Would you prefer your community to feel like a trip to the convenience store or a trip to Disneyland? One is functional, convenient and friendly enough. But the other is a place where dreams come true! Each visit is fresh and exciting, every interaction feels meaningful and fun, and the wastepaper baskets even empty themselves. For those of us looking for community engagement strategies, there’s a lot we could learn.

Of course, you could make the argument that people make trips to the convenience store daily – holidays are fun but short-lived. So why not have the best of both worlds? Create a space online that members return to like clockwork because every moment feels like magic. To get started, follow our top 18 tips for more creative, exciting and meaningful community engagement.

How to engage your community: 18 simple tips to bring the magic

Whether community management is your job or just one of the many hats you wear when running your business, the following community engagement strategies are for you. Based in tried-and-tested methods that are easy to pull off, they can mean the difference between a somewhat chatty social media group and an online home where people share and grow together. 

Part One: Leading with gusto

4 tips to create a community that trusts its leader

1. Start every member’s journey with awarm welcome

“Hello there! Welcome aboard. We’re so glad you joined us for a, b and c. Why not introduce yourself in our new arrivals thread? Tell us about your favourite x, y or z!”

You could say something like that. Or you could say nothing at all and cross your fingers! But if you do, you’re missing an opportunity to help new members make themselves feel at home. All it takes is a few quick words of encouragement and direction to let them know they’re in the right place, among the right people. An automated email or DM would do the trick nicely.

For bonus points, consider setting up weekly or monthly ice-breaker events along with fun ways for newbies to greet each other.

Food for thought:

In the average online community, only 7% of members take part in activities. They need encouragement!

2. Give members a reason to invest time in their profile

Online, your profile is your passport. A way for others to see who you are, what you’re about, why they should know and trust you. For sites like Amazon, it’s stuff like postal address and bank details. For an online community, it’s passions, experiences, opinions.

Without a profile, it’s harder for people to get to know each other. So to avoid them leaving dissatisfied, give a little encouragement. As part of your community engagement strategies, you can explain what they could gain or, better yet, inspire them! Your community is likely built on a shared passion, so ask them to tap into that. You could even run competitions for the most interesting new profiles. Get creative!

Food for thought:

66% of members say connecting with people who share theirinterests is what they love most about online communityof members say connecting with people who share their interests is what they love most about online communityHelp them find out!

3. Be responsive, lead by example, don’t miss out!

You’ve built the space, attracted the people, got things going – the dream is on track! Now for the fun part… meaningful connections with people who share your vision.

Dialogue is what it’s all about, and your members look to you to show them the way. It’s not enough to post and run, or start a conversation and not listen for the answer. Instead, respond to comments with observations, feedback, follow-up questions, or tag other members who might be interested. Otherwise, your people could start to feel invisible.

As the community manager, you don’t have to micro-manage every conversation but you should try to be present on the community platform, visible and approachable.

Food for thought:

Around 60% of people say they don’t trust Facebook and Instagram. Prove you’re different!

4. Moderate firmly but fairly to keep trust and order in your community

Leading by example extends beyond inviting people to take part. You also need to set the expectation of how to behave. And remember, you get to define exactly what that means, especially if your community space is owned by you instead of Facebook or any other tech company. So what makes sense for your individual community?

Whatever your rules and guidelines are, it’s up to you to enforce them. So plan your community-building ahead. What will you do if a debate gets too heated? Where do you draw the line on appropriate content? How will you balance being the friendly face with the authority figure? It’s nothing to worry about but it’s best to be prepared.

Food for thought:

71% of users think most social platforms don’t do enough to tackle cyberbullying. Prove you're different!

Part Two: Making it meaningful

4 tips to create a community that trusts its leader

5. Forge deeper connections in the community with sub-groups

Who are your community members, really? They all share an obvious connection – it’s how you brought them together – but a closer look could be revealing.

In most thriving communities, especially larger ones, leaders notice trends in what members do and say and evolve the community accordingly. For example, if you ran a yoga community and consistently saw members talking about practicing during their workdays, you could create a space dedicated to that topic. This usually leads to deeper conversations and connections and shows you understand what your members want.

