10 Online Community Engagement Tactics You Can Steal
Community Strategy // Check out ten of our favorite activities you can use to spark engagement in your online community.
Allison AbleIs your online community disengaged? Are you new to community management and you need to figure this “engagement” thing out? Feeling uninspired and need a creative boost? If so, then this post is for you. It’s a compilation of my (and my team’s) favorite online community engagement activities. We use these on a re-occurring basis to help create habits of engagement in our customers’ communities. You can put these tactics on your community content calendar to prompt and boost community activity.
We’ll cover what each tactic is, when you would use it, why it works, how to do it, and share some secrets for success.
Want to dig deeper? Check out our complete guide to online community.
Add These Online Community Engagement Tactics to Your Content Calendar
As community managers, leaders, and builders, we know that an online community can’t be launched and then left to grow on its own. It takes dedicated community management, including content planning, to create, sustain, and grow engagement.
In this list, we’ll share a few creative online community engagement activities you can use to do just that. We’ll cover the classics, like Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions and seed content, but we’ll also dive into some little-known tactics that can yield great rewards.
Here’s a sneak peak of the online community engagement activities list:
2. Tip Tuesday
3. Seed Content
5. Engage Your Disengaged Members
10. Community Leadership Programs
If you’re seeking other advice or content around online community engagement, check out this guide – we’ve got a lot of online community building best practices up our sleeve.
Without further ado, let’s dive in:
1. Ask Me Anything Sessions
What is it?
An “Ask Me Anything,” or AMA, is a regular event on your content calendar where users get the opportunity to ask questions and learn from a fellow community member or applicable industry-related expert.
Identify potential topics of interest by leveraging your community data, including top discussions, frequently used tags, common search terms, most popular downloaded resources, or community polls. This data can also help you find your internal community experts!
Don’t forget to look ahead at your calendar of events when planning. Do you have a product release coming down the pipeline or a new policy being introduced on Capitol Hill? An AMA can be a great way to highlight these initiatives (while still educating your community members).
When would I use it?
We recommend doing AMAs no more than quarterly – if you do them too often you may tire your members out. Genesys’s online community manager took a creative spin on an AMA by creating a Q&A Show where he brought on a staff expert to answer support questions in the community.
Why it works:
An AMA is a great way to create community-exclusive content, giving members a chance to ask questions of an expert and understand how other professionals or industry leaders solve problems. Plus, with an AMA, you generate a large amount of content at one time that you can repurpose and share across other channels.
How do I do it?
| 4 Weeks Before | 2 Weeks Before | 1 Week Before | Day of AMA | 1 Week After |
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Any secrets for success?
- A good AMA will accept questions in advance and real-time questions.
- Try making it a multi-part AMA! Seed questions in the community as you would normally, but instead of answering them in the community thread, host a live webinar where experts answer the questions and demo any applicable responses. Record the session and share in thread. Bonus: Create clips of the recorded webinar to add as responses to the questions posted in the community (extending the life of your content even further).
2. Tip Tuesday
What is it?
Engaging new community members is a key ingredient to community success – and a big component of that onboarding is ensuring a member knows how to effectively leverage your online community platform. Tip Tuesday is a re-occurring “how-to” focused content item where you share technology tips, like “here’s how to respond to a discussion thread with a private message.”
Make sure the thread isn’t just informative! Based on the advice you share, ask community members to complete an action that will benefit the community. For example, challenge them to take an action like updating their profile photo, recommending or liking a favorite thread and replying to that thread.
When would I use it?
Depending on other planned content calendar items, Tip Tuesday can be effective weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. There’s no harm in repeating content, especially if your online community platform features change and you want to help members understand how to use them. You might also consider leveraging a dedicated #TipTuesday tag to populate a content feed on your homepage visible to new members or to be leveraged as a site FAQ.
Why it works:
Since something as simple as confusion with the platform could be a barrier to participation, Tip Tuesday is a great way to help community members who might be less tech-savvy get involved.
