Roundtable on Communities of Purpose (5) - Keeping Motivated

We recently wrote a white paper on the issues brands face when managing a ‘community of purpose’: an online community of people with a common, clear, defined goal. In researching that paper, we had some invaluable input from some of the best community managers working in this area. Their insight was so interesting that we hosted a ‘virtual’ round table discussion, to address some of the very specific issues that arise in managing a community of purpose. Each of the community managers we spoke to addressed a specific issue as it related to their own experience.

eModeration: How do you keep members motivated (for example in a weight loss site)? Do you recommend calls to action or milestone achievements along the way, for example? Are there any other ways to boost morale for starters?

Ashley Cooksley: Providing cheerleaders within a community is a good way to keep members motivated. Basically, this could be your community manager who responds to blog posts and forum posts with words of encouragement. This must be done carefully – giving medical advice or diet suggestions should only be given by someone medically qualified to do so. However, your community manager or experienced members will likely want to see others strive and achieve their goals and will do their best to “cheer them on”.

Well known dieting and fitness sites often award badges for achieving milestones, which can be very motivational. This coupled with words of encouragement and “shout outs” for those achieving their goals will go a long way to keep your members motivated.

Patrick o’Keefe: I would suggest that you be careful to balance this out. It is a good idea to provide tools that allow people to track their progress and set goals. But, at the same time, this can’t be done in a discouraging way, either.

You also have to be careful to ensure that the achievements are not so unverifiable as to be abused for the sake of getting that cool badge or graphic under your name. Otherwise, they become meaningless and in that case, you may as well not have them at all.

Morale can also be boosted by a supporting environment and success stories. Real people with real success can be a powerful motivator.

Alison Michalk: In terms of milestones or achievements, 'tickers' or signatures are an important part in building community identity, and you'll see their use reflected in a range of forums. Our members’ 'tickers' and/or signatures may graph the progress of a pregnancy, a child's age, weight loss, giving up smoking, extended breastfeeding, an IVF journey, multiple pregnancy losses and so on. At a quick glance, another member can see the personal experience and knowledge of a member, and perhaps use this information to assess a person's opinion or advice.

Other status features such as post count, join date, recommendations etc all form an important part of a member’s status and online persona. They further their engagement, keep them motivated as a participant of the community, and - importantly - create identity and a sense of belonging. In many ways they have a tribal component allowing members' to seek out others with a shared outlook.

Over the years we've had a number of members who have said they felt a stronger sense of belonging to our online community than in real life - due to the understanding the community had of their experience. One of these woman was involuntarily childless and it'd had a huge impact on her life that very few friends understood.

Our thanks go to the community managers that we spoke to and who took the time to share their experiences with us:

Leah Williams, Community and Social Media Manager at Breast Cancer Care; Patrick O’Keefe, owner of iFroggy Network and author of "Managing Online Forums"; Alison Michalk, Director of Quiip and ex-community manager for Essential Baby at Fairfax Digital Australia; Blaise Grimes-Viort, recently appointed Head of Social Media and engagement at WebJam,l and Vanessa DiMauro, CEO of LeaderNetworks.

Look out for Part 6) in this series: What are the best ways to lay out the terms of the site to make it clear to all members what the site is trying to achieve?

And our previous posts ....
Part 1) How do you engage with a community, as opposed to just informing a community?
Part 2) What is the value of that community once someone has reached their goal?
Part 3) How do you make an information-based site relevant to newbies as well as to those who’ve been using the site for a long time?
Part 4) How do you encourage experienced members to help out new members?