Community Rx: Monitoring and Improving the Health of Your Online Community

Susie’s company just launched their first online community.

They emailed everyone in their database, took out some online advertising, spread the word through a press release and mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook.

But after an initial flurry of interest, signups have come to a halt.

Community Registrations

Most of the users just aren’t engaging with the content.

After just 6 months, Susie’s manager was considering scrapping the community.

But Susie wasn’t ready to so easily throw in the towel.

She knew the value an engaged community could bring to her company’s business.

Community Engagement > Brand Loyalty > Profits!

That’s why she conducted a community health check.

First, why weren’t people filling out the intake form?

First, why weren’t people filling out the intake form?

Were unregistered users able to access too much content?

First, why weren’t people filling out the intake form?

Were unregistered users able to access too much content?

Did the registration page make it clear what the benefits were for registered users?

Second, Susie took her community’s pulse.

Second, Susie took her community’s pulse.

By mapping out new and existing members’ current activities, she had a better picture of current engagement levels.

Next, Susie compared current usage to the past 3 months.

Next, Susie compared current usage to the past 3 months.

Existing users were slowing down in their activity.

Community content creation—from discussions to suggestions to user created content submissions—were all flat.

Community content creation—from discussions to suggestions to user created content submissions were all flat.

…But there were some bright spots.

A small core of passionate community members were engaging with every post.

A small core of passionate community members were engaging with every post.

Sometimes even before Susie had a chance to reply.

And even the users who weren’t actively creating content were logging in a few times per week to see what was new.

Username

Password

JoeMaximus12

************

Login

LOGIN NOW!

And even the users who weren’t actively creating content were logging in a few times per week to see what was new.

Username

Password

JoeMaximus12

************

Login

LOGIN NOW!

And that frequency kept increasing each month.

And even the users who weren’t actively creating content were logging in a few times per week to see what was new.

Username

Password

JoeMaximus12

************

Login

LOGIN NOW!

And that frequency kept increasing each month.

Susie bet her boss wasn’t aware of that.

The community members wanted to engage with the community.

The community members wanted to engage with the community. And Susie was determined to figure out how to best support them to make that happen.

With the results of her community’s health check in hand, Susie built an engagement plan targeting her existing users.

And her #1 recommendation was formalizing the role of community manager – and raising her hand to take it on.

After 1:1 outreach to her community’s influencers, and working to improve areas she identified as needing some TLC, the next month’s engagement rates started climbing up.

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…And now Susie knew what signs to watch for, to ensure the community wasn’t in critical condition again.

And Susie’s community grew healthily ever after.

For help with assessing and improving the health of your online community, download our free e-book “A Health Check for Your Online Community”

ABOUT DNN

DNN provides a suite of solutions for creating rich, rewarding online experiences for customers, partners and employees.

Our online community solution is called Evoq Social. Visit our website to learn more.