your little information rich forum when they have access to the social media giants who publish nothing but own everything? Invision could help with the listing of content by giving the likes of Google et al member status (as far as I'm aware they don't) so that content hidden from guests could still be listed. Of course they will say it's against the rules or it's too difficult or some other erroneous response. Google Analytics can tell the difference between a bot and a real visitor why can't you? The content is available to anyone as long as they become a member. Time has come to get ahead of the curve and stop walking in the shadow of giants. A little to the left, a little to the right or a completely different path, there is sunlight. Lets get of our knees! I'm not a writer so I hope you at least get the gist of this post and also appologise to anyone I might have offended. Edited February 26, 2022 by Bethanyrayne Davyc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Miller Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 On 2/25/2022 at 11:02 AM, Davyc said: One the most fundamental problems is actually acquiring members that want to be part of a community; once you have established that core base engagement would be a natural progression, but getting that core to engage with is problematic. It's a difficult paradox Appreciate you weighing in! I agree it's a bit of paradox. You want people to join your community, but if you don't have an active voice, a clear tone and create valuable content, people won't. This topic actually inspired me to write a proper blog post about it. Would love to have you comment there as well 🙂 Davyc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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