12 ways to activate your social network

Many communities die soon after they are established. How to activate a community is a puzzle for many community operators . Here are 12 methods to activate a community to share with you.

WeChat has more than 1 billion users, with millions of new WeChat groups added every day. More and more people are aware of the importance of communities. With advantages such as high efficiency, high conversion, low threshold and low cost, communities are destined to be a major trend in the future. However, it is easy to create a group but difficult to operate it. There are three core issues that many community operators must solve: attracting new members, activity, and conversion.

This sharing topic: 12 tips to help you improve community activity

I won’t go into details about the general principles that everyone knows, but will instead share with you the practical tips and how to do them. You can use them right after you learn them. The 12 social activity skills are all based on past practical experience, including methodologies and cases.

1. Entry threshold

Some free groups have no threshold and everyone can join. Without common attributes, there are no common topics and few people are willing to interact. For example, in the beauty and skin care group, generally speaking, the target users are women who love beauty. Some group owners invite everyone, regardless of gender, to join the group in order to increase the number of group members. The result is predictable: only women are interested in sharing beauty and skin care knowledge or discussing topics, while men cannot participate at all and may just take a look occasionally. It not only reduces the activity of the community, but also affects the participation of other women. Maybe you feel embarrassed to talk too deeply because there are men in the group.

Therefore, no matter what kind of community you are building, you must set a threshold. Common community thresholds include:

Identity threshold : people with the same identity and label. For example, the Shenzhen local group only allows people in Shenzhen to enter. To enter the operation exchange group, you can only provide materials (business cards, articles, other information, etc.) to prove that you are an operations person.

Interest threshold: Having common interests and hobbies. For example, baking, outdoor, reading groups, etc., also require information to prove that you have this interest before you are invited to join the group.

Payment threshold: You can join as long as you pay.

Comprehensive threshold: a combination of multiple thresholds, such as interest and payment thresholds. For example, the psychology community in my city that I run is not only for psychology enthusiasts, but also requires payment to join.

The entry threshold is the basis of community quality and community activity. Birds of a feather flock together. It is difficult for people with different frequencies to interact with each other. Only with common attributes can they have common topics and active communities.

2. Community Rules

Without rules, there will be no order. Communities also need rules. Without rules, things may become very chaotic with fewer and fewer participants. Group rules are a reflection of the WeChat group culture, just like the rules and regulations of a company, the family motto of a family, the class rules of a class, etc. Group rules include the theme of the community, what is encouraged, and what is prohibited.

How to use group rules to improve community activity, such as: "Encourage sharing of content related to the group theme, and 5-6 pm every day is the topic discussion time." Let everyone know what they can talk about in the group and remind them to pay attention to the group at a fixed time.

At the same time, users should be informed of the group rules as soon as they join the group, or be informed before joining the group. If there is any violation of the group rules, we will enforce it correctly. For example, remind him through private message and ask him to send a red envelope in the group to apologize.

3. Make good use of group announcements

Many people, after joining a group, habitually set the message to “do not disturb” as soon as possible. As long as you don’t open the group, you won’t know what is said in it. Make good use of group announcements, @ everyone, and remind group members. “Someone @ me” will appear on the WeChat page on your mobile phone. I have seen some group owners directly post “@everyone”, which has no effect. Mainly, group announcements can be used to tag all group members when important matters, important activities, and major events are announced. Using group announcements too frequently, such as more than 5 times a day, will only cause users to be disgusted, and even your lurking users may become lost users. Important time nodes can be used, such as 1 hour before the start of an activity and 1 day/half a day before the end, to create a physiological alarm reminder in the user's mind.

Group announcements remind all group members to pay attention and participate in the interaction. For example, when a course notice is released, there are usually instructions for everyone to reply at the end. "I will attend the study session at 8 o'clock tonight. I have entered the live broadcast room and look forward to the study session."

4. Continuous value output

No matter what kind of community it is, users only pay attention to valuable information related to themselves. Community operators need to continuously increase the value of the community, meet more needs of users, and have core value. Regarding value output, what else is there besides the common dry goods content?

