Participate in a professional community by helping the room work through problems. Answer the question in front of you and add context members can use. Replies are an incomplete signal because many people consume a community without posting. In many online communities, 90 percent only read contributions, 9 percent contribute moderately, and 1 percent are active contributors.1 A quiet thread can contain people who saw your answer, so judge a contribution by its fit and usefulness before judging it by replies.
Pick the room
Start where the people you want to learn from already gather. Choose a room with a live problem and a norm of exchange.
Companies should build their brand, develop leads and build their community where potential partners gather.2 Before joining, check whether members discuss problems you understand and whether replies help people make progress. If you cannot see a problem you can help with, keep looking.
Look for the problems members are trying to solve and the questions that receive useful replies. Consider what kind of resource would fit the conversation. Choose a room where those answers are visible.
Enter before you pitch
On entry, learn the room's language, people and habits. Use your early participation to learn while making a useful contribution.
Outreach activities can help you enter a community and get to know its members.3 New members can be encouraged to introduce themselves when other members warmly welcome and respond to each introduction.4 Follow the format the room already uses. Reply to an existing discussion before starting one, and introduce yourself when introductions are part of the norm.
Read enough to identify a recurring problem and the terms members use for it. Ask what people have tried and where the problem still appears. Move on when you can contribute to that problem without making the thread about yourself.
Answer the problem in front of you
Make each post useful on its own. A member should be able to use the answer, test the idea or sharpen the question after reading it.
When a community helps people solve problems, it becomes highly valuable.5 Maintaining engagement requires answering questions and keeping discussions focused.6 Start with the direct answer, then explain the condition that makes it useful. Share a resource only when it addresses the thread. If you have no useful answer, ask a question that helps the member add context.
Meaningful participation includes generating ideas, contributing to decision making and sharing responsibility.7 Use your reply to help someone think through a choice when you cannot supply a complete solution. Ask, "What have you tried so far?" or "Which constraint is making this difficult?" Move on when the member has a clear next question or acknowledges the answer.
Turn replies into exchange
Help members learn from one another with each contribution, and take part in the room through the exchange.
Users want brands to interact meaningfully on social and create spaces where people connect around shared interests.8 A practice for building a community is to create opportunities for people to talk and discover what they have in common.9 After answering, invite comparison with a question such as, "How are others handling this?" or "What would a workable answer need to account for?" Keep the exchange moving with discussions, thought-provoking questions and invitations for members to share insights and experiences.10
Mention your offer only when the discussion makes it relevant. If the post could be pasted into any community without changing a word, make it more specific to the problem in front of you.
Ask only after earned relevance
Ask for a conversation after you have shown that you understand the member's problem and have helped with it. Keep the ask attached to the topic that created the exchange.
Providing value and invitations can build trust and credibility and earn the right to have a conversation.11 Answer publicly and respond to the member's follow-up before asking whether a short conversation would help. If no one engages, leave the request out and keep contributing where you can help.
Use questions such as, "Would comparing how we approach this be useful?" or "Who else should I learn from on this problem?" If the member points you to another person, ask for an introduction only when the connection would help with the issue already under discussion.
Check a post for spam
Run a quick check before publishing. Read the post as someone who came for help and remove anything that pulls attention away from the discussion.
A low participation threshold allows irrelevant, off-topic, commercial or malicious messages to enter a hashtag space easily.12 Popular hashtags can attract spammers trying to redirect a large audience's attention.13 Use practical, holistic metrics to help identify spam.14
Ask: Does this answer the thread? Does it give members something they can use? Does the invitation fit the conversation? If the post mainly redirects the reader to your offer, rewrite it as an answer or hold it.
What not to do
Avoid these habits:
- Do not assume repeating the word community creates a functioning community.15
- Do not force members to interact.16
- Do not enter a popular hashtag with an off-topic commercial message, since those spaces attract attempts to redirect audience attention.13
- Do not ignore unwelcome traffic, which can complicate people's professional social media experiences.17
- Do not decide whether a post is spam from one narrow signal. Use practical, holistic metrics.14