How do I Recruit New Members/Promote my Site?¶

Pre-Population ¶

One very popular strategy for your Online Community is to populate your site with Members prior to launch. This eliminates time-consuming groundwork for Administrators and provides a terrific foundation for your Community to build on. If you are able to provide email addresses along with the names on your access list, Potentiality can upload these individuals as Members, effectively pre-populating your Online Community.

In addition to providing these email addresses, you will need to prepare an email that welcomes your new Members to the site. Potentiality can provide you with an email template for you to adjust in order to best reflect your Community, or you can simply create your own.

Tips for pre-population

Keep it short and to the point. You will have plenty of opportunities to inform Members about your Community when they visit the site.
Don’t give too much away. Make it enticing enough to encourage Members to login and have a browse – discovering information for oneself is often more rewarding.
What’s in it for me? Members need to be aware of the benefits your Community offers. What would make you join an Online Community? Reconnecting with old friends? Nosing through Member bios and the Business Directory? Looking at wedding/birth photos?
Get them before they leave! If you know a particular individual or year group are moving on from your Community get them to join before they are out the door. Make sure you get their email address – these can be difficult to track down at a later date.
Group logins for graduates. Get your year 12s to login together before they graduate.

Remember: Human beings can be lazy! People are more likely to become Members of your Online Community if you do the simple groundwork for them, rather than joining up of their own accord.

Promoting your Site¶

There are many types of communication mediums you can utilise when it comes to marketing your Online Community. Your choices should reflect the age, interests, occupation and media exposure of the Community Members you are targeting. Your Members may be a diverse group, which means an integrated marketing strategy is a good course of action. Integrated marketing involves the use of multiple communication mediums to ensure the greatest number of Community Members are contacted in some way (email, SMS, print, etc). Using a combination of contact methods is the best way to reach the most Members possible.

Website

Placing the Member login point in a prominent position on your Community website is vital. The login point for your Online Community should be located on the homepage and clearly identified.

Take a minute to login to your website and gauge the prominence of your login point.

Is it lost amongst other information?
Does it blend into the background of the page?
Do you have to click through several pages to access the login?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, chances are your Members are struggling to login and return to the Community. Talk to your IT staff/web designer to see if you can come up with a better location for your login point. This is an easy change to make and could save your Members a lot of time and frustration.

Remember: Members are likely to lose interest or become distracted along the way and never make it to the login point if they have to click through too many pages. Make your Member login point as simple and accessible as possible.

Competitions¶

Competitions offer the perfect incentive for you to increase Members and maintain an active Online Community. You will be amazed at how many individuals are keen to get involved when a friendly challenge is provided.

These dynamic modules include photo competitions, recruitment incentives, and the ever-popular tipping applications. With a little effort to source prizes, you will be able to increase site hits and Community affinity – the competitive nature of your Members may surprise you!

Suggestions for competitions:

Offer prizes for joining the Online Community within a specific time frame (e.g. offer a discount on reunions or tickets for a major prize draw for those who become a Member within a month of your launch).
Offer incentives for Members who successfully encourage others to join using the ‘Help us grow’ module (e.g. the Member who invites the most people to join during a particular month receives a case of wine). This then becomes a news article too when the winner is announced.
Set up community event and advertise door prizes for those that bring an unregistered Alumni friend.
Send a communication campaign to each year group, attaching class photos and setting up a competition asking who can identify (and supply the contact details) for the greatest number of their former peers.

Tips for sourcing prizes:

Anything you can get your hands on is better than nothing (e.g. movie tickets, dinner vouchers, etc.). Keep in mind prizes don’t have to be too expensive– you will find that many will enter competitions simply for personal satisfaction and peer recognition.
Scroll through your business directory and see if there are any Community Members who would be willing to sponsor a competition. You can use the wizard to advertise their business in one of your panels (e.g. include their logo and link to website).
Competitions can provide a great platform to endorse Community branded products (e.g. memorabilia, wine). This is a good way to further promote your Community, it can be organised in-house and won’t cost you a thing!

Print¶

Despite the prevalence and importance of email, you should not discount the impact of more traditional means of communication. Community newsletters provide a great medium for you to gain cost-effective publicity. Annual magazines provide another platform for you to promote your Online Community. Sometimes hard copy with a reference to the website offers a better alternative for Community Members who are less likely to use the internet on a regular basis.