Provide others with useful information, convenience, money-saving opportunities, opportunities to communicate and make friends, connect with people, connect with resources, etc. For example, when creating a local community, you can collect convenient information (including contact information for express delivery, takeout, maintenance and other life services). Many WeChat groups lose their activity and then die, mostly because the value output is not sustained. There may be output in the first few days, but it will gradually decrease afterwards. It is very necessary to establish a content material library, input from other platforms or books, or establish a content team and have multiple people work together to output. Therefore, continuous output of value is the core element for a community to maintain its long-term activity and cohesion.

5. Interactive topics

Let group members continue to contribute in the group. Because of the "sunk cost" consumption psychology, the more time and energy group members invest in the community, the more they cannot do without the community. For example, participating in interactive topics, various activities, etc., to satisfy the sense of participation of group members. Three important roles are needed within the community to work together on interactive topics, namely: topic initiator, topic host, and topic participant. The initiator should have his own ideas and propose discussion topics for members to discuss in the community. The topic host is mainly responsible for livening up the atmosphere, coordinating interactions within the group, and resolving awkward situations in a timely manner. Regarding topic interaction, the topic must be related to the group theme, of interest to most people, easy to answer, or a hot topic that more people are interested in.

In addition, for example, in the fruit group buying group, there are these interactive methods:

1. Share your favorite fruit and why?

2. What fruits do you think have special tastes?

3. What fruits are suitable for gift giving?

4. Others

All interactive topics are designed to make group members feel involved, better understand each other, increase mutual trust, and turn weak relationships into strong ones.

6. Red Envelope Benefits

The WeChat red envelope function is very good. You can send red envelopes in a group to activate the atmosphere, send red envelopes privately to express gratitude, etc. You can't see the specific amount, which makes people curious. When there is a notification, red envelopes will rain down first, with words on the red envelopes (change "Congratulations on your prosperity and great luck" to other words) to attract everyone's attention. Send multiple red envelopes in succession, with strategies such as sending more large red envelopes and fewer small red envelopes. On the one hand, you can test the number of people online, and on the other hand, you can check the activity level. In addition to red envelopes, there can also be other benefits, such as course coupons, free consultations, and other virtual products or physical products. Common ways to win welfare awards include:

1. The one with the best red envelope luck wins, which is also the fairest way.

2. Guessing objects from pictures is to create an atmosphere.

3. Top X, singing, posting selfies, etc.

4. Send the dice, if the number is X, you win.

There are also idiom chain games, quiz with prizes, poetry competitions, and commentary with prizes, etc.

Red envelope benefits can make boring learning interesting and make everyone happy. In today's era, entertainment and happiness are a person's major needs.

7. Answer questions

At a fixed time, group members can ask questions on the spot, or collect questions in advance with the help of questionnaire survey tools. The community operator or other guests will answer the questions in the group at the same time. Many people may have studied various courses, but in actual operations, they will inevitably encounter problems and need someone to solve specific problems for them. Questions and answers can be organized and published on public accounts, Jianshu and other platforms to achieve community dissemination. For example, some communities answer questions from group members every Friday, with group members asking questions in turn and guests answering them. You can also interact with the questioner at the same time, which will have a better effect.

This is a collection of questions I did previously in the psychology community, with more than 200 questions. In order to hear answers to their questions, they will interact in the group, and the community activity has increased significantly.

8. Organize more activities

Community activities increase opportunities for members to interact with each other, enhance their emotional connections, and increase the group owner’s understanding of group members.

How to carry out community activities well? There are three important steps:

First, the theme should be attractive and creative, with many different types of themes, that is, there should be many varieties.

Second, event preparation, make preparations related to the event, design the event process, personnel division of labor, etc.

Third, implement and follow up the activities, execute them step by step according to the plan, and make timely adjustments and optimizations when encountering problems. After completing the event, you need to follow up and review and provide related services.

For example, the training camp has an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony, and the community also organizes online Spring Festival Galas, singing competitions, speech competitions, debate competitions, etc. The atmosphere is created through the sense of ceremony, while also showcasing the versatile talents of the members. Chat online a thousand times, or meet once offline. Organize more offline community activities, such as theme salons, dinners together, travel, etc. Meeting offline can increase understanding and trust between people and create deep connections.