How do I do it?
| 2 Weeks Before | 1 Week Before | 1 Day Before | Posting Day | 1 Month After |
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Any secrets to success?
- Review the commonly searched terms in your community.
- When there’s a new feature or product update for your community platform, help your community members understand the changes by releasing explanations in bite-sized pieces.
- Create an onboarding email series to engage new community members, and feature your favorite #TipTuesday threads in one of the emails.
3. Seed Content
What is it?
Seed content is content like questions or resources that a community manager can post on behalf of the community’s members.
The 90-9-1 rule of community engagement says that you’ll usually only see 1% of community members post content organically (among Higher Logic customers, this number is more like 23%). Having seed content to rely on helps create organic member-to-member engagement in the community.
The most common way to get seed content is to identify a subset of members (beta testers, chapter/user group leaders, champions, most active, those that have replied to a thread but have not started one, etc.) and send a personalized email including the following prompt:
- If you were in a room full of other [insert industry here] professionals, what is one question you would ask?
- If one doesn’t come to mind, what is one professional pain point you are experiencing?
When would I use it?
The best time to use a seed question is when you experience an ebb in activity. You might see this happen when your community first launches, or during a busy holiday season.
Why it works:
Seed content is your secret weapon, because it’s user-created content! You can strategically post it when your community needs an engagement spark. When members consistently see other members posting, that drives more organic, member-generated content.
The seed content that works best includes ample background context and has to do with a relevant topic that other users are also interested in. These seed questions should come from real users and be tailored to the interest of your users.
Look to community builder Simona Ciampi’s advice for more tips on creating an engaging community discussion post.
How do I do it?
| Set Up | 1 Day Before | Posting |
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Any secrets to success?
Get questions straight from your community members to ensure seed content is natural and seems organic, rather than something you’ve just made up. This can make discussion deeper and more authentic.
Use these drivers to help you brainstorm:
- What are People Doing? What are you working on now? Do you have any upcoming events?
- What are People Thinking? What books have you read? What have you learned recently?
- What are People Feeling? What do you like/dislike about ___? What do you think about ___?
- What are People Fearing? What are you struggling with? What is your biggest challenge?
4. Member Spotlight
What is it?
A thread that features a member of the community based on predetermined criteria.
When would I use it?
Try using this engagement tactic on a monthly basis. Members, customers, and employees continually cite the importance of learning from people like them. This structured touchpoint not only provides an avenue to recognize your brand advocates, but can be leveraged to highlight how your company or organization is responsible for the success of its members/users.
Why it works:
Your community members, especially those who want to build their brand or professional network will love being recognized and learning about other members. This is a great way to put faces to names and make that personal connection. For example, I did a series of spotlights on some of Higher Logic’s leaders for our internal Women in Tech community, sharing how they got to where they are in their careers and any lessons they had for the group.
How do I do it?
| Template Creation | Start of Quarter | 1 Week Later | 2 Weeks Later | Posting Day |
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Any secrets to success?
- Try using these criteria to find members to spotlight:
- Most Engaged Members
- Top Discussion Contributors
- Top Library Contributors
- Community Champion or Ambassador
- Industry Expert
- Member Segments
- Repurpose the content from your spotlighted member: Use it in collateral and identify potential advocates.
5. Engage Your Disengaged Members
What is it?
A strategy to encourage your “lurkers” or consumers and inactive users to take more overt action. Understanding the makeup of your audience and the consumer and inactive sub-segment is critical, as is the timing and cadence of your outreach.
Why it works:
We recommend that our customers who haven’t seen a community member on the site in a while try contacting them using automation rules or re-engagement campaigns. We’ve seen success rates upwards of 30% – and these users stay re-engaged, more often than not.
How do I do it?
| 2 Weeks Before | 1 Day Before | Posting Day | 1 Month After |
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Any secrets to success?
