I have written before about the challenges of transforming online engagement into offline action. The first step here is to bridge the gap between online engagement and offline engagement itself, by extending your online community offline.
Richard Millington (@richmillington) shares eight excellent tips for extending your online community offline –
1. Membership cards. Send membership cards to those who have been active in the community for three months. By far the simplest thing you can do.
2. Text messages. Send text messages about upcoming events and activities your online community can do. Invite them to reply back with any questions.
3. Phone calls. Phone members up. Have chats with your top members. Ask them for their thoughts and ideas. Plan things in the community together.
4. Regular meetings. No brainer, meet up with members as often as possible. Book the venue and host the event. It’s incredibly simple.
5. Yearbooks. Send our end-of-year yearbooks to top members. Don’t go for the cheap pdf option. Members can pay of them or you can sell advertising in them.
6. Trophies/certificates. Send out trophies and certificates for members that have achieved something remarkable (either in the online community itself or in the broader subject area).
7. Open a sales channel. Create a forum, page, or even a Twitter stream feed (use a hashtag) where members can sell relevant products to each other.
8. Monthly newsletter. For some reason, seeing something in print. Something you can touch and hold just feels more worldly than any internet exposure.
I build and nurture online communities as CEO of 2020 Social. Read my bio, interview me for a media story, invite me to speak at a conference or ask me how we can help you. E-mail me at [email protected], call me at +91-9999856940, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Slideshare.
