How do you keep the good ones around?

There is this belief that I have that no matter what it is that you do, whether you create a forum or a blog, there will always be people who REALLY believe in what you are doing, and will help you out with it, and be encouraging of your goal. Of course that is usually like 5-10% of the total community you build up through your blog/Forum. I want to know what YOU guys do to keep these good people who participate, around?

 

Just continue to be a great owner, interact with your users and the good ones will stick around. My members enjoy the content that I post and they love that they can contact me about anything and I'll be there for them. Good ones stick around because they're loyal and they love the community that you built.

 

+1

A corollary to that is keep the trouble makers at bay. I found the good ones get very temperamental when bad apples are allowed to over run the place. The good apples have a vested interest in the community when bad apples are allowed to fester they feel their community is being abused.

 

I've found that setting out in writing who you are and what you are about as a community from the outset and refusing to deviate from that path works best. Your best members are there because they want to be a part of your community in your niche as opposed to the other options, and there are always other options. They like your community because you do something differently than the "competition." A forum has to stay true to itself, even if that means advising members that suggestions they make to "improve" the community will not be considered. It's impossible to please everyone so a community has to be what it claims to be consistently in actions and in words without deviation.

 

I try to give them what they want...

Recently, I became a bit inactive on my own forum and a member urged me to become active again. I was moved by it and so I became active again and worked on making it better than it was.

That member knows who he is

 

Yup, when there's a lot of good apples, the bad apples are outnumbered and they really can't do much on the community because the good ones are always about keeping the peace and keeping things settled on the community. I love having a ton of good apples, they make the community interesting, same with the bad apples. There's nothin like forum drama sometimes, its healthy for the forum's growth.

 

If they are really good I will offer them a moderator position. You could also offer prizes to posters that post in high volume with quality content. Really though, they are going to stay only if the content on the forum is suited to their tastes.

 

It doesn't even need to be a financial prize. I've been on a number of forums where they will award these "medals", I'm sure it's a fairly standard plugin. If you can make the medals easily attainable for some of them but perhaps reserve some real special ones, I've found that helps keep people around.

One case in point was a pet forum. If someone had three very rare "best breeder" awards (or whatever) then that valued member would also be listened to more closely and people would respect what they said more.

 

Communication and interaction is the key to this. You need to be active and talk to your forum members, of course we speak about new communities, big ones, well its easier to talk to 50 people than 1000
Help them out with something and you will see that they will help you too

 

If you manage to form a 1-on-1 relationship with your top posters they will stick with you. If you have points that you give members who post good content regularly, make sure that these top posters always have the maximum points. Also keep them motivated by calling them out by name in threads to thank them for the useful information that they provide.

Last but not the least, always be around in the Forum. Even if you miss a single day you will be conspicuous by your absence from your forum.

 

That's not always a good idea though. If someone becomes in a postion of power, they may not be active that much anymore. I prefer watching the user for a few months and see our their activity does before I bring them on the team.

 

Usually people who believe in you will stick around but they will keep you in high esteem and this could be your best aid or your worst enemy.

Many webmasters are proud of the community they have built but remain distant to the people whether members or staff, and since all of them truly appreciate forum owners, they expect to see in each of them a friend.

However if you are unfriendly or makes them feel that you don't care about their suggestions or inputs, they will feel disappointed and move on going elsewhere to give the support that seems to be disdained elsewhere.

 

I just continue to post good content, let them know they're doing a good job and continue running my site. If they see that you're putting in effort still to keep it going usually they will put in the effort also to keep the site going. I have about 4 active members (15 posts + daily) and I just keep running my forum like I would and they seem to still be consistent and happy with my ways.

 

This is so true! recognizing the good job that active members are doing is a good way to get them sticking around one's community.

 

The answer to this question is very simple. Just keep doing exactly what you are doing as they apparently like it. Just keep posting great content and maybe give back to them. Doing a little giveaway every so often will not only keep your current audience but attract others.

 

This is so true and I agree 100% as long as you continue to put in effort and dedication, your members will follow by your lead.