Another great community engagement strategy is to seek out your most and least engaged members. If they’re quiet, you could offer encouragement to help them get involved more. If they’re loud and proud, you may be able to bring them closer to your inner circle and get their help. We call these ‘super members’, and there’s more on that later…

Food for thought:

Online community members are 44% more likely to interact with posts about niche interests. Give them places to share it!

6. Migrate from social media to your own private community

When you’re starting out, using social media to build a following is a given. Millions of potential fans and followers gathered in one place is attractive. But it’s also distracting, risky and increasingly controversial.If you’re after genuine loyalty, deeper connections and a more meaningful space online to call your own, social media isn’t a long-term solution. A far more rewarding and reliable option is to create your own purpose-built platform (don’t worry – it’s easier than it sounds - Disciple provides just the platform to help you take your community to the next level) and to help your members migrate across. 

You’ll likely trim the fat a bit and lose some of your unengaged members in the process, but that’s no bad thing. To help smooth the transition, make sure you have your community engagement strategies all polished up. You can highlight the benefits of your new space, post a steady stream of high-quality content there, and stay visible and accessible in case of questions. 

Food for thought:

In an average social media group, only 5% of members are engaged. But, in an average online community, 50% of members are engaged!

7. Give people the courage and tools to express themselves

Most online community members don’t set out with the intention of staying silent in the shadows, lurking and liking but rarely pitching in. Some are happy to just absorb information, and do still feel part of the club, but most people join for human connection and self-expression.

We’ve already covered how to foster early connections between members with warm welcomes, but it needn’t end there – especially if you have control of your own private community space. Experiment with opinion polls, brainstorms and debates, creative challenges, digital get-togethers. Get creative! You could even ask your members for ideas.

A great way to make people feel at ease with sharing is to give express permission – create a ‘Photos Thursday’ or ‘Sunday Reflections’ ritual where everyone is invited to share, comment and connect without judgement.

Food for thought:

Online community members in a survey prioritised meaningful conversations, feeling respected, and being themselves. They want to feel heard!

Part Three: Bringing the joy

3 tips to create a community that’s cherished and enjoyed

8. Make it meaningful and fun to be your fan

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Surprising then, how many online communities seem to fall at this hurdle, making their spaces feel like one long advert. While promotions are important, especially if you aim to monetize your community, there must be a balance.

As a rough guide, aim for 50/50. No more than half of your posts should be promotions-focused – everything else should be your original, engaging and exclusive content and conversations.

Also, remember your community engagement strategies can involve other people. Let your members bring the fun too. Across the communities we build and support, over 98% of content comes from the members. When you give them the space to be themselves, using features like our fan wall, fun has a tendency to create itself.

Food for thought:

55% of community leaders say engaging members consistently is one of their biggest challenges. Look for inspiration!

9. Include eye candy wherever possible

Online, a picture’s value isn’t just that it tells a thousand words, it’s that it grabs attention better than anything else. Walls of text have their place, but visually pleasing content is more likely to make someone stop, look and feel something instead of scrolling on.

It’s a neat trick. So the next time you write a post, or create a new feature, think about how you could make it pop. You don’t need an art degree – simply attaching a relevant image or GIF can do wonders. Or if you really want to add a personal touch, shoot a quick to-camera video. You could try a few practice runs first if you need to get comfortable with it.

Food for thought:

68% of people want image-based content.

50% want video content.

5% want text content.

See what works for you!

10. Let the games begin for next-level engagement

Gamification is the process of making something more playful, interactive and engaging by tapping into our emotions and psychology. Combining positive experiences, instant feedback, motivation, competition and rewards, gamification keeps members hooked.

One basic idea you could try out is Top Fan Points, which you award members each time they take part in activities and honour on a leader board. What might you offer as a weekly prize?

Better yet, what game would suit your community’s vision or purpose? Fitness communities might host weekly ranked dance challenges. Literary communities might collaborate on a story, taking turns to write a paragraph. Learning communities might award badges for completing a course. If you can tie gamification as a community engagement strategy to what your members love, you’ll surely be onto a winner.

Better yet, what game would suit your community’s vision or purpose? Fitness communities might host weekly ranked dance challenges. Literary communities might collaborate on a story, taking turns to write a paragraph. Learning communities might award badges for completing a course. If you can tie gamification to what your members love, you’ll surely be onto a winner.

Food for thought:

80%of people learn more effectively through gamification. It can really pay to play!

Part Four: Bonus Round!

