Using FOMO to Boost Engagement in your Community
According to MyLife– 56% of social media users are fearful that they will miss something of some importance on social media when not looking.
Imagine if you will, all your friends go out and have an evening together, inside jokes are formed, friendships strengthened, but you are nowhere to be found- you declined the invite.
The idea may send a sharp chill down your back. That feeling right there is FOMO or Fear of Missing Out. FOMO can be a powerful tool within your community to help boost engagement- you want FOMO, you want to build a community that is so engaging for your members that the idea of missing one of your events or meetups can cause chills to race down their back.
Here are 5 ways that you can increase and leverage FOMO in your community to boost engagement
1. Events
Creating ample opportunities for your members to engage with each other is a great way to get your members to start sharing their expertise with each other. Even before the event starts, make sure to send follow up messages and reminders from the Mobilize Event Section to members who have not replied to generate the drive to come to the event. For members who are already attending- start getting them involved by creating a poll for the event, allowing your members to respond wherever they are.
During the event, take LOTS of photos- I’m talking tourist who just got their first digital camera level of photos. Using some photo editing sites (or a mobile phone) you can create collages and other engaging photo layouts.
2. Showcase your members
Generate featured posts on members within your community- highlight members and their stories and the impact generated from being a part of the community and beyond. The easiest way to accomplish this is to create a registration form and a member directory that is easy to understand.
By knowing that the community is full of such amazing members, less engaged members will feel the FOMO of missing out on networking opportunities. This can help drive them to become more engaged in upcoming events.
Engaged members want to be seen and heard. Posts like these are a great way to reward engaged members and help drive other members to also engage.
3. Create easy to engage posts based on sharing their own experiences
Every post in your community should point your members to take some kind of action- share your thoughts, check out these other links, send to your friends, ect.
Even easy to engage posts like- share a funny photo of your pets are a great way to get people talking and sharing in your community. Have you ever met someone with a dog or cat or bird who won’t want to show a photo if the topic comes up? Posts like these are a great way to keep the conversation going- getting members in the group involved to create content and share their opinions.
4. Create Easy to Remember Routines
Our brains are hardwired to love patterns and routines. Creating an easy to remember workflow in your community will help your members engage with posts that resonate with them. For example, every Monday create a Member Monday post- highlighting new members in the community, every Wednesday share some industry news, and every Friday a “share a winning story”. Human minds crave routines and traditions; members will get used to the repetition and anticipate upcoming content.
5- Rock the Vote
Generate monthly polls to help you and your team generate and plan content and events that your members will want to be a part of. The best way to get your community engaged is to spark discussions with topics that your members enjoy talking about. Ask members a poll with some topics you have seen members engaging with and then use these topics to develop polls or find interesting discussions happening around these topics and pose it to the community. This can start a discussion about a topic that most members care about. People want their voices heard, generating monthly polls are a great way to help
Pro Tip: Jump Start the Conversation- Take it to the next level by privately pinging a few key members with requests to start replying and spark a conversation. By seeing their comments – more people will want to voice their opinion.
How do you boost engagement in your community? Have you tried any of these FOMO hacks and what were your results? Let us know if the comments below.
