Community Rx: Monitoring and Improving
the Health of Your Online Community

Susie’s company just launched their
first online community.

They emailed everyone in their
database, took out some online advertising, spread the word through a press release and mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook.

But after an initial flurry
of interest, signups have come to a halt. Community Registrations

Most of the users just
aren’t engaging with the content.

After just 6 months, Susie’s
manager was considering scrapping the community.

But Susie wasn’t ready to
so easily throw in the towel.

She knew the value an
engaged community could bring to her company’s business. Community Engagement > Brand Loyalty > Profits!

That’s why she conducted a
community health check.

First, why weren’t people filling
out the intake form?

First, why weren’t people filling
out the intake form? Were unregistered users able to access too much content?

First, why weren’t people filling
out the intake form? Were unregistered users able to access too much content? Did the registration page make it clear what the benefits were for registered users?

Second, Susie took her community’s
pulse.

Second, Susie took her community’s
pulse. By mapping out new and existing members’ current activities, she had a better picture of current engagement levels.

Next, Susie compared current usage
to the past 3 months.

Next, Susie compared current usage
to the past 3 months. Existing users were slowing down in their activity.

Community content creation—from discussions to
suggestions to user created content submissions—were all flat.

Community content creation—from discussions to
suggestions to user created content submissions were all flat. …But there were some bright spots.

A small core of passionate
community members were engaging with every post.

A small core of passionate
community members were engaging with every post. Sometimes even before Susie had a chance to reply.

And even the users who
weren’t actively creating content were logging in a few times per week to see what was new. LOGIN NOW! Username JoeMaximus12 Password ************ Login

And even the users who
weren’t actively creating content were logging in a few times per week to see what was new. LOGIN NOW! Username JoeMaximus12 Password ************ And that frequency kept increasing each month. Login

And even the users who
weren’t actively creating content were logging in a few times per week to see what was new. LOGIN NOW! Username JoeMaximus12 Password ************ And that frequency kept increasing each month. Susie bet her boss wasn’t aware of that. Login

The community members wanted to
engage with the community.

The community members wanted to
engage with the community. And Susie was determined to figure out how to best support them to make that happen.

With the results of her
community’s health check in hand, Susie built an engagement plan targeting her existing users.

And her #1 recommendation was
formalizing the role of community manager – and raising her hand to take it on.

engagement After 1:1 outreach to
her community’s influencers, and working to improve areas she identified as needing some TLC, the next month’s engagement rates started climbing up. time

…And now Susie knew what
signs to watch for, to ensure the community wasn’t in critical condition again.

And Susie’s community grew healthily
ever after.

For help with assessing and
improving the health of your online community, download our free e-book “A Health Check for Your Online Community”

ABOUT DNN DNN provides a
suite of solutions for creating rich, rewarding online experiences for customers, partners and employees. Our online community solution is called Evoq Social. Visit our website to learn more.