- Don’t expect to convert consumers (or lurkers) into always-on advocates. Most of your time is better served ensuring all members receive the help they need.
- Try to understand why your consumers don’t participate. Is it because they don’t know how or what to do? Identify easy call-to-actions (CTAs) for them to accomplish (this is where Tip Tuesdays may come in handy).
- Target specific consumers (automation rules are a great way to do this) get everyone to post a profile picture or respond to a quick poll.
- Create smaller discussion groups or identify other ways to make interacting in the larger group less intimidating.
6. Quarter in Review
What is it?
A dedicated highlight thread of community activity. Think of it as an “in community” newsletter that not only provides the opportunity to recognize contributors but promotes additional community activity.
When would I use it?
As the name implies, this activity can be done quarterly. You could also do this monthly if your first few seem to be really popular with members.
Why it works:
There are two reasons this online community engagement tactic is effective: recognition and community value.
- Recognition: Increase the likelihood of additional participation and community advocacy by publicly recognizing a member’s contribution to the community. Recognition by an expert is a common motivator for community involvement.
- Community Value: Value must be evident in a community for members to stay engaged. They’re subconsciously (or consciously) asking themselves: “Why should I join and participate in this community?” and, “What value will it bring to me as a member?” This thread provides the opportunity to showcase that value in a digestible and mutually beneficial way. Consider leveraging these highlights for promotion of the community in external channels as well.
The goal of the thread is not to spark discussion, but to increase awareness. Typically, metric impact will be seen with site logins, highlighted thread discussion activity, downloads (if applicable), and overall views.
If the content is shared externally, you may also see an increase in community membership and/or site visits from non-members.
How do I do it?
| Preparation | 2-3 Days Prior | Posting Day | After Posting Day |
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Any secrets to success?
- Create an email template to send to users who are acknowledged in your review to congratulate and thank them for their contributions. This personal outreach goes a long way in developing community and organizational advocates!
- Leverage the discussion thread’s content in social channels or other communication spaces like newsletters to promote the community
- Create a dedicated tag that can be leveraged for community members to search for previously shared highlights
- Try including 4-5 following items:
- Metrics
- New Members
- New Threads
- Total Discussion – Total Threads + Total Replies
- Total Blogs
- Total Resources
- Total Events (+ Attendance)
- Started Thread for the First Time
- Top Threads
- Unanswered Threads
- Top or Recent Shared Resources
- Top or Recent Blogs
- Upcoming Events
- Badge Attainment
- Top Contributor Acknowledgement
- New Member Welcome
- Metrics
BONUS: Example Template for Your Email
Subject Line: Stay Up to Date! Q2 2020 Highlights
Content:
Did you know that [insert an idea from a thread in the community + link]?
The last three months brought us 150 new members, 75 new discussions [link], 15 new blogs [link], 3 released case studies [link], and 5 events (recordings still available). [share metric highlights]
Join the Conversation! (Top 3 Threads)
- Thread Link + @ mention
- Thread Link + @ mention
- Thread Link + @ mention
Can We Get Your Help? Insights Needed: [Include links to unanswered threads which need replies]
- Thread Link
- Thread Link
Add to Your Professional Toolkit – View and Download Now: [blogs, case studies, .pdfs, webinar recordings, etc.]
- Library Link + @ mention
- Library Link + @ mention
Q2 Contributor Shoutout [try featuring community members who contributed or those who earned a certain badge]
- @ mention + reason for shoutout
- @ mention + reason for shoutout
What did we miss? What stood out to you in Q2? Reply now! (creates an opportunity to start a discussion)
7. Company Corner
What is it?
Company Corner is a great opportunity for an organization or company’s departments to engage with the community in an effective and mutually beneficial way. You could do your company corner as a one-time thread or expand it to a week-long series, once a month.
Your goal should be to feature every department at least once a year. You might need to highlight one department multiple times, e.g. a product team every time they update the product roadmap.
