Bringing the ‘FUN’ in Your Online Community – Insights from Community (re)Focus, 2021

Metrics. Growth. ROI.

These are the key areas that an organization focuses on when undertaking the endeavor of launching an online community.

But have you ever thought of taking a leap and going beyond these concepts to make your community experience a more fun and pleasant one? If not, we’ve got your back!

We recently hosted Community (re)Focus, 2021- a virtual summit focused on fostering conversations on building connected experiences. And one session that caught the attention of most of the attendees was ‘Bringing the ‘FUN’ in the Community’.

Our guest speaker for the session was:

• Lindsay Olson– Community Manager, MURAL

Let’s unravel the 202 of making your online community more engaging and fun, all while keeping community etiquette intact.

Why Make Online Communities Fun?

“Community building is a creative endeavor”. Lindsay started the session by explaining that community building shouldn’t be looked upon as something that has to be very technical. It should be taken up as a project that is focused on achieving business goals, in a fun and interactive way.

She stated that the purpose of an online community is to encourage members to participate. But if the community members are not having fun, they won’t gain any value which will ultimately impact your business’s bottom line. If your community members have fun, it will be a step towards increased retention and engagement.

By making it a fun experience for your community users, you are likely to keep them motivated to contribute to the community. The more the contribution, the more the engagement.

What Activities Can You Undertake to Make Online Communities Fun?

Moving further, Lindsay shared the secret mantra that she’s been using to keep her community at MURAL vibrant. She went on to share two of her ideas that she applied to her community and witnessed results. These were:

1. Product Ideation
2. Gamification

Lindsay gave an example to explain the concept of fun in a community better. She mentioned that she introduced the game ‘Bingo’ in the community. The community members had to play the game to win goodies. This took the community engagement quotient up a notch and also led to an increase in the product knowledge of the users.

She also stated that introducing such interactive activities in the community set a fun tone in the digital void. Members of the community can interact with each other in the threads of the posts and answer questions, present ideas, suggestions, and ideate around building new product features. This benefits the organization immensely as they get to enhance their products and offer value for investment.

Lindsay then explained that community managers can conduct annual competitions and ask the members to vote. This creates a sense of responsibility and keeps the community vibrant. Also, experimentation plays a key role in making it a fun community experience for the users. Implement different gamification strategies such as swags, avatars, leaderboards. Your community members should feel that they’re heard.

While concluding the session, an important point that Lindsay covered was to always set a timeline for activities like treasure hunt, find the hidden word, and more for bulk participation. She also mentioned that incentivizing the user’s participation can be integral in promoting active participation in community activities.

Bringing the ‘FUN’ in the community is key to witnessing a boost in user participation and engagement. In addition to the above-mentioned tips, you can make your community a fun place for the members and deliver a unique experience for them by giving them the opportunity to celebrate special occasions and more in the community. Not only will this increase their loyalty towards your brand but will also boost brand recognition and ROI.

Discover more about curating fun and dynamic online communities. Talk to us!