#70 Community Pattern Breaks
This week I connected with a friend who runs a PR agency and we talked about the pressure we put on ourselves... the timeline, the launch dates, the next big thing that will take our revenue to the next level.
The pressure and the hustle is no doubt why we're building businesses, but it's ok to release some of it. It might (read: very likely) be better for the business long-term.
What would it look like to release that pressure just a little bit?
What if it took 6 months instead of 3?
What would you do differently if you gave yourself a little more time?
This got me thinking about the hamster wheel we put ourselves on, and how important it is to take breaks.
And if it's important to take breaks... how can we serve breaks?
This week I'm getting into the importance of creating pattern breaks for your community experience...
so that they don't pass out on the hamster wheel.
Let’s get into it —
Continuous community can have a monotonous feeling after a while.
I've worked with quite a few community managers (or founders that do their own CM) and I see the same behaviors again and again – they start to get bored ... and the community gets stale.
If it feels monotonous for the founder, it will feel monotonous for your long-term members.
We need to strike a balance between routine and experimentation.
At bossbabe (2022) we had the same 4 events every month:
Goal Setting
Business Q&A
Guest Expert Interview
Mindset Coaching
In January of 2023 we did something different – we hosted a vision boarding workshop. There were 2x the attendees of our most popular events.
Was it the content of the workshop or was it the pattern break?
Probably a combination of both.
Routine is important and I don't suggest you throw it out the window but changing things up can have a huge impact on engagement and retention.
When Jay, Chenell and I recorded the Creator Science podcast at Craft + Commerce we talked about the importance of being vulnerable and sharing your stories.
I shared that my 1 year in business reflection newsletter issue resulted in 5x the replies of my typical newsletters.
Then we questioned ... was it the vulnerability or was it the pattern break?
Probably a combination of both.
What if we were more intentional about our pattern breaks?
We worry so much about delivering the same thing we promised week over week but a pattern break feels good.
It's the reason we love a vacation, and we love getting back to routine afterward.
Build pattern breaks into your content & programming
Try these pattern breaks for your content:
Switch up your weekly repeated posts – Many of my clients will ask how to improve engagement but I see them posting the same thing each week – "What are your wins for the week! Drop them in the thread👇🏻" – it gets great engagement the first couple of weeks, then it will die off. Instead, create new variations.
Update images and visual graphics – When we see the same graphic over and over (like for the weekly wins thread) we get bored and stop paying attention. Refresh your graphics and watch your engagement climb.
Share a vulnerable story – Building community is about building connection and relationships ... you can't do that without sharing a little bit of YOU every once in a while. If you have a team, empower them to share more (if they're comfortable).
Surprise & delight – Are you noticing your members need something they don't have? Develop the resource and just ... give it to them. Not everything needs to be a sell or fall under a prescribed "content drop".
Try these pattern breaks for your programming:
Less frequency – I learned this one from Jay Clouse – he noticed when he reduced the frequency of repeated events like office hours, the show up rate was better. When we know we can just go next week, it's easier to skip.
Provide variety to repeat events – Instead of a Q&A, add a focus to the Q&A. For example, "Business Q&A: Lead Generation Tactics". Instead of a free-for-all, members know what to expect and they can determine if it's worth their time.
Give months a theme – While I was at bossbabe the best quarter of retention was when I had an email marketing theme that evolved over 3 months. Use member feedback to plan themes – plan for a few months ahead, not a whole year.
Surprise & delight – When you have an idea for a special event, or resource, don't be afraid to step outside the "offer boundaries" and do something different, like our vision board workshop! I love quarterly planning or a special "industry trends" type quarterly event to drive re-engagement.
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