Growing and Managing an Online Community

This is a bit of a random blog but it’s something I really want to share. I’m in my last year of a Digital Marketing degree, so parts of my degree are heavily focused on social media and how it can be used in marketing.

One of my assignments this semester was to create and manage an online community. I chose to create a Friends trivia group – I love Friends and I figured it would be easier to create content I have an interest in. Now the assignment is complete, I’ve actually decided to continue with the group for fun! I have found that during all the stress of my final semester, creating content and growing this group has been a great escape for me!

So, if creating a group, page or online community is something you’ve ever considered, I would say go for it! I’ll give you a few tips to get you started…

1. You need to come up with a USP (unique selling point) for your group. In my case, there are thousands of Friends groups on Facebook, so I had to come up with something that was a little different. So, I chose to make a trivia group – people love testing their knowledge on things they are passionate about, so this has gone down really well.
2. Be consistent. Post every single day, if not multiple times a day. If you post every now and then you’ll never be able to grow your community. You need to make sure you never make it possible for your group’s growth to plateau.
3. Keep your audience engaged and don’t get lazy! It may be easier to just share different posts to your page, but this isn’t going to keep your members engaged. You need to be making content your audience will enjoy – whether it’s funny, inspirational or informative. Ask your members questions, get them involved!
4. Make your new members feel valued. I’m getting a new member pretty much every day now and I message each one of them, welcoming them to the group! If they comment on a post, make sure they are not ignored. If your members feel ignored, chances are they’ll leave.

Managing my group is something I love to do. It’s a great stress reliever and I’m virtually meeting some great people who I have things in common with (a love for Friends)! If you’re passionate about something and want to take up something new, I really suggest starting your own online community.