Here are some examples of what you could do for specific departments:
- Membership > Benefits Review > Ask members what benefits they’d like to see added.
- Product > Roadmap Development > Host an in-community beta testing opportunity and ask members to share their questions and feedback via the dedicated thread.
- Policy and Government > Showcase a Formulated Policy > Ask your members if they believe any points are missing from a drafted policy, and what stands out to them as effective.
- Support > Demo of Top Support Questions Answered > Have members vote from a list of support cases, host a live webinar to walk through the solution, and then post the recording to the thread. (For an example, check out how Genesys does this in their SaaS community!)
- Executive Team > Org Strategic Plan > Share and invite questions around your organization’s strategic plan.
- Marketing > Case Studies > Have marketing share customer or member case studies. Members may enjoy hearing about how other customers or members have solved a challenge they’re struggling with.
- HR > Career Advice > Run an AMA-style workshop via the community where expert(s) share career advice.
When would I use it?
You could do Company Corner as a one-time thread or expand it to a week-long series, once a month.
Why it works:
One of the key elements of community success organization-wide buy-in. Company Corner is an online community engagement tactic that gives you the chance to nurture those important organizational relationships. Your online community will benefit from the ability to engage with all aspects of the organization.
It’s also critical to establish how often your staff will be involved in the community (outside of answering support questions). By creating a dedicated planned touchpoint, you set expectations for that balance, while also giving the community manager and selected department the opportunity to create valuable content.
How do I do it?
| Preparation | 3 Weeks Prior | 2 Weeks Prior | 1 Week Prior | Posting Day |
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Any secrets to success?
- Try to make the department’s involvement as effortless as possible. Create a shared document or folder to generate approved content and collect any supplementary materials. While it’s ideal to have department stakeholders posting on their own, offer the ability to post on their behalf as needed.
- If you have community champions or ambassadors, consider surveying them to see what types of information they would find valuable. Share those results as you are working with each department. Plus, not even considering community engagement, this is another way to showcase your community’s value.
8. Coffee Talk Time
What is it?
A dedicated thread that is opened for a specific time (typically one day a week) for members to share their personal and professional updates. (Instead of doing a thread, you could also create a sub-community that your commmunity members can always access.)
- Examples include:
- Adopted a dog
- Bought a house
- Got married
- Changed roles
- Moved to a new state and need recommendations
When would I use it?
Maintaining a high and steady subscription rate is a top priority when managing a community. And one of the best ways to keep engagement high is through effective community moderation. But you don’t want your members to never have the chance to get to know each other on a personal level. The solution? Create a dedicated time and space for personal discussions so that the community stays focused but members still have the chance to create personal bonds.
Why it works:
Subscription rates won’t be affected by non-topical discussion and member-to-member connections will increase. This is also a fantastic opportunity to nurture community manager-member relationships as well. See below for details on that point!
How do I do it?
| Preparation | Late Afternoon the Day Before | Day of | End of Day or Early Next Day |
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Any secrets to success?
- Send a branded swag item (dog toy, baby onesie, keychain for new house key, etc.) or a personal note to your members to recognize their special moment.
9. Winner! Contests
What is it?
If you want a “rewarding” way to engage your community members, then try hosting a contest. This type of engagement touchpoint can come in many forms. Here are a few examples to get you started:
- Trivia
- Share organization-related facts for users to guess which ones are true or false. First person with all the answers correct wins.
- Treasure Hunt
- Supply a series of clues that require users to search your community and share community links as answers (plus, this is a great way to showcase content).
- Riddles
- Leverage emojis to describe different vendors that will be present at an upcoming conference and the first member to guess them all right wins (Bonus: Winner could get a swag bag filled with items sponsored by the vendors).
- Community Activity Promotion
- Add a photo to your profile and be entered to win a prize.
- Start a thread and @ mention another member to answer your question, and you’ll be entered into a raffle.
