Posted by sodani on November 3, 2006 at 1:34pm
Has anyone here had any luck with getting users to start groups? I have a new website where the intent is to rely heavily on member-created groups. I'm contacting organizations in my niche to try to lure them to my site and create a group to facilitate communication among their members. However, I haven't gotten a whole lot of interest so far.
Anyone have any tips?
Comments
Creating a buzz and customer/constituent "buy-in"
sodani,
I understand your concern. Getting users to start groups can be difficult, but please keep in mind that ALL groups were at one time non-existent. So, keeping the positive in mind, do what you can to identify a few folks in the community (virtual or real) that you feel/know could take a lead in the type(s) of group(s) you're attempting to start. Get them motivated about something, e.g., how their involvement will save humanity from global warming (or whatever).
Try to seed the group(s) with a few folks to get things going. Give them incentives to get involved and stay involved, whether the incentives be altruistic (characterized by kindness and concern for others) or something material (such as a free gift for something or a chance to enter a contest and win a prize).
It might be slow in the beginning but if you give it time and perseverance, I know you'll succeed.
Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, U.S. Marine Corps (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Fina
Walt Esquivel, MBA; MA; President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing
@Laura - thanks for the
@Laura - thanks for the link
@Wellness Corps -
Yeah, I am trying to seed the group by contacting people/organizations who could benefit from having a group on my site. I've been sending out a lot of e-mails, but haven't had much response so far. My incentive is allowing group owners to create their own theme for the group in addition to the other features that the group functionality affords. This may not be much incentive for a lot of people, but to be honest, I haven't even gotten to the point of having a discussion with a potential group owner yet.
To provide a little more background, my niche has many many little communities of people which usually consist of no more than an e-mail list and usually a poorly designed website, so my idea is to bring these communities under one roof...We'll see.
There myself.
Hello sodani,
I just moved to a new city and working on the same angle;
What I found is talking to everyone helps. :-)
I ask a lot of questions, see where people are at, where they want to go and make a suggestion that I can help them get there. (Yes I talk to people off the street, nothing informal)
Buildings are built brick by brick or stick by stick, community sites are built user by user. Hang in there!
Talking with people builds a relationship that easily translates to the web. (In my experience).
A good little primer from A List Apart
http://alistapart.com/articles/greathost
Some good ideas.
This group is for discussing things like this. Please feel free to ask questions, throw up ideas, offer perspectives.
Laura
pingVision, LLC
PINGV | Strategy • Design • Drupal Development