To All Who Come to This Facebook Group: Welcome.
Currently, I am enrolled in the Social Media Community Management course at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. As I mentioned in previous articles, I did not realize the difference between online communities and audiences—as social media professionals, we know audiences as those who follow accounts and engage with content via comments, likes, shares, etc. On the other hand, online communities are a place for people who care about the same topic and goal to come together and build genuine relationships with one another.
As the weeks go on in this course, it is evident how great online communities can be at engagement versus the traditional likes, comments, and shares. Donisha Roberts’ Medium article, “How One Facebook Group Nails Engagement Every Day,” highlights several points to achieving successful engagement in an online community. A Facebook group I feel is successful in creating an active community is “Disney Alumni Association — Unofficial.”
Originally, there was an official Facebook group for the Disney Alumni Association. However, it became inactive when an official website was made for those part of the alumni association to connect instead. From my viewpoint, the response to this change was negative, hence the creation of the unofficial group.
The group has 9.8k members who migrated over from the official but inactive group. Engagement in this group is very high, getting a significant amount of discussion posts, comments, and likes per day. The reason for so much successful engagement is explained by many points in this Medium article.
“The key is members of a tribe already feel a connection with one another. The members of this group engage because they’re genuinely interested…”
As I mentioned, the “Disney Alumni Association — Unofficial” Facebook group was created after the original group was set to inactive. Those who were in the original group could have easily moved on without joining the new group, but the strong common interest and strong in-person community the Disney College Program creates helped this new group be equally as successful. Disney College Program participants hold their College Program dear to their hearts and love to relive their memories. The “Disney Alumni Association — Unofficial” Facebook group allows that community to stay in touch with those who share their love for Disney and their Disney College Program memories, thus strong community engagement.
“Members don’t need to be prompted to interact here, although they sometimes are.”
Because this group already has such a strong common interest, there really is no need for admins or moderators to step in and start the conversation. Of course, they do from time to time since they are Disney College Program alumni themselves, but the group has no trouble with starting new discussions. People share their memories, ask questions about the Disney Parks and merchandise, and more.
“Aside from just quantity, this group has quality. They’ve been careful to add people who are truly interested in the group’s purpose; making sure prospective members are a good fit will always help to foster better engagement.”
Only those who are true Disney College Program alumni can be admitted to the “Disney Alumni Association — Unofficial” Facebook group. This creates an environment where people know their interests and questions will be understood, responded to, and overall accepted, hence driving more engagement.
“While this community keeps engagement going without much prompting, it’s certainly not left to run itself. Admins are very visible and clearly in a leadership position…It’s obvious that admins and moderators are actively enforcing the guidelines.”
Clear rules and moderation from admins help make the “Disney Alumni Association — Unofficial” Facebook group successful when it comes to engagement. It is easy to know what kind of content you will see and can post about in the group. I believe a strong purpose and guidelines help make engagement in Facebook groups successful.
In addition, the admins know when they need to step in. Posts are screened before going live, and if a discussion gets too negative, the admins already have clear rules to follow in order to know when they need to mitigate an escalating situation.
Engagement is important in an online community. While there are definitely rules and best practices to keep engagement high and successful, they are not tough to follow. Keep the group’s niche top of mind, admit those who only have a true interest in the topic, and make sure admins/moderators keep things running smoothly, and the engagement will come naturally.
