This document provides 11 tips for community facilitators to help engage and retain new community members. The tips include introducing yourself to welcome newcomers, sending a welcome pack with community information, advertising the community on social media and professional networks, helping new members make introductions to others, sending personal invites to potential members, creating a members' marketplace to connect people, providing useful community content, posting forum discussions on other sites to drive engagement, publishing regular newsletters, hiring bloggers to contribute content, and hosting "hotseat" question and answer sessions to involve members. The overall goal is to welcome newcomers, encourage participation, and help people connect to build a regular community.

1. Batteries Not Included
How community facilitators can help
power the community
www.communities.idea.gov.uk

2. Batteries not included

3. Community facilitators help power the
community so choose your batteries
wisely….
Here’s 11 tips that can help power your
community, especially around….

4. From stranger
to passer by
From lurker
to participant
From participant
to regular
From passer by
to lurker
Getting and Retaining members
.

5. So you have 21 days
Supposedly it takes 21 days for
something to become a habit.
So if that’s the case, if you can
keep new members of your
community engaged for their
first 21 days, they should
become hooked.

6. Tip 1 - Introduce yourself
Don’t send a standard e-mail.
Welcome the newcomer and ask
relevant questions.
The goal here is to begin a conversation,
a conversation that continues past the
initial interaction.
Highlight discussions they might like to
participate in. Give them something to
do.

7. Tip 2 - Send them a welcome pack
C
O
P A welcome pack brings
newcomers up to speed with the
latest happenings in the
community and its history.

8. Tip 3 - Advertise
Join us Update your email signature with
a link to the community
Create some simple postcards or
business cards with the what’s in
it for me (WIIFM) for the potential
members
Tell people about it on other
professional networks or social
networking sites e.g. Twitter,
LinkedIn

9. Tip 4 - Introductions
Help to place the newcomer in a group with others. Ask
those with similar interests or location to introduce
themselves

10. Tip 5 - lots of invites
Think about your
potential audience and
tailor your invites to
each of them.
A personal message is
better than a mass mail
out.
Also ask your current
members to invite new
people

11. Tip 6 - Members Market Place
A marketplace could be
seen as a ‘dating
service’ for knowledge.
It identifies what people
know and what they
need to know on a
particular subject, then
connects them
appropriately.

12. Tip 7 - Content
Content is key
Article’s
Presentations
Reports
Guides
Video
Etc

13. Tip 8 - Forum posts exchange
Strike a deal with members or facilitators of similar
communities where you can cross post discussions and
help each other to stimulate discussion

14. Tip 9 - Newsletters
Read all
about it!

15. Tip 10 - Hire bloggers
Encourage key members or
subject matter experts to
blog on a regular basis.
This will give the
community a heads up on
upcoming topics or an
insight into the hottest
topics and events

16. Tip 11 - Hotseat
Hotseat’s are a useful tool
that can be used within a
Community of Practice; it
enables participants to ask
the person or persons in
the hotseat questions,
which they can post over a
set period of time.
Normally these questions
and answer session are
hosted within the forum to
help capture the responses.

17. Welcome them, give
them pointers on
getting started, suggest
topics where they might
participate, and tell
them about any
interesting upcoming
events.
Provide some reward to
those who make the
effort
From stranger
to passer by
Make personalised
invitation
From lurker
to participant
From participant
to regular
From passer by
to lurker
Getting and Retaining members
Make potential
members aware of your
community
Building content that
will attract members
Encourage members to
bring in interesting
participants
Send an email to new
members within 24
hours of their
membership
Highlight community
content
Create "small steps"
for encouraging
participation,
posting regular
questions or forum
answers
ALWAYS greet
newcomers, and
encourage other
community members to
welcome them.
Write a regular
newsletter highlighting
your site and
community People return to places
where they find a group
of people to talk to. If
you do not have such a
place, you will not be
able to retain members.
No effort on your part,
no matter how great,
will create a regular
where there is no
community
Facilitate members to
find people to talk,
through personal
profiles, highlighting
member interests,
discussions, and so on.