Earlier this week, I shared this Tweet about how to increase community engagement:
Increase community engagement by speaking less
I love helping our members. I love helping them so much that typically when a member posts a question, I immediately rush to respond and give them the most thorough, comprehensive answer I possibly can.
Something I started noticing is that when I did that, other members wouldn’t feel the need to contribute.
If I give the full answer, their perspective feels unnecessary.
Becoming aware of this, I challenged myself to hold back my response. It felt uncomfortable, but I left new member posts alone for 24 hours. And you know what happened? Multiple members jumped in to help and contribute their answers!
It was amazing. Not only were their answers fantastic, but the variety of perspectives and experiences shared across their answers led to a much richer community experience for all.
As Ryan on Twitter shared ‘putting ego aside, often their answers are better’.
What to do if a post remains quiet
Of course, if other members don’t jump in, you shouldn’t leave that post unattended.
Personally I do the following:
- I private message other members with expertise in that particular area, and politely ask if they’d be willing to contribute some answers/advice in that thread
- After 24 hours, I’ll also jump in and share my 2 cents too, whether the post has answers or not.
Want to learn more engagement strategies?
Enjoy these other articles to help you to increase community engagement:
Increase engagement with recurring community events
The single best strategy to increase community engagement
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