9. Add new members

In some groups, there are always a few active members, and other people may not be active no matter what you do. At this time, it is necessary to continuously add new members, let new members participate in the interaction, and improve the overall activity of the community.

At the same time, before new members join the group, tell them to interact more in the group, how to interact, when to interact, etc.

10. Active gaming

Some groups are suitable for playing games and active interactions, such as physical store customer groups, WeChat business sales groups, etc. For example, there are these commonly used game interaction methods: rolling the dice. I believe everyone is familiar with this game. There is a dice icon in WeChat emoticons, which is also a good way to activate the community. The group owner can specify the points, and the person who throws first wins. The winner can privately message the group owner to receive a designated red envelope, or unrestricted coupons, other prizes, etc. Guessing games: guess the song, guess the name, guess the riddle, guess the object from the picture, brain teasers, etc.

11. Reward Mechanism

Material rewards and spiritual rewards are equally important. People themselves need ritualized things to satisfy their inner need for a sense of existence. For example, active members are selected in the community every month and they are not only promoted through posters but also given material rewards. Some people may insist on interacting in the community every day for the honor.

12. Community Operation Team

An excellent community cannot be built by one person alone, so it is necessary to establish a certain number of service teams and set up different groups for content, activities, topics, etc. On the one hand, it can allow the community to develop in a more orderly manner, and at the same time, it can also allow some people to find a sense of existence because they have created value in the community. For example, the psychology community I run has established a branch class committee system, which includes positions such as lecturers, interactors, listeners, and event planners, with detailed division of responsibilities and rewards. The above is what I am sharing this time.

Finally, let me summarize these 12 ways to activate the community:

1. Set entry threshold

2. Set community rules

3. Make good use of group announcements

4. Continuous value output

5. Interactive topics

6. Red Envelope Benefits

7. Answer questions and solve problems

8. Organize more activities

9. Add new members

10. Active gaming

11. Reward Mechanism

12. Community Operation Team

Everyone can choose the one that suits them and put it into practice. I hope there is a method that is helpful to you.

Author: Peng Yingfeng

Reprint: HelloXingxio

Source: Social Network

WeChat has more than 1 billion users, with millions of new WeChat groups added every day. More and more people are aware of the importance of communities. With advantages such as high efficiency, high conversion, low threshold and low cost, communities are destined to be a major trend in the future. However, it is easy to create a group but difficult to operate it. There are three core issues that many community operators must solve: attracting new members, activity, and conversion.

This sharing topic: 12 tips to help you improve community activity

I won’t go into details about the general principles that everyone knows, but will instead share with you the practical tips and how to do them. You can use them right after you learn them. The 12 social activity skills are all based on past practical experience, including methodologies and cases.

1. Entry threshold

Some free groups have no threshold and everyone can join. Without common attributes, there are no common topics and few people are willing to interact. For example, in the beauty and skin care group, generally speaking, the target users are women who love beauty. Some group owners invite everyone, regardless of gender, to join the group in order to increase the number of group members.

The result is predictable: only women are interested in sharing beauty and skin care knowledge or discussing topics, while men cannot participate at all and may just take a look occasionally. It not only reduces the activity of the community, but also affects the participation of other women. Maybe you feel embarrassed to talk too deeply because there are men in the group.

Therefore, no matter what kind of community you are building, you must set a threshold. Common community thresholds include:

Identity threshold : people with the same identity and label. For example, the Shenzhen local group only allows people in Shenzhen to enter. To enter the operation exchange group, you can only provide materials (business cards, articles, other information, etc.) to prove that you are an operations person.

Interest threshold: Having common interests and hobbies. For example, baking, outdoor, reading groups, etc., also require information to prove that you have this interest before you are invited to join the group.

Payment threshold: You can join as long as you pay.

Comprehensive threshold: a combination of multiple thresholds, such as interest and payment thresholds. For example, the psychology community in my city that I run is not only for psychology enthusiasts, but also requires payment to join.

The entry threshold is the basis of community quality and community activity. Birds of a feather flock together. It is difficult for people with different frequencies to interact with each other. Only with common attributes can they have common topics and active communities.

