Last time, we discussed why the first 7 days of a new community member’s life are critical. I also discussed that it’s your job to take them from a Lurker -> Participant -> Creator.
Now I want to dive into each of these stages and discuss how to engage members at each stage. In this post, we are discussing the Lurkers.
Who are your lurkers?
Everyone is a lurker when they first join. Think of your community as a party. It’s unlikely that the new person who has just walked will pick up the karaoke mic or become the life of the party in the first few minutes of coming in.
The first thing they’ll do is probably assess the vibe of the place. They’ll see who the people at the party are, what they are doing and maybe overhear the conversations that are happening. A lurker.
It’s your duty as the host to make them feel welcomed and excited about being there.
How do you make your guest feel welcomed and excited?
Give them a warm welcome - focus on the warmth. A “welcome” banner on the entrance is not warm. It is warm if you personally welcome them as the host. It is even warmer if a few people join you in welcoming them. That’s what you should replicate in your online community.
Delight them with valuable content - Noele Flowers has an awesome analogy for this. “At a party, where do folks hang out if they don't know anyone, and aren't quite ready to start any conversations? They hover by the pretzel bowl. Snacking gives you something to do, a reason to be hanging out – just like great content within a community does.”
Meet them where they are - new members don’t have a habit of visiting your community yet. So, you should meet them where they are and serve them the content they may be missing. Start an internal community newsletter and email them the best posts from the community each week.
If you do these, you will be able to turn your lurkers into active participants in the community.
You can measure the effectiveness of your strategies to transform lurker into an active participant using funnels created with Tribe’s Mixpanel or Amplitude integration.