Here are 8 more ways to go the extra mile for your community members

11. Don’t hesitate to educate

Here’s a fact: community members who thoroughly understand all the features of your community website or app are more likely to make use of all those features and to recommend your community to others. While marketing is important an effective community engagement strategy should also include educating users regarding the various features your community offers.

To that end, have a “new members” section with instructional videos on all the features of your site or app and step-by-step instructions on how to make the most of them. Also, make sure there is someone new community members can contact if they have any questions. That might be you, or it might be one of your most active community members.

12. Encourage user-generated content

Studies indicate that community members trust user-generated content significantly more than branded content. Because of that trust level, they are more likely to interact with user-generated content. With that in mind, find ways to incentivize users to generate more than simple 1 or 2-line posts.

You could even create an entire section that contains only user-generated content that’s related to the topic behind the community, whether that’s furniture making or football fandom. This type of community engagement strategy will engage both regular contributors and many others who might otherwise just sit back and observe.

13. Make live streaming part of your engagement strategy

You may already be engaging in live streaming events, but if you’re not then now is the time to get on the live stream bandwagon. Live streams are a great way to generate buzz (also known as community engagement) before, during and after the event.

When the live streaming session is over you can create and post highlight videos for those who were unable to attend the live event (we’ll touch on this idea again in a few moments). PPV live streams are also a great way to generate revenue.

14. Invite community members’ input

Community members want to feel like they have a say in the direction the community takes. Sure, that can be tricky because if your community is built around, let’s say, your clothing line, too many cooks will definitely spoil the broth. But you can give users a say in what features your community offers its members.

Or, staying with the clothing line idea for a second, you can ramp up community engagement by conducting a poll regarding which of two designs community members like more. That way you can give your community members input while retaining control of the creative process.

15. Get real

A great way to shake things up and stir the community engagement pot is to schedule real-world events where members can meet up and get to know you. You can use such events to give attendees a sneak peek into upcoming products, whether that product is a new song or new bespoke handbags.

You can also have a prize draw where the lucky winner walks away with one of those yet-to-be-launched products. That's a good way to create buzz about the next in-person event. And be sure to live stream the entire event for those who couldn't make it, and to have one or two people there recording videos and taking photos you can use later. Extending the community space in this way can't help but ramp up online community engagement.

16. Identify community influencers

If you have managed to build a large and vibrant community, you will likely find that some of your community members are particularly active and take an important role in shaping the conversation. Whether you have previously acknowledged these super-users or not, they are your very own community influencers.

An effective community engagement strategy will identify them and find ways to integrate them more fully into the day-to-day workings of the community. Most will be happy to take on a bigger role, especially if you incentivize them to do so. You could task them with laying out the welcome wagon to new users, moderating user-generated content or liaising between community members and owners.

17. Make use of polls

You might think that after 50 years of polling people would be tired of it. But you’d be wrong. In our overcrowded, hyper-connected world people want to feel like their voice is being heard. And polls give them a way to do that.

So, don't shy away from using this community engagement tool to give your community members a say. You can conduct polls on everything from new or existing products to real-world events that might somehow impact community members. And make sure you share the results.

You can also conduct variations on the standard poll - and perhaps even gain some inspiration for your future efforts - by asking community members to share photos of products by other creatives in your sector that they really like. The insights you will gain from this kind of community engagement strategy will pay generous dividends in the long run.

18. Don’t take negative input personally

Easier said than done, we know. But it’s important for everyone’s sake that you don’t react negatively to the user input you solicited. Asking members’ opinions about different things is key to any effective community engagement strategy but you are going to hear some things you don’t like. Just be like the willow and bend in the wind.

Of course, whenever you solicit input from community members may hear from some trolls who’ve been waiting to unload some of their negativity. Be an adult and just ignore them. If they cross the line of acceptability, ban them. You won’t be losing anything.

Others, though, will try earnestly to put into words things they think you could improve on. Even if what they’re saying comes across as a little harsh it might just be that they are not great at making clear, concise points.

Don’t take it personally.  In such cases, try and listen to the essence of what they’re saying and thank them for their input.

What’s the next step for your community engagement?

Create your super member program!

• Learn how to bring your most engaged members closer

• Team up to set good examples and create a safe space

• Share responsibilities and ideas with members you trust

• Work together on your vision in the true spirit of community