Mail Outs¶

Mailouts are another great way to ensure Members are informed. These can range from formal letters to fun and imaginative flyers – again think of the demographic you are targeting: the language, font, and graphic design may need to be adjusted accordingly. If mailing budgets are an issue, only send mail outs to those who do not have an email address recorded on your database.

Emails¶

Emails are a great way to contact the majority of your Community cost effectively. Sketch out a rough plan for your emails at the beginning of each quarter. This should include the subject, recipient and approximate time – it’s about making sensible choices and making sure the right people receive the appropriate information. This will save you time in the long run as it is a good way to ensure you are not overcrowding individuals’ inboxes or doubling up on information.

eNewsletters¶

Provide your Members with professional and polished correspondence as often as you like. The eNewsletter facility is a great way to inform Members of current events, feature pieces, and Community news. Employing a user-friendly content management system, the eNewsletter enables Administrators to insert text and images into each template, select desired recipients and send (see eNewsletters Guide).

Potentiality will create templates to suit the look and feel of your Community to enable a sleek final product for your group mail outs. Integration of Google analytics facilitates tracking of which news articles are viewed, by how many users, and for how long. This facility will assist in capturing the attention of your Member base and provide valuable feedback regarding the interests of your Members, and the quantity of people who read your bulletins.

Please contact Potentiality (marketing@ptly.com) if you would like additional information regarding the eNewsletter facility.

While it can be tempting to send out bulk emails, this will not always generate the best response. It is usually more effective to send fewer emails and target the right people.

Tips for effective emails:

Personalising your correspondence is a quick and easy way to make your emails direct and reader-friendly. Small things such as using the mail merge facility to address your Members by their first or preferred name is guaranteed to increase readership (see our Wiki for more tips). See How can I create personalised emails/insert direct log in points? for more information.
Insert a direct login link to assist Members in navigating to the Community website. Members are more likely to visit your site if you make things easy. Simply inserting a ‘click here’ link directing Members to their password page will increase response to your communication.
Keep track of the information of which individual Members wish to be informed. Use the notes field (located in view/edit user details) to make sure your Members are receiving the appropriate information.
To help with sending emails to specific groups, give sub-administrator access to a Member in a particular year who can send out an email with an annual update for their specific year.
Avoid being perceived as spam. With the ever-increasing frustration of gimmicks and viruses, account holders are becoming extremely cautious. Try to avoid using words such as ‘winning’ or any reference to ‘$’ signs. It is a good idea to include the name of your Community where possible – this will help Members immediately identify your correspondence.

Remember: It’s about making sensible choices and making sure the right people receive the appropriate information.

SMS¶

The SMS facility offers a great alternative medium to contact and recruit Community Members. Similar to the email facility, you can target all Members or specific groups to receive particular text messages. While email addresses can be temporary (eg current work address), mobile numbers are often a more permanent point of contact.

This facility is ideal for the active Community Member and resonates well with younger Community Members. Using up to 160 characters per message, this is a great way to notify Members of reunions or to send friendly reminders for events. Again, maximum impact is achieved if you use the SMS facility sparingly and target specific groups.

“I prefer to limit my use of SMS to ensure that when used, it has the desired effect…I believe SMS is a far more successful tool than group emails, especially with the younger generation”

Russell Davidson Old Haileyburian’s Association

Tipping¶

One of our most popular modules, Tipping is a great way to keep your Members active and engaged. This module not only looks great but requires minimal administration by you! Automated emails go out to registered tippers every Monday and Thursday. These offer your Members a brief update on the week’s results, and friendly reminders to get their tips in before the cut off time.

It is a good idea for Administrators to source a prize for their individual Community (see Competitions : Tips for sourcing prizes). In addition, the majority of Potentiality clients also participate in the Interschool/college competition, which runs in conjunction with Community tipping. This additional competition develops a friendly rivalry between Communities with the added bonus of a major prize, sourced by Potentiality.

The only other task for Administrators to complete is an introductory email – and we will happily provide you with a template for you to adjust accordingly. Tipping competitions can be a great way to recruit Members, especially considering this is free to join and has a Community prize and major prize. Keeping this in mind, it is a good idea to advertise your tipping competition in Community newsletters and magazines when possible.

Events¶

Events provide a perfect environment for you to put a personal face to your Community. Not only do they facilitate great group discussion and feedback, but recruitment is also made easier when you can personally interact with your Members. Business breakfasts, golf days, fetes, and end of year functions are just a few popular events which allow you to promote your Online Community to the appropriate audience. See Managing Reunions and Events for more information.

