In this article we will go over four easy ways to revive your dormant community; this means, a community that was once active but has since died out and is collecting dust with no activity. These four tips are to realize, publish, promote, and update.
1. Realize your mistakes and the causes of failure.
Your community didn?t just die out for no reason. Something must have gone wrong, or a crucial aspect of forum management simply wasn?t being done. You must realize how you got yourself into this dormancy in the first place. What did you do wrong? Why did people stop visiting the forum?
Invite your community members to share their what they dislike about the community and be sure to address the concerns that are expressed.
2. Publish Content and Posts
Now that you have discovered and corrected the flaws of your community, it?s time to get content going. Content and discussions are the foundation of forums - it?s what forums and discussion boards are meant for.
You need to post several new threads/topics per day and several more posts per day. Create discussions that will spark member interactions - polls, debates, questionnaires - you name it.
Without fresh and new content, your users have nothing to look forward to and therefore no reason to stick around.
3. Promote your Community
Once you have some active discussions going on throughout your forum, it?s time to promote the community. There are several different ways to promote your community, but the most effective in the beginning will be word-of-mouth.
Signature links on other discussion forums do fairly well, too. If members enjoy your content on other websites, they will be inclined to check out whatever links you may have in your signature.
4. Upgrade your Forum and add new Features
Be sure your forum software is running the latest stable release so you can have the greatest feature-set to-date. Consider any hacks or plug-ins as well as any premium add-ons that you think will make great additions to the community. This is another time when consulting your community for feedback, suggestions and recommendations is a very good idea. Ask what they want to see and be able to do on the forum - and be sure to fulfill all reasonable requests.These tips should get you well on your way to reviving your community and maximizing your potential activity levels. Feel free to share your experiences with reviving communities in the discussion thread.
By Nick Rodriguez
About the Author: Nick is an avid forum-goer and participates in and helps operate many online communities. He currently manages and operates a forum/blog for community administrators, AdminAddict. Nick can be followed on Twitter, @MarinerNick.
Thanks for the good read. I'd add to the "content" comments that you gain on your own site by adding content to others. Sig links in other related forums are golden.
Pretty decent list; if your forum has nearly died though you won't get the best answers from the people that stayed as they aren't nearly as bothered. I'd suggest inviting inactive users back and providing an incentive for a solid analysis of why they moved on.
My community is new and has bee fairly successful right from the start. But my early group of users that are all suffering from burn out. This doesn't seem unusual, but I was interested in hearing form other people what they think about this? And what if anything to do about it?
06-04-2009, 10:00 PM
06-11-2009, 12:06 PM
