See what members are currently most engaged with in real time in your community by using our new Trending Content feature included in our latest release, 4.7.0.
Our new Trending Content feature, available on our Business & Corporate/Enterprise plans, automatically rounds up a list of engaging topics that are most active in the present moment within your community and proudly displays them for other members to see and contribute to.
Trending Content is one of the best ways to stay on top of popular and current topics, as well as engage with other members in the here and now. It’s also a powerful method to inform search engines that your community is an authority in its niche because your members are constantly fueling the community fire.
How does the real time Trending Content feature work?
Our platform applies a value to different forms of engagement. This informs the Trending Content feature as to what it should display without delay.
This criteria is weighted and includes:
Replies: most valuable ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Topics that receive replies are the clearest sign a piece of content is trending.
Reactions: valuable ⭐️⭐
Your members are engaging with other members’ topics and replies. That’s great in helping to decide what is trending, but ultimately we want members to comment.
Views: somewhat valuable ⭐️
Visibility is important and plays a role in deciding whether a content item shows in the Trending Content section.
The Trending Content may be visible in a block, or on your community's leaderboard.
Trending Content block:
Trending Content section on the leaderboard page:
The Trending Content feature may be turned on or off by visiting your Admin Control Panel (ACP) -> System -> Smart Community -> Features -> Trending Content.
Examples of useful Trending Content blocks in different types of communities:
Enterprise communities
If you’re in the corporate realm, displaying a list of trending content gives your influential clients and members an opportunity to see what’s shaping the ecosystem of your big-named brand. It also provides the company with an opportunity to monitor trends, then focus on more content like it to create another set of trending topics.
Educational communities
Display a list of trending content amongst your students. If there’s a particular question that captures the attention of your e-learning audience, chances are it’s engaging and thought-provoking. By including a Trending Content block in prominent areas of your community, students (and teachers) have an opportunity to weigh in and reach a solution together.
Gaming communities
Include a Trending Content block inside your gaming community to drum up interest in new releases, share insider information and rumors about your favorite games and consoles and gauge what your fellow gamer peers are engaged with.
Support communities
Should a critical support issue arise, your team will see what content items your clients are contributing to, assess, then solve.
News communities
Don’t be the last to know. When breaking news strikes, members tend to flood to the content item and share their two cents. Including a Trending Content block in a news community is the most efficient route to quickly keep your members in the loop regarding live news.
Our new Trending Content feature is available in version 4.7.0.
Thoughts? Drop us a line in the comments and let us know what you think. Should this blog post receive great engagement, you'll see it in our Trending Content feature located in our community forum. See you there!