2. Community Rules

Without rules, there will be no order. Communities also need rules. Without rules, things may become very chaotic with fewer and fewer participants. Group rules are a reflection of the WeChat group culture, just like the rules and regulations of a company, the family motto of a family, the class rules of a class, etc. Group rules include the theme of the community, what is encouraged, and what is prohibited.

How to use group rules to improve community activity, such as: "Encourage sharing of content related to the group theme, and 5-6 pm every day is the topic discussion time." Let everyone know what they can talk about in the group and remind them to pay attention to the group at a fixed time.

At the same time, users should be informed of the group rules as soon as they join the group, or be informed before joining the group. If there is any violation of the group rules, we will enforce it correctly. For example, remind him through private message and ask him to send a red envelope in the group to apologize.

3. Make good use of group announcements

Many people, after joining a group, habitually set the message to “do not disturb” as soon as possible. As long as you don’t open the group, you won’t know what is said in it.

Make good use of group announcements, @ everyone, and remind group members. “Someone @ me” will appear on the WeChat page on your mobile phone. I have seen some group owners directly post “@everyone”, which has no effect. Mainly, group announcements can be used to tag all group members when important matters, important activities, and major events are announced. Using group announcements too frequently, such as more than 5 times a day, will only cause users to be disgusted, and even your lurking users may become lost users.

Important time nodes can be used, such as 1 hour before the start of an activity and 1 day/half a day before the end, to create a physiological alarm reminder in the user's mind.

Group announcements remind all group members to pay attention and participate in the interaction. For example, when a course notice is released, there are usually instructions for everyone to reply at the end. "I will attend the study session at 8 o'clock tonight. I have entered the live broadcast room and look forward to the study session."

4. Continuous value output

No matter what kind of community it is, users only pay attention to valuable information related to themselves. Community operators need to continuously increase the value of the community, meet more needs of users, and have core value.

Regarding value output, what else is there besides the common dry goods content?

Provide others with useful information, convenience, money-saving opportunities, opportunities to communicate and make friends, connect with people, connect with resources, etc.

For example, if you are building a local community, you can collect convenient information (including contact information for express delivery, takeout, maintenance and other life services)

Many WeChat groups lose their activity and die, mostly because their value output is not sustained. There may be output in the first few days, but it will gradually decrease afterwards. It is very necessary to establish a content material library, input from other platforms or books, or establish a content team and have multiple people work together to output.

Therefore, continuous output of value is the core element for a community to maintain its long-term activity and cohesion.

5. Interactive topics

Let group members continue to contribute in the group. Because of the "sunk cost" consumption psychology, the more time and energy group members invest in the community, the more they cannot do without the community. For example, participating in interactive topics, various activities, etc., to satisfy the sense of participation of group members.

Three important roles are needed within the community to work together on interactive topics, namely: topic initiator, topic host, and topic participant.

The initiator should have his own ideas and propose discussion topics for members to discuss in the community. The topic host is mainly responsible for livening up the atmosphere, coordinating interactions within the group, and resolving awkward situations in a timely manner.

Regarding topic interaction, the topic must be related to the group theme, of interest to most people, easy to answer, or a hot topic that more people are interested in.

In addition, for example, in the fruit group buying group, there are these interactive methods:

1. Share your favorite fruit and why?

2. What fruits do you think have special tastes?

3. What fruits are suitable for gift giving?

4. Others

All interactive topics are designed to make group members feel involved, better understand each other, increase mutual trust, and turn weak relationships into strong ones.

6. Red Envelope Benefits

The WeChat red envelope function is very good. You can send red envelopes in a group to activate the atmosphere, send red envelopes privately to express gratitude, etc. You can't see the specific amount, which makes people curious.

When there is a notification, red envelopes will rain down first, with words on the red envelopes (change "Congratulations on your prosperity and great luck" to other words) to attract everyone's attention. Send multiple red envelopes in succession, with strategies such as sending more large red envelopes and fewer small red envelopes. On the one hand, you can test the number of people online, and on the other hand, you can check the activity level.

