The community manager in me hates it when people talk about launching a crowdsourcing community as though it is something that’s disposable. I much prefer when people are worried about keeping their community engaged and rewarded. It shows that you are willing to invest in the people that are investing their time in your product or brand. To achieve a a community where people stay and contribute, here are methods I’ve proven to be effective:

5. Trickle the rewards. Members need to be getting something out of the community on a regular basis. If your crowdsourcing community is focused on one big goal (Check out our Netflix scorecard as a good example), think about how you can divvy up the reward so that people don’t get discouraged or lose interest long before the goal is met. .

4. Give incentives for diverse contributions. Different kinds of members need to feel like their contributions are just as important as the next person’s. Consider rewarding active members, friendly members, members who refer others to the community, members who consistently leave insightful comments. It’s also worth rewarding straight up “quantity” i.e. most contributions and “quality” i.e. highest voted contribution.

3. Say little. Make it meaningful. Make your site’s purpose evident and your calls to action clear.  Simply display what’s new to returning visitors and they’ll be more likely to put in more time. Leave room for contributors to have their say, versus having to spend time reading about yours.

2. A little hand-holding goes a long way. Show people what they can be doing. A really  intuitive site is a big part of this, but make it ultra easy with a get-started wizard that coaches new members or a personal reach out from the community manager. Make it your mission to have new members stay versus recruiting another new member… your membership will grow faster!

1. Now tell us about you. Make it your business to highlight everyone in the community – even the “lurkers.” Encouraging sharing of interesting personal or professional facts on profile pages, introducing members with similar interests and suggesting ways for members to contribute are all easy ways to make members feel valued and promote belonging.

Photo by Rasmin