Comments on: Nobody likes a desperate community administrator

By: Community building: Getting members active and addicted | Community Building

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:21:06 +0000

[...] bombard new members with messages. You don’t want to appear desperate. Give them a day or two after they have activated their account before contacting them with a [...]

By: Newsflash: Building an online community is hard work | Community Building

Newsflash: Building an online community is hard work | Community Building — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:15:50 +0000

[...] You are just getting people started. As soon as members start creating content, jump into action. Don’t become a stalker; just encourage and develop the discussion further. Remember what that member tells you and [...]

By: Turning ”I’m outta here” into ”I’m back” | Community Building

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:07:10 +0000

[...] can’t spam members or beg them to return. You don’t want to bribe them. All you can do is try to figure out why they left and address [...]

By: How to reduce failed threads and encourage community discussion | Community Building

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:01:46 +0000

[...] Don’t get desperate. Sometimes, members just won’t be interested in certain discussion topics but you can still encourage conversations by getting involved yourself. Learn what works, influence discussions, ego stroke and get matchmaking! More community building articles: Previous (Older) Article: Save time with these community building shortcuts Next (Newer) Article: Build a stronger online community by empowering your members [...]

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:52:36 +0000

Agreed; I recently joined a community and within a week got about 4 or 5 e-mails from them. I understand that they’re starting out, but man, just telling me to go somewhere isn’t much incentive to go there. I asked him to chill and he said “that’s online marketing” — this is a guy paying over 200 biweekly for an ad at a much busier competitive site, so I can easily take that with a grain of salt.

By: How to make your online community stronger | Community Building & Community Management

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:37:52 +0000

[...] friends. Instead, ask them why they would want to invite friends. As soon as you point fingers or become demanding, the fun has gone. Get feedback, ask questions. Don’t go crazy, [...]

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:21:25 +0000

Ok, now that my comment about the spam has become #40, that looks silly.

The community is doing better. We got a few active users and some nice conversations going. Still a long ways to go, though. One of the more active members got sick and there was a noticible slowdown in the conversation. But I’ll keep working at it.

Michelle

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:16:32 +0000

Michelle – Well spotted! Thanks for bringing that to my attention

How are things going with your community these days?

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:43:04 +0000

Martin – I suspect #40 is spam unless it’s some major cosmic coincidence. See #23.

Michelle

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:59:18 +0000

Mostly spot on, but I wouldn’t be such a stickler about the asking your members to help you promote the site. When you reach a certain point, you’ll have a good core of members who really do want to help out. Some of them might donate money to help defray the cost of the server, but others don’t have money to give and they jump at the opportunity to help out in other ways. It’s important to pick carefully who you ask, and give some careful instructions on what you do and don’t want them to do, but having your best members evangelize for you is the best way of all to grow your community.