Tips for advertising events on your Online Community:

Add it to the calendar (attaching a flyer to the event is a good idea).
Highlight the event in the central panel of your main page (you can illustrate the day’s success by posting pictures/results). Email your Members in advance so they can plan and send a follow-up reminder a week or so before the event.
Remember:Printing costs for your Community can be significantly reduced by uploading newsletters/important documents to the archive facility. Additionally, you can save costs when it comes to event/reunion invitations as these can also be emailed, rather than incurring expensive printing costs.
Think about which events will be most popular and encourage networking, such as industry-specific events e.g. Medic party. Find out which occupations/industries are most prevalent within your database and plan events accordingly.

“*The OHA runs numerous events and targets a wide range of members. For example, if we were to run a trivia night, the appeal is far greater to a wide-ranging audience than if we were to run a winemakers luncheon. We target the groups where we believe there will be an interest.”*

Russell Davidson Old Hailyburian’s Association

Reunions¶

Reunions provide the perfect opportunity for you to promote and recruit Members for your Online Community. If they are not already Members, those who attend are likely to want to be involved and will be eager to sign up on the night.

Tips For Getting Members To Join Prior to the Event:¶

It’s a great idea to get individuals to write down their details at the door or you can hand out cards for people to fill out (which can be collected and added to your database at a later date).
Promote the event so individuals must accept their invitation and RSVP online – this means alumni must be a Member in order to attend (it’s also an easy way for Administrators to track numbers).
Organising a first-year reunion through your Community is a great way to encourage recent leavers (e.g. year 12s) who tend to be less enthusiastic about joining to login. An SMS invitation with a link to the Community is a good way to target these individuals.
Give Members the opportunity to pay online through your Online Community. Again, alumni must be Members in order to do so.
Ask a Staff Member who is handy with design software (e.g. InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator) to create an eye-catching flyer for the reunion. Promote this on the main page of your site and include it in an email to Members (see the HTML Manual for linking PDFs to an email).
Remember: Add some text to your email when you send your graphic invitation – this will enable Members who have limited download capabilities to be informed of event details.

Tips For Getting Members To Join During the Event:

If possible, have a computer or two present at the venue- this gives attendees the perfect opportunity to sign up and enter a bio, rather than go home and have it slip from their mind.
Make sure your access list is up to date so that attendees can sign up on the night - use the ‘add user’ link if you need to add/amend details.
Have a hard copy of the access list on hand during the night (use the Administrator facilities to export the access list). Individuals having difficulty can simply check that their details correspond with the access list.

Tips To Getting Members To Login After the Event:

Get Members to write a small excerpt about their experiences at the event and then print it out in a small booklet to mail to attendees. You could also upload this handy souvenir to the bio’s booklet page on your Community website and send Members a link to login.
Upload photos from the night and email all Members from that alumni year – those who weren’t able to attend will be just as interested as those who did.

“I make it a priority to send emails to all members who have attended events a few days post each event. In doing so, I direct them to the website and the photos of the event. Those who are not online members quickly become so.”

Russell Davidson Old Haileyburian’s Association

Photos¶

As with any social networking site, photos are an extremely popular feature of Potentiality’s Online Communities. You’d be surprised by how many Members will sign up just to sneak a peek at their old friends/colleagues. See How do I add images to a Photo Board? for more information.

Tips for organizing your photo boards:

Keep your boards themed (e.g weddings, births, specific year groups). This will make it easy for you to add additional photos at a later date.
Make sure photo board names are clear to make navigation as easy as possible for browsing Members.
Highlight a specific board on your main page using the photo carousel. If there is a particular reunion/event coming up that you would like to promote in the central panel of the main page, filter particular photo boards associated with the event.
Tag members within images to encourage users to log on and view which image they have been tagged in.
If a Member uploads photos to a public board, notify that Member once you have approved the image and send an email to all those who may be interested.

Business Communications¶

The Business Networking Hub is a great resource for Members to gain some exposure for their occupation/business. The rotating cards offer a dynamic addition to your main page, and require no extra work from you, as information automatically feeds in from your Community Members’ entries. This is a valued feature for Communities who are interested in promoting a more professional/networking angle.

It’s important to keep in mind the value of the virtual real estate space on your Online Community. This can be a great resource for organising sponsorship, helping with Community functions and annual fees.

Tips for using your virtual real estate space:

Browse your Business Directory entries every few months to see if there are any suitable candidates to sponsor your Online Community.
Use one of your panels to promote your virtual real estate.
Send out an email to those listed in your Business Directory prior to the launch of the tipping competition.

