A successful community improves member experience, fosters relationships, and loyalty, and grows your memberships organically. But to reap these many benefits, communities must be actively nurtured and developed.

Once you have added members and enjoyed a base level of engagement, there are still many ways to enhance your community.

Let’s explore them one by one.

1. Encourage Networking

A successful community is more than just a group of members.

It is a network of people interacting, connecting, and learning from each other. This means that encouraging community members to network, share ideas, and collaborate is essential for maintaining a flourishing group.

To facilitate networking within the community, consider the following strategies:

• Create mini-events that promote community interaction and collaboration.
• Provide forums and discussion threads that encourage meaningful connections.
• Foster a culture of transparency and trust so members feel safe to open up.
• Offer incentives for members to introduce new people to the community.

To keep your community vibrant, it is important to keep members coming back again and again. This is much simpler when the community isn't perceived as work or a chore, but as a place to interact and hang out.

So to unlock the collective potential of your members, focus on creating an environment where they can form genuine relationships within the community.

2. Create Purposeful Content

Content creation is a crucial element of community building. It provides members with valuable information, answers questions, and ignites conversations.

To make sure you are creating content that resonates with your community, here are a few guidelines:

• Research topics that are relevant to the community.
• Survey members regularly so you know what they want.
• Use AI tools to generate content around questions and challenges that your members face.
• Share articles, videos, and other content related to the interests of the community.
• Incorporate user-generated content into your plan.
• Provide members with opportunities to share their stories and experiences.

In the beginning stages of your community development, these pieces of content are invaluable in shaping the tone and direction of your group. And over time, your content can be used to drive conversations forward and re-engage inactive members.

3. Utilize Gamification

Gamification is the use of game strategies and incentives to motivate members to participate within a community. It is a simple way to keep your community fun, rewarding, and engaging. To make your community more game-like, explore these tactics:

• Create leaderboards or point-tracking systems to recognize active members.
• Offer rewards for certain activities such as posting, commenting, sharing, or attending virtual events.
• Organize competitions and challenges.
• Provide badges or titles as recognition for members’ contributions.

Whether you choose to use points, badges, levels, or leaderboards, gamification is a powerful tool for rewarding members and encouraging further engagement.

Even the smallest forms of acknowledgment and appreciation can make community members feel like their contributions are valued.

4. Showcase Success Stories

Nothing is more inspiring than learning from the success stories of fellow community members.

Share their accomplishments to motivate others in the group and prove that your platform is a place for growth and development.

Here are four simple ways to showcase the success of your community:

• Create a featured members section that rotates regularly.
• Organize webinars and interviews with successful members.
• Spotlight success stories in newsletters, emails, or blog posts.
• Bring in guest speakers to share their own stories.

By highlighting success stories, you can demonstrate the power of your community and give other members something to aspire to. This will help foster a sense of pride and purpose within your group, encouraging members to continue participating and networking.

5. Host Events

Events are great for bringing members together and enabling them to bond and connect in a more meaningful way.

Whether it’s a virtual meetup, hybrid meeting, webinar, or physical gathering, events facilitate stronger in-group relationships and give members something to look forward to.

Speed networking event is another option you can offer to more meaningful communication to the table in short-tome.

If you want to host an event for your thriving community, here are a few pointers to consider:

• Set up a formal invite process with promotions, reminders, and follow-ups.
• Get members involved in the planning process and ask for feedback.
• Curate an interesting agenda or lineup of speakers.
• Publicize a list of attendees beforehand to encourage networking.
• Organize team-building activities or icebreakers for attendees.
• Follow up with members after the event to keep the conversation going.

Not only will an event strengthen the relationships between your members, but it will also improve your own connections with the community. This may open the door to new opportunities and ideas for further engagement.

6. Facilitate Discussions

The right discussion can spark meaningful dialogue, create stronger bonds, and bring your community closer together.

You can facilitate these conversations through questions, polls, and other interactive elements. To maximize engagement, consider hosting these discussions at regular intervals (weekly, bi-weekly, etc.) so members know when to expect new topics.

To prevent conversations from drifting off course, avoid controversial topics. Instead, focus on concepts that relate to the purpose of your community and encourage people with different backgrounds and perspectives to join in.

And if you can’t be actively involved on a regular basis, consider encouraging members to hold their own talks. You can even provide the discussion topics in advance on a given schedule. This way, the conversation doesn’t get derailed or become dependent on your availability.

If you are able to successfully facilitate discussions, your members will start to learn from each other and form greater respect for one another. This will make them much more likely to remain active in your community, even through difficult times.

7. Embrace Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of any successful community. It allows you to identify areas for improvement, address members’ concerns, and create a better experience for everyone.

However, receiving feedback can also be difficult. That’s why it’s best to take a proactive approach and create formal feedback channels for members to use. This can include surveys, forums, emails, or anything else that gives members a safe space to provide their input.

Additionally, be sure to respond to feedback promptly and take members’ comments seriously. Even if you can’t implement every suggestion, it’s important to show members that you value their opinions and are willing to work together to make improvements.

By embracing feedback, you can demonstrate your commitment to creating a better experience for your members. As they recognize your efforts, they will remain engaged and begin to trust in your leadership of the group.

