Jason Hansman’s network has a welcoming committee — a group of members who roll out the red carpet to brand-new members to see if they need any advice on how to get started. Visit IAVA.
You probably only have a few days to get a new member to contribute and get involved. So tell them what to do – give them easy first tasks.
Have you ever walked into a party and not known anyone, or started a new job and didn’t know what to do on your first day? What was your first instinct? To leave quickly and quietly? Some of your new members may feel the same way. You need to make sure they don’t quickly head out the door and not come back. Luckily, it only takes a few steps to turn new members from wallflowers into the life of the party.
- Personalize your welcome email: When a new member joins your Ning Network, they automatically receive a welcome email. It’s easy to Edit the Welcome Message and change the language so it fits your Ning Network.
- Create a welcome box: Use a Text Box to provide need-to-know information for newbies. On Navy for Moms, the welcome box reads “First time here?” and has a list of the steps newcomers should take, like reading the community guidelines and uploading a profile photo. Make it easy for new members to know where they should look first.
- Tell new members what to do: You probably only have a few days to get a new member to contribute and get involved. Otherwise, they’ll become an occasional browser or simply leave for good. So tell them what to do – give them easy first tasks. The Getting Started section on Lost Zombies has a step by step list of what to do, everything from getting caught up with previous activity on Lost Zombies to what specific info to submit to their documentary.
- Have a greeter — or team of greeters: Recruit one or more of your moderators to be part of a welcome group that comments on every new member’s profile page. Kyle, the Network Creator of CheckSwing, comments on every new members’ comment wall, with links he thinks they might find interesting. And if your Ning Network gets larger, you can recruit a team of people to help you do the same thing.
Don’t do this
- Be a robot: When you or your moderators comment on members’ profile walls, try to vary what you post, so each greeting feels unique. Suggest groups and forum topics to check out, based on your new member’s profile info.
- Wait too long to welcome: First impressions are everything. Try to welcome each new member the day they join, so they immediately feel included and engaged in what your Ning Network is all about!
Most Network Creators who welcome new folks either customize their welcome email or post on a new members’ walls. Need a few more ideas? Check out some of these.
More than 28,000 people with diabetes have joined TuDiabetes and EsTuDiabetes looking for support, community and information. To help engage new members, Network Creator Manny Hernandez created the Care Team. It’s a group of 127 members who take turns to greet new members, show them the link to the New Member Guide and answer any immediate questions they may have. In addition to welcoming newcomers, the group has also evolved into a team that comes to the “rescue” if any of our members seem like they are in need of extra support. Manny says, ” Typically, members will feel welcomed and grateful to have entered a space where they were not only alone [and] but they didn’t feel alone, which is very important!” To give prospective members of the Care Team a good idea of what being part of the committee is all about, Manny also created a short intro video. Watch the video!
There’s an army of moms on Navy for Moms. Over 40,000. That’s a lot of moms! With such high enlistment numbers, the people who run Navy For Moms need to be sure new members will be able to join up quickly and easily. To point the way, they’ve done a few smart things. First, they’ve put some simple but very effective text directly underneath the Sign Up box that prompts visitors to click through and join. Second, they’ve created a special page that explains step-by-step how to sign up and what to do once you’re a member. They include helpful hints and suggestions about what kinds of content to post and which type of discussion a new mom might want to start. Third, their Admins greet new members with a hearty hello by commenting on a new member profile pages. This friendly prompt encourages them to participate and gives them a reason to come back later.
Check your pulse: Are you a member of the undead? (Maybe on some days?) If so, Lost Zombies wants your story. It’s a creepy-cool Ning Network of over 15,000 members that’s focused on creating “a community-generated zombie movie.” Content uploaded to the network — videos, photos and written anecdotes — form the bulk of the submissions to this ongoing documentary of the walking dead. One important key to organizing these 15,000 aspiring filmmakers is the “Get Started” tab of the network. The welcoming process begins with a fascinating video and timeline that explains how the zombie outbreak started and sets up the idea behind the documentary. New members are given instructions on how and what to submit, as well as clear “Lost Zombies Rules,” which have been surprisingly effective at spreading a very contagious disease — fun.
Moms apparently do know best. Just as Navy for Moms provides excellent examples to follow when welcoming new members, so too can you learn a thing or two from the As a Mom network. This “Sisterhood of Mommy Patriots” does an excellent job of nurturing new mama grizzlies who show up ready to join the tribe and be part of their grass-roots movement. One way they do this is by creating a dedicated Welcome Center, which introduces new members to the 12 Values they stand for. But that’s not all. They have AAM University, a collection of resources that inform their political views, AAM Want Ads to help gather dedicated volunteers with special skills, and plenty of FAQs to help new members learn more about this exclusive, dedicated, strong-willed — and very interesting — group of moms.
