3 Steps to Design a Community Engagement Plan

Most communities face a frustrating truth: engagement fizzles out quickly for the majority of new members. FeverBee’s research sheds light on the stark reality:

• Nearly half of first-time contributors never post again.
• A third of those who return to post a second time stop engaging within 30 days.
• Fewer than 1 in 5 contributors remain active after 90 days.

This means your community likely consists of two distinct groups:

1. A large group of newcomers who quickly disengage.
2. A smaller group of loyal, long-term contributors.

To help community leaders close the gap between the two groups, Higher Logic Vanilla invited Richard Millington, founder of FeverBee, to share his expertise. With over a decade of experience working with brands like Google, Amazon, Lego, and the World Bank, Richard knows what it takes to build communities that keep members engaged.

Drawing on lessons from this webinar, here are three steps to create a community engagement plan.

Step 1: Identify Member Segments

One of the biggest mistakes communities make when trying to drive engagement is treating all members the same. When you ask members to do things they’re not ready or able to do, you create unnecessary friction—and disengagement.

Not all members have the same expertise, motivation, or time to contribute. The key is to meet them where they are. This starts with identifying your member segments based on their capabilities, needs, and desires.

3 Factors for Defining Member Segments

There are 3 overarching factors that play a role in defining the segments of your community. Richard identifies these factors as:

1. Tenure: How long they’ve been part of the community.
2. Activity: Their average level of engagement and contributions.
3. Psychographics: Their thoughts, interests, and motivations for participating in the community.

These insights provide a foundation for understanding your members and tailoring your engagement strategies to each group.

Gathering Data

The best way to understand your members is to ask them directly. Surveys are an effective tool for collecting the data you need to define your segments. Richard recommends using survey software to streamline this process and apply filters to analyze your results.

When designing your survey, include questions that help you evaluate tenure, activity, and psychographics. For example:

• How helpful or unhelpful do you find the community?
• How long have you been a member?
• How many hours a week do you spend in the community?
• How long have you been a customer of the product or service?
• What topics in the community interest you most (list several topics)?
• What best describes your primary purpose in the community?

Depending on your community’s purpose, you may want to add more unique questions regarding community topics.

Defining Member Segments

Once you’ve collected your data, aim to identify 3–6 member segments. Here’s an example of segmentation based on tenure:

• Newcomers: Members for 0–1 year.
• Intermediates: Members for 1–3 years.
• Experts: Members for 3–6 years.
• Veterans: Members for 6+ years.

These segments help you design engagement strategies that are relevant and achievable for each group. For instance, newcomers might need onboarding resources, while veterans might be ready to mentor others.

If you’d like a head start, Richard has provided a sample survey template to help you get started with your research.

Step 2: Identify the Desires of Each Member Segment

Once you’ve segmented your community members and gathered data about their behaviors, it’s time to dive deeper. This step is about analyzing your data to uncover what drives each segment and how to meet their unique needs.

The goal is to understand not just what members say they want but the deeper desires that truly motivate them to stay engaged in your community.

Analyze Segment Characteristics

Start by analyzing the data you’ve collected to uncover trends and patterns for each segment. For example, what are newcomers looking for when they join your community? What keeps veterans coming back? Identifying these characteristics helps you tailor your approach to meet each group where they are.

Here’s an example breakdown of member segments and their characteristics:

Segment Title	Tenure	Relevancy	Characteristics
Newcomer	0-1  Year	Low	Spends ~2 hours/week. Comes for quick answers, primarily Q&A. But finds most of the answers unhelpful.
Intermediate	1-3 Years	Extremely High	Spends ~3 hours/week. Focuses on quality answers. Most interested in sharing ideas and giving feedback. Finds high relevancy.
Expert	3-6 Years	Extremely High	Spends ~2 hours/week. Similar focus to intermediates: quality answers and feedback.
Veteran	6+ Years	Medium	Been a customer for 6+ years. Spends ~4 hours/week. Provides meaningful answers, reports issues, and sees themselves as leaders. Finds the community has changed, but it’s still relevant.

 

Understanding these traits clarifies what each segment is capable of, motivated by, and interested in.

Identify their Deeper Desires

Beyond surface-level wants, dig into the emotions and psychology that keep members engaged. Richard emphasizes that what members say they need often differs from what actually keeps them coming back.

Here are a few examples of deeper desires:

Things Members Say They Want	Deeper Desires
Answers to questions	Reducing fear of something going wrong.
Quick access to information	Building confidence to solve problems independently.
Connect with others in a similar situation	Feeling part of a special group and avoiding isolation.
Access to staff	Feeling respected, valued, and appreciated.

 

To uncover these desires, conduct qualitative interviews with 3–5 members from each segment. Capture the exact words they use.

As Richard explains, successful engagement strategies amplify positive emotions—like confidence or connection—and address negative ones, such as fear or frustration.

Step 3: Design Your Community Engagement and Participation Plan

A successful engagement plan doesn’t treat your community as a one-size-fits-all environment. Instead, it tailors goals, strategies, and actions for each member segment to ensure everyone finds value in their community experience. This involves focusing on three key components for every segment:

1. Set Clear Objectives

Each member segment has unique goals based on their behaviors and needs. For example, your objective for newcomers might be to encourage them to ask five questions within their first three months and stay active beyond that. Meanwhile, for veterans, the goal might be fostering leadership and encouraging them to mentor others.

2. Create Strategies Aligned with Deeper Desires

Strategies should focus on the deeper motivations that drive each segment. Address their core desires—whether it’s reducing uncertainty, building confidence, or feeling part of a special group—and align your strategies to those needs.

3. Implement Tactics that Support Your Strategies

Tactics are the specific actions you’ll take to execute your strategies. These should create a unique experience for each segment, helping them feel engaged and valued. Center these actions around their deeper desires to point them toward the most relevant parts of the community.

Example Plan: Engaging Intermediates

Let’s look at an example shared by Richard during his webinar:

• Objective: Get intermediates to visit the community more frequently and reply to posts
• Strategy: Build excitement and a stronger sense of community.
  • Create regular opportunities for members to form closer connections.
  • Organize exciting activities that sustain interest.
• Tactics:
  • Highlight a curated list of “top posts” each week.
  • Establish a monthly ritual for members to engage in.
  • Let members nominate and vote on their favorite posts of the month.
  • Schedule upcoming events with countdowns and teasers to build anticipation.

Tools and Methods for Execution

To execute your tactics, use tools and methods that cater to your segments’ specific desires. Some examples include:

• Send tailored emails using narratives that resonate with each segment’s motivations.
• Display personalized banners on your community website based on each member’s segment. For example, banners for experts could highlight advanced resources or exclusive events, while newcomers see a welcome guide.
• Use gamification to encourage participation that’s geared towards fostering engagement for segments that are looking for social rewards.

Closing the Engagement Gap

Building an engaged online community requires intentional effort to understand and meet the needs of your members. By identifying distinct member segments, uncovering their deeper desires, and designing tailored engagement plans, you can close the gap between fleeting participation and lasting involvement.

From newcomers seeking quick answers to veterans aiming to leave their mark, each group has unique motivations that drive their activity—or inactivity. When you address these motivations with targeted strategies and actions, you create an environment where every member feels valued and connected.