8. Make it Mobile-Friendly

Nearly 60% of all website traffic now comes from mobile devices. With so many people using their phones and tablets to access the internet, your online community needs to be optimized for mobile users. If functionality is limited or hard to use on a mobile device, members are much less likely to stay engaged.

To ensure that your community is as user-friendly as possible, consider the following best practices:

• Make sure all content is easily readable on smaller screens.
• Increase font sizes and adjust the line spacing to improve usability.
• Include larger visuals, such as images and videos, that are optimized for mobile viewing.
• Test out navigation elements and see if they’re easy to tap on a touchscreen.

By creating a mobile-friendly space, you can ensure that all of your members have the same great experience no matter what devices they own. This will help to ensure that your community remains active at all times.

9. Monitor Engagement

What gets measured, gets managed. This is why every thriving community must keep an eye on the metrics that reflect its health and vibrancy.

When tracking engagement, consider metrics like the number of active members, how often they post and comment on content, and what type of content gets the most attention. This information can help you identify areas of strength and weakness, and inform your programming decisions going forward.

You can also use engagement metrics to measure the success of certain initiatives, such as content marketing campaigns or member-exclusive events. This allows you to determine what tactics are resonating with your members and which ones should be adjusted or abandoned altogether.

Keeping track of engagement levels within your community is key to improving its performance. Without your finger on the pulse, it’s much harder to know what is and isn’t working, and where your attention should be focused.

10. Get Experts Involved

Getting experts involved in your community will add value to the experience and attract more members.

Not only do experts bring unique insights to the table, but they can also help you engage with other influential players in your industry. These connections may lead to new opportunities and relationships with potential partners.

To start, seek out industry leaders, thought leaders, and influencers in your niche. Look for experts with interests and expertise that directly relate to your group to ensure that conversations remain productive and engaging.

When reaching out, focus your pitch on what the expert can get out of the arrangement. A great way to do this is by offering exclusive privileges and access, a platform to showcase their work, or opportunities to connect with other influencers.

Once you land your first industry leader, introduce them to your community with a warm welcome and a brief bio. Ensure that they feel comfortable and appreciated, so they can become an active and engaged member.

Then, reach out to additional experts with your newfound social proof! You will likely find that they are much more receptive to your offer.

11. Conduct Expert Roundups

One of the best ways to increase engagement and provide value to your community is by hosting expert roundups. This entails bringing a group of experts together and allowing them to share their knowledge, experiences, and advice within an article.

Not only will this provide valuable insights for your members, but it also allows the experts to get more backlinks.

When organizing a roundup, begin by deciding on the focus of the article. Consider a topic that is related to your niche or industry, but make sure that there's enough range so that each expert can add something unique.

Once you have determined the theme, start reaching out to potential experts who may have unique perspectives. Ask them if they're interested in contributing their take, and potentially joining your community. And make it clear how their participation would be beneficial both for them and for the entire group.

To ensure that your expert roundups are successful, provide clear instructions and expectations for everyone involved. Institute guidelines for what topics should be discussed and establish deadlines for when content should be submitted. And afterward, take the time to properly recognize each expert with personalized thank you notes so they feel appreciated for taking part.

Finally, be sure to advertise your roundup properly across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The article should be packed with value, making it a draw for shares, retweets, and virality. If channeled properly, this promotion should benefit the experts and your community alike.

12. Leverage Social Media

Leverage social media marketing to advertise your community and promote engagement amongst members.

Start by creating dedicated accounts for your community on each of the popular social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Once you have established your accounts, try these popular strategies:

• Share updates about new members.
• Highlight conversations from the community.
• Post articles related to your niche.
• Feature experts and influencers in the group.
• Interact with related accounts.

Using social media to promote your community isn't new, but it is still an effective way to increase your visibility, membership, and engagement. The activities above will help you build a larger following and demonstrate the value that your group has to offer.

13. Build Private Digital Communities

Using social media to build your community isn't new, but it is still an effective way to boost your engagement.

However, many associations are switching from conventional social media to community management tools due to several reasons:

Privacy: Many users are concerned about the amount of personal data that is being collected and shared on conventional social media platforms. A dedicated online community is a private digital hub built exclusively for members.

Control over content: Private online communities give users more control over the content they see and share, as well as who can access it.

More meaningful connections: Users can connect with others who share similar interests, experiences, and perspectives, leading to deeper and more meaningful relationships.

Better moderation: Private online communities often have better moderation policies and procedures in place, which helps foster a safer and more positive experience.

Ad-free experience: These communities are typically ad-free, providing users with an uninterrupted and less cluttered online experience.

Glue Up community management solution is one such platform that makes them feel secure and exclusive. It fosters relationships between members by allowing them to share knowledge, create posts, and organize events. With the 1-on-1 chat and business card sharing option, they can build connections and long-lasting relationships swiftly.

The platform comes with two convenient apps, one for the organization and the other for your members and attendees. The first app, Glue Up Manager allows you to manage your operations, view analytics, and sync your data to the cloud with just one click. My Glue app helps your members stay connected and informed.

Get a demo today and take your thriving community to the next level!

Author's Bio
Daniel Anderson is a marketing expert who writes about building, buying, and scaling businesses. Learn how to turn ideas into income and plan for financial freedom with the step-by-step guides at TheMoneyManiac.com.