Refresh Your Site¶

While it is important to include prominent branding for your Community, this doesn’t mean you can’t interchange your banners to highlight different themes or specific events for the year. Divide the year into quarters and get 4 different banners that promote Community events or features you would like to highlight. Simply email through the template to Potentiality to upload at your request.

Remember: Banners need to be 1000 pixels wide by 100 -120 pixels in length.

Highlight Members In Your Community¶

There are many ways you can highlight particular Community Members. It can be as simple as mentioning a staff retirement and the great contributions they provided to your Community **over the years. Alternatively, you can **welcome new staff members to the Community. Another option is to add a congratulatory caption and image when a prominent staff member has had a new birth, wedding, anniversary, etc. See** How do I add a news item?**

Why not do a feature piece on a Member of your Community who has achieved personal or industry success? View the new bios (do an export if it’s easier – view Wiki for help) and** see if someone has mentioned something that you found interesting** - chances are other Members of your Community will feel the same. Contact this Member and ask them if you can include their story/experience as a feature piece on the main page of your Online Community. This doesn’t require a lot of work on your behalf and you may even find that this individual will write a small article for you!

Tips for your feature article:

Upload the article to the middle panel of your main page. This placement will immediately capture the attention of any Member viewing the site.
Don’t make it more than a few hundred words. Members are more likely to read an article that they have time to complete.
I*f you have multiple feature pieces add them to a side panel as postcard*s. You could rotate the postcards and make each article a feature in the main panel every fortnight.
Include an appropriate profile picture or image that your Member has agreed upon.
If it is a particularly long article, add a summary to the main panel and have a link to the extended PDF version for those who want to read more.
Include a link to the website of the organization that the individual is promoting. Add similar/useful links for those who want to find out more (view the HTML manual).
Send an email to all of your Members or particular groups who may find the article interesting and let them know that it has been posted (eg search other Community Members who are in the same or similar industry, or those who are in the same year as this particular Member).

Online surveys¶

Why not ask your Members exactly what they think? Adding a new poll each month is a great way to keep Members engaged. It will open up communication channels between you and your Community as Members will feel more involved when they can have their say. You could even give them the option of submitting their own poll for you to publish online.

Online polls enable you to:

Gauge Member availability for particular dates when organising events.
Gauge new initiatives and Community feedback.
Gauge ideas on Community fundraising and philanthropy.

Video¶

The video module is a great way to highlight individuals and promote Community events. While the video must be first uploaded on YouTube, all you need to do is add the reference code in Step 2 of the wizard (see documentation).

Ideas for video features:

Community choirs, productions, footage of reunions, etc.
Sporting achievements – this can be Community related or personal success.
Community Members who have had media success (e.g. TV, film, music industry).
Community Members with success behind the scenes – has anyone produced a documentary, written a movie, etc? – upload their trailer.
Film a fun ‘End of Year Wrap’ which highlights major Community developments.

Tips for adding a video feature:

Make sure it doesn’t last for more than a minute or two to ensure you maintain your viewer’s attention.
Email specific year groups that may be interested – giving a brief explanation of the content of the video.

Twitter¶

The whole world seems to be tweeting away right now and so can you through Potentiality. Twitter has proved itself to be a revolutionary medium to communicate to a broad audience using short messages. The new Twitter module enables your Members to view your recent tweets directly from your Online Community. SeeHow do I add my school Twitter feed to the Home page?

As an Administrator, you are also able to quickly send tweets regarding recent activity from within your Potentiality site.

Future updates to the Potentiality application will enable tweets to be sent every time a new bulletin item, news post or photo is uploaded. Stay tuned!

Please contact Potentiality (marketing@ptly.com) if you would like additional information regarding the Twitter module.

Missing Member Module¶

This module searches your current database for any Member who doesn’t have contact information (eg email, phone number or address). This is displayed in a list to users with a suggestion for them to send an email encouraging missing Members to join and update their contact information. Your Members can also make suggestions regarding missing Members’ contact information which is forwarded to the site Administrator (recipient of ‘help emails’). See Missing Member Module

The list shows the user’s own peer year by default but users can choose to see missing Members around their year group as well as all missing Members. Missing Members are also highlighted in search results.

The Missing Member module requires Online Communities to upload all alumni to the site and is, therefore, dependant on the accuracy and availability of your database.

Please contact Potentiality at ** marketing@ptly.com **if you would like further information regarding the Missing Member module.

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