If you are running a community website and haven’t set it up around your members, what is the use of running a “community”? For those still needing clarification about the term, a member-centric online community website means that your community is dedicatedly built, taking members as the center of your organization. A better definition would be creating, upgrading, providing content, and moderating your online community taking member needs or reviews in mind. In this article, we’ll discuss strategies you can use to build a member-centric community. So clear your eyes, and let’s get started.
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Why is it essential to create a member-centric online community?
Creating a member-centric online community is essential for businesses to build relationships with their customers and develop a sense of belonging. It allows companies to engage with their customers, understand their needs, and provide personalized experiences.
A member-centric online community also helps businesses build customer trust and encourages customer loyalty. By listening to their feedback, companies can improve customer experience and satisfaction. Additionally, it allows customers to connect with other community members and share ideas or ask questions.
Overall, creating a member-centric online community is essential for businesses as it helps them foster relationships with their customers, build trust, and improve customer experience.
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How to build a member-centric online community?
A member-centric online community website is the most basic requirement for building a successful online community website. It is super easy to make an average community into a member-centric one. However, you need to follow specific steps to achieve so. I have mentioned the steps down below:
1. Meet member’s expectations on a personal level
Members will not understand everything by themselves, and you will be required to do the hand-holding sometimes or most of the time. In the new days of your community, you should connect with each member on a personal level. Your members need you, and they want to feel valued.
Doing so will ensure that the members stay longer in your community. You may have to connect with members offline. Knowing people online is enough, but you need a guarantee. Suppose the members live nearby or in the next town. You must visit them and develop a personal-level connection. These small steps will take you closer to the dream of building a customer-centric community.
2. Educate your members
Another good way to keep your members at the center of your community is to teach them via online courses. For example, you can create how-to guides, general informational, and deep-topic courses for your members.
There’s a high possibility that the members will notice your efforts in making their life easier by providing top-notch features. In return, they’ll stay at your online community website for much longer.
You can even sell online courses to monetize your community website. For example, you can use LearnMate LearnDash to sell online courses in your community. It is a perfect theme with LearnDash (a learning management system WordPress plugin) and Reign BuddyPress theme, allowing you to run an online community and sell online courses simultaneously.
3. Build a user-friendly website
Have you ever stayed on a website that’s confusing and unattractive to the eye? An obvious no. The same goes for your members; why would they remain on your online community website if it’s unsightly and tough to use simultaneously?
Now, this is the sign for you to make your website user-friendly. For example, suppose you’ve created your community website using WordPress and BuddyPress. In that case, we recommend a super user-friendly and customizable theme that will enhance member experience more than any other BuddyPress theme. Also, it’s important to make your website mobile friendly and for that goal, you should hire frontend developers, so they will build a mobile version of your website properly.
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4. Listen to your customers and make changes accordingly
Listening to your customers and keeping their thoughts in mind while making the changes is a good habit if you build a member-based community website. Your customers want one thing, and it is simple, “feel valued and feel a sense of belonging in your online community.”
Being all ears gives you just the advantage required to increase the customer retention rate on your online community website. You must follow these little steps and make your customers/members happy. Move ahead after doing loads of research, and most importantly, do not rely on assumptions. If you need to find something, but somehow you cannot. Then, get to the ground, start with the basics again, and finish without miscalculating.
Reward them with gifts and giveaways
We researched customer behaviors on various community websites and found that most customers enjoy receiving gifts or giveaways.
You can organize contests and keep a winning price for the person who comes at the top, or you can organize online treasure hunt activities. Celebrating milestones by throwing a party for everyone in your online community will strengthen your bond with the members.
Rewards are not just about monetary or gift purposes; you can introduce gamification and boost engagement by providing them badges or points as rewards which can be used to redeem or showcase their profiles differently than every other member.
Wrapping It Up | Get started with creating a member-centric online community website
In conclusion, a member-centric online community stays longer and more robust than an average community. Well, it depends on how much you’re giving to sustain the community at the top.
Now that you have the information regarding why and how to create a member-centric online community website. Let’s get down to business; why not contact us to start your dream community website project today?
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