- Community Referrals – Invite someone to join the community.
- To be entered into a raffle you must “@ mention” the new member in the contest thread and welcome them to the community (a twist on the classic “Introduce Yourself” thread). Make it so that both the existing and new member are entered win the prize!
Why do I need it?
Contests are a great online community engagement tactic because they’re naturally interactive. Additionally, there are ways to craft the contest so that the requested effort helps the community, as outlined in the examples.
Why it works:
Overall, you tend to see a spike in community activity during contests, impacting your requested action (logins, discussion activity, profile updates, new members, etc). If you’ve always thought of contests as short-term activities that don’t create real community growth, check out Courtney Howell’s analysis of this.
How do I do it?
| Preparation | 3 Weeks Prior | Day Of | 1 Week Later (Depending on Contest Timeline) |
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Any secrets to success?
- For contests to be effective, we recommend they occur sporadically (no more than one per quarter).
- Make sure the prize is valuable. But the prizes don’t always need to be physical items. You could try awarding a virtual lunch with an expert, VIP access to an upcoming conference, or a donation to a charity of the winner’s choice.
- Don’t forget to actually send the prize! Follow-through here helps create credibility – and if you’re lucky, maybe the winner will post a picture with their prize in the community. (More engagement!)
10. Community Leadership Programs
What is it?
For this online community engagement activity, you need to have groups of community members. For example, you might have a group of community super users or champions, who are your most highly engaged community members. Or depending on what type of organization you are, you might have chapters (associations) or user groups (software companies). Whoever they are, it’s time to get them involved! Have members from each group (or just the group’s leaders) sign up for a certain day where they commit to start a community discussion. To sweeten the deal, offer them the opportunity to promote their specific group or initiative in the thread.
Examples:
- The Washington D.C. ABC Chapter recently hosted a meet up where members discussed the elements that are needed for effective internal communication. What would you add?
- Element One
- Element Two
- Element Three
- The London 123 User Group met this past Friday to review the recent XYZ release. Here is a demo that one of our members recorded of the new feature. [INSERT VIDEO] We generally agreed that this enhancement solves Problem A and Problem B. Have you gotten a chance to test it out? What was your impression?
When would I use it?
This online community engagement tactic is a structured and organized way to get other members involved in starting community discussions. With more organic contributions, you generally end up with more organic responses (and more discussion threads).
Why it works:
Members want to see other members posting. When you put together a super user program or you’re wondering how to get a chapter or user group involved, starting community discussion is a quick and uncomplicated way to participate. Many communities require that to be a part of their super user program, participants must post X amount of times per quarter.
By adding this particular online community engagement tactic to your content calendar, you create an organized way to ensure participation and spread contributions out over time. As a bonus, you get insight on what super users believe to be valuable content.
How do I do it?
| Preparation | 1 Week Prior (Each Participant) | Day of Post |
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Any secrets to success?
- Create and send a calendar invite for one week prior to the scheduled posting date. This is a quick and easy way to remind participants to submit their content.
It’s Time to Put Our 10 Favorite Online Community Engagement Tactics to Work
And there you have it – the big list of our favorite online community engagement tactics. Try each of these activities and see which ones generate the most activity in your community. (Look to our post on measuring online community engagement for more tips on how to do this.)
Once you find your favorites (and your community members’ favorites!), repeat them. This helps you create a habit of engagement in your members. A key part of community building is creating ritual – it provides a sense of control and helps members know what to expect from the community.
For more ideas around online community engagement, visit this guide, where you’ll find practical tips and strategic guidance.
Sr. Community Manager
Allison Able is an experienced community and communications strategist in the corporate and non-profit sectors. She is a versatile community leader who readily dives into new challenges and immediately works to uncover ways to optimize performance, improve client engagement, or solve complex problems. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her fiance, Chris, and their dog, Scout. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, trying out the newest restaurants, and planning her next travel adventure.