Bill Kalivas & Mark Simonds talk about pushing members to establish credibility and meet face to face to get things started. Visit Launchpad INW.
Alice Yoo & Eugene Kim recommend using Facebook to get things started. Visit My Modern Met.
Manny Hernandez sometimes puts a focus on big conversations that go on over a long period of time to keep people engaged. Visit TuDiabetes.
Don’t wait for visitors to figure it out themselves. There are lots of ways to encourage lightweight participation.
Is it so quiet on your network that you can hear the crickets chirping? You launched your new network, attracted dozens or even hundreds of members — yet no one is participating? Why? Even older networks can encounter this problem after the initial excitement of participating in a new community fades. Don’t panic! A few simple steps can re-ignite activity on your network.
Before reading further, have you decided specifically what you’d like your first members to do? Let’s assume you created your network for people who are passionate about kite surfing. Do you want them to report on the best places to kite surf? Write product reviews of hot new equipment? Meet up with other kite surfers in their local area? Post photos from trips to exotic destinations like Aruba or Maui? Submit videos of radical maneuvers they’ve accomplished? The most successful Ning Creators make it obvious what a member should do by positioning key features at the top of the Main Page, renaming features, adding categories, changing the default status update text and more.
Do this
- Tell members 2 or 3 things to do: Don’t be reluctant to tell members what to do. A welcome box or page is a starting point. Lost Zombies and One Day on Earth are great examples to follow. Be assertive. Send a message to new members who haven’t started participating with detailed instructions. Or, make a personal request of past contributors. John Mitchell from Garden-Share frequently asks members for “the order” (more content), which has resulted in the upload of over 148,000 photos to his network.
- Call on charter members: It’s always easier to follow the lead of others. In Acquire Your First Members, we recommend that you initially invite a small group of friends, colleagues or other enthusiasts to give you feedback, help you build out initial content, and form a good base of activity. Many NCs recognize this founding group of members by giving them a name (e.g., “charter members” or “founders”) and featuring them. In return, they ask the charter members to contribute content on a regular basis, participate frequently in the forum and welcome new members.
- Reward members when they do what you want: This serves two purposes: The rewarded member will become more engaged and contribute more content, and other members will see a great example of what they should do — and why. Feature the member or their content on your Main Page. Share their content on Facebook or Twitter. Profile one member and their content each week in a broadcast message. For more ideas, check out Make Your Members Stars.
- Trigger activity with fresh content and events: Add content or hold events on a regular schedule. This gives members a reason to come back and jump in the conversation. Recruit two or three experts to blog or post a discussion once per week in return for exposure and promotion within your community. For example, a health network could have a nutrition columnist post on Mondays, a fitness guru post on Wednesdays and a doctor post on Fridays. Manny Hernandez, of TuDiabetes, hosts monthly UStream broadcasts with health experts where members can ask questions via chat.
- Offer easy ways for members to start participating: Make it easy for members to take that first step. Ask members to vote on the best photo by liking their favorite. Post a quiz or a poll on a fun topic related to your network. Tribal Running asks members, “How far did you run today?” as the default text in the status update box at the top of their Main Page. TuDiabetes has a couple of long-running forum discussions that are easy to comment on, including “Word Association Game,” “Three Word Story No. 2,” and “What Were You Grateful for Today?”
- Hold a targeted contest: Design a member contest around one of the two or three things you want members to do. Cheer Prospects is a new network to help cheerleaders find a college or professional program. Soon after he launched the network, Gary Williamson held a contest that awarded the first member who networked with (friended) 100 other members.
- Use an offline event as a conversation starter: Bill Kalivas, of LaunchpadINW, hosts frequent offline networking events where members can meet other members in person. These offline relationships make it much easier for members to interact online. Kris Olivera of Biker’s Post hires a photographer to go and take pictures at local biker meet-ups and events. The photographer hands out cards with the Bikers Post URL and lets attendees know their photos will be posted.
- Collaborate on banners, buttons and links: Identify related blogs, forums and social networks. Offer to repost their content on your Ning Network with links back to their site – in return for doing the same with content from your network. By “bartering” banners, buttons and links, you’ll improve your search ranking and attract new members.
- Tell visitors what to do: Yes, it’s often that simple. A great example is the welcome box on Is There Life After New York. Don’t wait for visitors to figure it out themselves. Start a discussion topic they won’t be able to pass up. Use the Quiz Ning App to challenge visitors and see if they can ace it. How about giving your members a chance to win a giveaway by simply posting a photo? There are lots of ways to encourage lightweight participation.
