What Will Cause Your Online Community To Go Viral?

As an online community organizer, you might often perceive the internet as unpredictable.  Maybe you find it difficult to figure out what people will like or what membership management software will take off next.  For this reason, you may be indecisive about what steps to take in order for your community to grow which can be quite frustrating.

While some aspects of the internet are hard to predict, people’s behavior is quite predictable.  Once you learn the social science that makes them arrive at particular decisions, a marketing campaign can be set up to help your community go viral.

 

There’s a secret bar in London known as Please Don’t Tell.  Rather than applying a traditional marketing strategy using street signs, it uses a telephone booth for customers to enter.  Additionally, the name obviously asks people to not share information about it but quite the opposite happens.  It’s called the power of secrecy, people tend to feel burdened to carry the secret and soon start sharing it with others.

With membership management software, keep the power of secrecy in mind and look for ways to use it with your community.  You may talk about an upcoming addition to the community but use a name that suggests it should be a secret.  Most members will feel compelled to share what they know about it increases the chance your community will go viral.

 

Stories are not only entertaining but also intriguing when delivered the right way.  If someone tells you they joined a community about colleges, you might not find that interesting.  However, if they tell you about a community where they received advice that helped them achieve their goals, you may want to check the community out.
Stories can be applied in a variety of ways through members so the word is spread organically.  The recognition your community gets from going viral may not be global but it could gain you popularity among your target audience which is key to long-term success.