In addition to red envelopes, there can also be other benefits, such as course coupons, free consultations, and other virtual products or physical products. Common ways to win welfare awards include:

1. The one with the best red envelope luck wins, which is also the fairest way.

2. Guessing objects from pictures is to create an atmosphere.

3. Top X, singing, posting selfies, etc.

4. Send the dice, if the number is X, you win.

There are also idiom chain games, quiz with prizes, poetry competitions, and commentary with prizes, etc.

Red envelope benefits can make boring learning interesting and make everyone happy. In today's era, entertainment and happiness are a person's major needs.

7. Answer questions

At a fixed time, group members can ask questions on the spot, or collect questions in advance with the help of questionnaire survey tools. The community operator or other guests will answer the questions in the group at the same time.

Many people may have studied various courses, but in actual operations, they will inevitably encounter problems and need someone to solve specific problems for them.

Questions and answers can be organized and published on public accounts, Jianshu and other platforms to achieve community dissemination.

For example, some communities answer questions from group members every Friday, with group members asking questions in turn and guests answering them. You can also interact with the questioner at the same time, which will have a better effect.

This is a collection of questions I did previously in the psychology community, with more than 200 questions. In order to hear answers to their questions, they will interact in the group, and the community activity has increased significantly.

8. Organize more activities

Community activities increase opportunities for members to interact with each other, enhance their emotional connections, and increase the group owner’s understanding of group members.

How to carry out community activities well? There are three important steps:

First, the theme should be attractive and creative, with many different types of themes, that is, there should be many varieties.

Second, event preparation, make preparations related to the event, design the event process, personnel division of labor, etc.

Third, implement and follow up the activities, execute them step by step according to the plan, and make timely adjustments and optimizations when encountering problems. After completing the event, you need to follow up and review and provide related services.

For example, the training camp has an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony, and the community also organizes online Spring Festival Galas, singing competitions, speech competitions, debate competitions, etc. The atmosphere is created through the sense of ceremony, while also showcasing the versatile talents of the members.

Chat online a thousand times, or meet once offline. Organize more offline community activities, such as theme salons, dinners together, travel, etc. Meeting offline can increase understanding and trust between people and create deep connections.

9. Add new members

In some groups, there are always a few active members, and other people may not be active no matter what you do. At this time, it is necessary to continuously add new members, let new members participate in the interaction, and improve the overall activity of the community.

At the same time, before new members join the group, tell them to interact more in the group, how to interact, when to interact, etc.

10. Active gaming

Some groups are suitable for playing games and active interactions, such as physical store customer groups, WeChat business sales groups, etc.

For example, there are these commonly used game interaction methods: rolling the dice. I believe everyone is familiar with this game. There is a dice icon in WeChat emoticons, which is also a good way to activate the community. The group owner can specify the points, and the person who throws first wins. The winner can privately message the group owner to receive a designated red envelope, or unrestricted coupons, other prizes, etc.

Guessing games: guess the song, guess the name, guess the riddle, guess the object from the picture, brain teasers, etc.

11. Reward Mechanism

Material rewards and spiritual rewards are equally important. People themselves need ritualized things to satisfy their inner need for a sense of existence.

For example, active members are selected in the community every month and they are not only promoted through posters but also given material rewards. Some people may insist on interacting in the community every day for the honor.

12. Community Operation Team

An excellent community cannot be built by one person alone, so it is necessary to establish a certain number of service teams and set up different groups for content, activities, topics, etc. On the one hand, it can allow the community to develop in a more orderly manner, and at the same time, it can also allow some people to find a sense of existence because they have created value in the community.

For example, the psychology community I run has established a branch class committee system, which includes positions such as lecturers, interactors, listeners, and event planners, with detailed division of responsibilities and rewards.

The above is what I am sharing this time.

Finally, let me summarize these 12 ways to activate the community:

1. Set entry threshold

2. Set community rules

3. Make good use of group announcements

4. Continuous value output

5. Interactive topics

6. Red Envelope Benefits

7. Answer questions and solve problems

8. Organize more activities

9. Add new members

10. Active gaming

11. Reward Mechanism

12. Community Operation Team

Author: Bird Brother Notes

Source: Bird Brother's Notes