#56 Member Momentum
This week a friend sent me a screenshot of a message she got about me and her text back to me reminded me of the compound effect:
My guess is that you're familiar with this feeling ... like your hard work is FINALLY paying off.
In the context of memberships, I call this member momentum.
Today I want to dig into how to create member momentum in your community.
Let's get into it –
Community building is a long game.
It's like the stock market – you put money in and it compounds overtime for much greater rewards.
Do you ever plant seeds and then months later you finally see the sprouts? That's community building.
It takes patience. But if you're patient, and you pour into your community – can't skip that part – then it will grow into something beautiful.
Here's the thing about building a membership...
It doesn't matter if you're great at getting people in, it matters if you can get them to stay.
I'm not a marketer – I don't help you with your funnel – I help you keep your members. I help you with retention.
Make no mistake – member momentum will grow your membership.
Momentum comes from sharing. But your members are much more likely to share once they've had some indicators of success and growth.
Imagine a snowball rolling down a mountain, it gets bigger and bigger because it's picking up more snow.
As your members start to see success, they bring others with them.
Even if they're not the share-everything-they're-doing type of person, people will ask how they're doing so well, and they'll give your product credit.
Create Member Momentum
Here are a few ways you can think about creating member momentum in your community.
Foster connections between members
This will help your members feel belonging which makes them more likely to share. You can do this through helping them connect with one another or finding collaborations. When your members feel connected to one another, they're more likely to stick around and spread the word.
Give your members a roadmap
You might remember this from last week – how to build a sticky product – giving your members a roadmap of what to do next will help them get to their goal faster, and with less friction.
Pour into member success
Especially in the beginning you need to focus on helping your first members be successful, even if you're anxious to get more people in. Help them be successful and they'll help you bring in others.
Create a culture of sharing
The CEO Crowd does this really well on Instagram. After each onboarding call Rebecca talks on her stories about what the member is building and tags them so they can repost. She also reposts when people tag her. How can you encourage sharing?
Make it easy to invite a friend
Do your members know how to share details about the membership with a friend? Or did they join through some complex funnel with a fake webinar and they don't even know where the sales page lives? Make this easy to find.
You can also create an affiliate program so they can earn from sharing.
Gamify the member experience
Is there a way to offer incentives for reaching certain milestones? What kind of member experience can you create that makes logging into the membership a habit? Fitness apps do this really well by creating login streaks or the ability to track progress. Habits create "obsessions" and we love to share our obsessions.
Create two-way communication
Make sure you keep your members in the loop and keep in touch with them often through the forum, a member newsletter, etc. It's also important that they know how to provide feedback, share ideas, and get in touch with the membership team.
The more your member feels like a co-creator of the membership experience, the more likely they'll have pride in sharing it.
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