Don’t do this
- Show static content: A common mistake is to take up most or all of the space “above the fold” on your Main Page with a welcome box, mission statement, RSS feed or other static content. Members aren’t able to see or comment on other member content unless they scroll down the page. The page quickly becomes stale and uninteresting for returning members. Instead, consider moving welcome info to a dedicated page accessible via a clear message on your Main Page.
- Waste an opportunity: You have a short window after a member joins to get them to participate. If they don’t, they’ll likely lose interest and may not return. Every time a member joins, welcome them and encourage them to participate. Don’t waste this opportunity!
Need some kick-starting ideas from successful Network Creators? Check out this slideshow of case studies.
With over 25,000 members, Revista Festiva is the go-to resource for anyone planning a wedding, quinceanero, birthday, anniversary or any other type of party in Puerto Rico. Over 20,000 copies of the print magazine are distributed in local retailers. Beginning in 2009, readers began joining the Festiva Network. Party planners can browse photos for inspiration, read articles or post in the forum to get advice, and find recommendations for caterers, equipment rentals, coordinators, florists, sound, fashion — everything party related. The network enjoyed steady growth and activity throughout its first two years. But Milagros Baerga, the Ning Creator, had more ambitious goals. She launched a contest to find a new Quinceanera cover model for an upcoming issue of Revista Festiva. Over 80 girls participated in the contest, each represented by a photo in a photo album on the network. Members voted for their favorite cover model using the network “Like” feature. It’s an easy way to run a contest. Just count the Likes! The results have been as spectacular as the models in the contest. The Festiva Network has gone from 3,000 members to well over 25,000 in just four months. Over 3,500 photos of parties have been added, making it not just a boon for new members but also for new content.
Garden-Share is a poster child of hobbyist networks. It’s the ultimate destination for passionate gardeners to show off their crowning achievements, connect with others who share their particular focus, and ask for great advice. The 29,000+ gardeners who’ve joined the network since 2009 have shared an astounding 150,000 photos, written 2,500 blog posts, networked in 300+ groups, uploaded 600 videos, and invited others to 190 events! Garden-Share isn’t a one-hit wonder. John Mitchell, the Network Creator, has built 10 other hobbyist Ning Networks that can claim more than 1,000 members: Foodie-Share, Cat-Share, Dog-Share, Horse-Share, Biker-Share, Hunters-Index, Grill-Share, Camper-Share, Golfer-Share and the Saltwater-Index. With each, he’s carefully nurtured a highly engaged community around a singular interest. So what’s John’s secret? “I see myself as a content promoter, and the best way to do this to feature content and the members who provide it. I do this daily with Twitter and Facebook. I use Leaderboards to see members getting more active and feature them so they are hooked. Once someone posts something better than average, I feature it. It is a constant cycle. I also spend a lot of time coaching members on the sharing features that Ning provides. I encourage folks to upload content and frequently ask members for ‘the order’ [an order for more content].” He is also very responsive to members: “You have to provide good customer service; it is a must. It keeps user satisfaction high. I use Survey Monkey to see how members like features on the site. I think surveys are key and can also be used to share information with members. I also point out to members that Ning provides unique security tools, mainly the ability to not list full name or even use an alias. It is a different experience than Facebook provides, and I routinely point this out as an advantage to members who like social networking.”
If you’ve been diagnosed with Diabetes, you probably have a lot of questions. And you probably could use some great advice from people who have already been there. TuDiabetes Manny Hernandez launched TuDiabetes and EsTuDiabetes in 2007. Four years later, both are very active networks; TuDiabetes with over 20,000 members and EsTuDiabetes with almost 25,000. It’s a place where people diagnosed with diabetes, as well as caregivers, go to find support, community and information. One way Manny has kept members engaged is with awareness programs. According to Manny, “You’re not going to have ground-breaking questions all of the time” on a network. Periodic programs give members a reason to come back and re-engage with the community. One of Manny’s most successful awareness programs started off as a PR idea in 2009. He thought that if he got all 14,000 members of his two networks to test their blood sugar on the same day – July 14th — he could get the media’s attention and get a chance to tell his story to a wider audience. The event, initially named 14KPWD (14,000 People With Diabetes), turned into the biggest traffic day for his networks ever and becaome a “uniting moment” for the community. Based on the success in 2009, Manny rebranded the event as The Big Blue Test — he holds it every year on July 14th. He’s also redesigned the event to show members how exercise can help them control their blood sugar. Members taking part in The Big Blue Test measure their blood sugar, get active for 14 minutes, then measure again. It continues to be one of the most popular events on TuDiabetes and EsTuDiabetes.
