In my early days as a community manager, I believed very active communities were the definition of a successful community. Active here being that members are interacting daily and the place is buzzing.
So, when that was not the case, I’d go into full-on panic mode, questioning my engagement strategies and thinking I’d failed.
Then, I found myself in a community of practice that moved differently with how they engaged. As expected I had gotten in, armed with my strategies, ready to get the community up and active. What I got? Crickets.
After months of trying, I had to pause and really get to observe the community’s natural behavior and I did learn some things about them.
First, these people were swamped with their jobs and even when they were assumed to be back home, engaging in a random conversation starter in a community that exists among their other messages on WhatsApp wasn’t going to happen.
They loved sparking their conversations, which was pretty cool, ‘cause as I wasn’t a professional in that field, kickstarting certain topics didn’t come easy for me. However, when they asked questions or shared their thoughts, a good number of them jumped right in.
Welcoming new members was a great avenue for starting random conversations and members got to connect over shared passions organically.
They loved the resources being shared by the team or other members of the community.
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With these observations, I began to focus on what I could control:
I doubled down on sustaining the community’s main program which was events, by ensuring we delivered great experiences.
I paid more attention to another goal which was amplifying our reach on social media. I distributed content and repurposed some of the community’s discussions.
Recognizing their love for the resources being shared, I made plans to organize those resources for easy accessibility. The plan was to create a hub for the resources on our website.
I kept the community informed with updates and consistently kept at the ritual of welcoming new members, making them introduce themselves and share a fun fact.
And so what’s the big lesson here?
Sometimes it’s not an engagement problem. It is getting too fixated on a set of strategies without really understanding the community you manage.
That a community seems quiet doesn't necessarily mean it's failing, especially if the key metrics are adding up.
In this case study , being a community that was powered by events, the numbers we recorded from registration to attendance were wild as compared to the reception within the community.
Listen, observe, and adapt.
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