Series Title: How to Get Your Members Talking Online
Not getting enough responses to your content? This might be attributed to members acting as “lurkers” or “ghosters”. These members typically observe content being posted by others, but rarely interact with this content or post any of their own. In online communities, businesses often find it difficult to engage all members of the community, especially in an online presence. Increasing collaboration online can be highly beneficial to the efficiency and growth of the business, so enhancing your user’s online community platform experience is imperative to your success online. This blog series dives deep into the actions you can take, as a community manager, or as a business owner, to optimize user experience in a community platform.
Part 1: Building Your Personal Brand
The first, and easiest step you can take is to activate, expand, and grow your own online presence. Showcase your personal online brand by joining groups, posting articles that pertain to your interests, or liking and commenting on other people’s posts. Building your profile with your unique content displays a more approachable presence; members will be able to detect similarities with their own likes and dislikes, and will be more likely to give a response. According to the Community Roundtable, being able to “Validate Out Loud includes liking, sharing others‘ posts, commenting, bookmarking or responding to posts. This is often the first visible behavior beyond consuming that people exhibit and is the equivalent of dipping their toes in the water to feel how warm it is in order to assess whether the social environment is comfortable” (Happe).
In general, a rule of thumb for sharing content is to create posts that are quick to read or see. Prioritizing effortlessly accessible content helps users quickly identify the point or headline of the post, which will make it easier for those users to react. Using outstanding images is an efficient way to attract attention and encourage sharing of your content. Here at Breezio we have made it a point to choose images, colors, and words to effectively portray the “brand” that you are building. Using articles with keywords that relate to your brand is a great way to bring followers and reactions to your content. Recently, we shared an article from CMX that articulates the ways one can build communities from scratch. This article is especially relevant to Breezio because it hits major points that our community software emulates: building communities and collaboration. Below is the photo that was shared on our social media accounts about this article, including short phrases, the Breezio logo, and a simple yet satisfying aesthetic.
Branding goes beyond connecting with others on a social level. LinkedIn users rely heavily on their personal brand to be successful in the online professional connections platform. Personal profiles are essentially elevated resumes, showcasing not only a person’s personal likes and interests, but also their work experience, professional opinions, and published work. On the Breezio platform, the profile highlights contributions to the community and allows for interaction among community members directly. “Validating Out Loud”, like Rachel Happe says, can be a powerful tool in many different online platforms.
Breezio works to allow your personal content to become a powerful tool by providing real-time collaboration between users. Click here to find out more about the community management software and request a demo.