5 Simple Ideas to Boost Engagement in Your Online Community

If you're running an online community, you know how important it is to have engaged members who are chatting, sharing knowledge, and building a community. But how do you get there? 

It takes time and effort to build rituals and habits that encourage engagement, but there are some simple things you can do to spark that engagement and get your members talking. 

Here are five ideas to get you started:

Use @mentions

@mentions are a great way to draw people into a conversation. Whether you want to highlight a piece of content to someone who might find it useful, or you want to bring someone's expertise into the discussion, @mentions can help. To use them, simply add the @ sign and the member's screen name (which you can find on their profile). This will trigger an email notification to them and prompt them to join in the conversation.

Use Search

The search feature allows members to search for content using keywords and filter the content by type. When adding any content to your community, it’s important to get into the habit of ensuring that the content has a clear and meaningful title and description to help members find what they are looking for. You can also add tags to improve how members can search for and find content. 

Celebrate and Focus

Use your group “Message” to celebrate group successes and contributions. If a member has provided a solution to a problem or shared something useful, be sure to mention and celebrate them. You can also use the group message to ask for help with questions or content, and highlight recent content and activity in the group.

Host Virtual Events

Simple events like community coffee breaks are a great way for members to get to know each other and have a conversation. This can lead to more discussion and contributions in your group. Keep it simple and informal, and let the conversation flow naturally.

Host Discussion Forum Events

Invite key members to host an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session in the discussion area, where other members can pose questions. This is just one format you can use - you could also try a hotseat, an online chat, or a Q&A session.

Building engagement in your online group takes time, effort and consistency, but these five simple ideas can help you get started. Use @mentions to draw people into conversations, leverage advanced search features, celebrate and focus on contributions, host virtual events to get members talking, and host discussion events to encourage conversations. Give these ideas a try and see how your group grows and evolves.