#102 Easy Ways To Drive Meaningful Community Engagement
I got an email from a client that did a 90-minute strategy workshop with me to prep for his program launch, and he circled back to share that he sold out his first program launch which is so exciting!
Now that he has 100 people enrolled in his program, this was his next question:
"Right now the challenge is to keep the cohort inside the community engaged in between the lessons. I am wondering how to do this with simple posts and polls and other low effort actions inside the community, that don't require my sitting in front of the camera. Like what questions to ask... If to post something daily... Etc
Unpopular but true (and important):
If a community doesn't have a ton of posts per day, that's okay. In fact, super active communities can be really overwhelming.
Chasing engagement can be a dangerous game because engagement, to an extent, is a vanity metric.
So what really matters?
Are members connecting with one another? Or do they feel alone?
Are members working toward their goals and achieving results?
Instead of asking how we can drive a ton of engagement, I like to think about how we can drive the above questions – results & connection.
In order to design content for engagement, reflect on what questions and conversation starters are going to help members get results, and connect with one another.
Here's an incredible example:
Jay Clouse's community, The Lab, is a place for professional content creators to share experiments and grow together.
Every few months in his community he posts a question "What's working right now?", and he promotes the hell out of this one post in his emails, auto-DM, and by pinning it in the community header so everyone that logs in will see it.
This one post gets a ton of engagement and more importantly, it gives other members ideas to experiment with. I always notice that this post sparks NEW posts from members sharing a week or two later "I tried this strategy that Susie mentioned, and this is how it worked for me".
This one post drives connection AND results. And it's so, so simple. Most importantly, it drives at the purpose of the membership – to experiment, learn and grow together.
Easy content ideas to drive connection:
"What’s your origin story?" – We all have a story about what led us to [topic of community]. What’s yours? Share how you got started and what inspired you to take this journey!
"What’s one thing you’re loving right now?" – Let’s spread some positivity! What’s one [tool, strategy, habit] that’s been a game-changer for you lately? Bonus points for sharing a pic!
Poll: "Pick one—no wrong answers!" – If you could only choose one: [Option A] or [Option B]? Drop your answer and why! Example: "If you could only focus on one for the next 30 days: content creation or audience growth—what’s your pick?"
"Tag a friend who…" – Let’s build connections! Tag a fellow member who has inspired you or shared something valuable recently. Let’s give them some love!
"The struggle is real!" – We all have that one thing we’re stuck on this week. What’s yours? Let’s problem-solve together!
"Member spotlight" (recurring) – Feature a member who has shared something insightful, reached a milestone, or simply been engaging. Tag them and invite the community to celebrate them!
Easy content ideas to drive results:
"What’s working right now?" (Inspired by Jay Clouse) – Share one thing you’ve tried recently that’s actually working! What results have you seen? Let’s exchange strategies and insights.
Knowledge check poll – Great for between program classes test their understanding. Which of these statements about [topic] is true? (A, B, C, or D?) Let’s see what the group thinks!
Quick win challenge – "Here’s a tiny challenge you can do today to move forward on [ goal ]." Give it a shot and report back! Example: "Get in TWO 30-Minute walks today – comment below once you've done them and share your step count."
"Biggest takeaway from this week’s lesson?" – What’s one key insight or aha moment you had from this week’s [lesson/module/training]? Let’s learn from each other! You can plug answering these during the session
Apply the learning – "Time to take action! Based on what we covered in [lesson], what’s one small step you’ll implement this week?"
"Reverse advice: what’s NOT working?" – Let’s learn from each other’s mistakes. What’s something you’ve tried that DIDN’T work, and what did you learn from it?
"Progress check-in" (recurring) – Let’s do a quick gut check: On a scale from 1-10, how are you feeling about your progress this week? Drop a number and a quick reason why!
A few bonus tips:
Think about your community forum like another social channel to create content for – but it doesn't have to be every day. You might create 1-2 posts per week with the above in mind. I'd plan out 1, and keep the second to be reactive to what's happening in the community.
Don't repeat posts too often. People get bored of the same threads. Doing a "Weekly Wins Wednesdays" thread is exciting for the first few weeks and then the comments die off. Create more excitement with these recurring thread posts by doing them less often. Keep the language fresh each time so that it doesn't get stale.
Nominate ambassadors or community "plants" to make community-generated content. In order for your members to feel comfortable posting, they need to see other members posting. Ask a few people to model the behavior that you're desiring – you can even provide them with some ideas to post.
If you do all of the above, you'll not only have great "engagement", but even better, you'll have meaningful engagement.
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