The Joy Troupe is coming up on its one year anniversary, and I've tried a few things that have worked and a few that haven't as growth strategies for the group. Here I'm breaking down a few sources of new members. Bear in mind that my experience is with the NOVA/MD/DC area- your local area may have other online sources that are just as good if not better.
Meetup.com
We got our start on meetup.com. This website will host your group for a fee. The service does help attract members to your group, but the drawback is that meetup.com is promoting their brand and their product, not yours.
If you want access to a bunch of people who you know are online and in your local area fast, meetup is a good place to start, but it's not a good strategy for the long term for two reasons. The first is that meetup.com isn't designed to manage very large, active communities. In much the same way that churches find you have to have empty seats in the hall or people will decide there is no room for them in your congregation, your group will grow to fill the tools you use. If you are planning to have more than 100 or so members and more than 3-5 events per month, meetup is not going to meet your needs. This is based not only on my own experience, but on the comments of other meetup.com organizers in the organizer forum. Plan for growth now and you'll avoid some pitfalls along the way.
The second comes back to that branding thing. Beyond a certain point, the hard work you are doing to get your group noticed, growing, and running well involves promoting the meetup.com service. The way they thank you is to turn around and bombard your members with messages from other groups that want their time and attention. This can be off-putting for some members and can serve to erode the sense of community you are trying to create in your group.
If you start your group on meetup.com, I recommend planning to move your group to a different service within 6 months to one year. Set up your destination group immediately. Make sure you have a URL for your group and a website, even if it's just a simple portal to your Big Tent group, and focus all your promotional efforts on that website, not meetup.com. Use your meetup group to funnel new members to your site, rather than the other way around. What site you use depends on your group's needs- we at the Joy Troupe like Big Tent, but Ning Social networks and a few others, including self-maintained websites with content management software have possibilities.
Parent Network Sites
There are loads of networking sites for moms and parents out there, and unfortunately none of them has achieved enough market dominance to be the be-all and end-all. (Like Ravelry is for knitters or crocheters, but that's another story.) This means that you can't ignore the large national sites and you also need to seek out the most robust among your local online forums for parents. Because I use Google Analytics, which is a free service you can use to track your website's performance, I can tell you I get very few hits from these sites, but since it's free to list your group, I recommend you do it anyway. Choose one, consistent, monthly meeting that allows unlimited attendance and is open to the public and post it everywhere you can, then don't hold your breath. Raising Them, Cafe Mom, and Mothers Click all bear listing your group on and not that much cultivation beyond that. Like I say, set it up, post your monthly meet & greet, and move on to the next section. If you have members who are active on any of these sites, let them know you have listed your group on that site. Those sites frequently won't allow references to outside groups on their forums, but your members can talk about your group if they can mention that it is listed on the site in question.
Free Online Advertising that Gets Results
The sites that belong in this category include Craig's List, DC Urban Moms, Yahoo! groups, and Upcoming Events. You should also create a free Google Business Listing for your group.
Yahoo! Groups makes the list because you can set up a page that points to your main group quickly, simply, and list it in a local category for where you live. I've noticed that some areas of our metro area get more hits off Yahoo! Groups than others. If you are hosting your group with Yahoo! then you know what to do- just set up your group and you're on your way. However, if your group is hosted elsewhere, set up your group and turn off the web features, add a welcome file directing people to your main site, and "set it and forget it." You can put links to your website in the description on the main page. The other three are sites that will let you post your events for free. You should be posting at least your monthly meet & greet event to these three sites. If your group sponsors other events that are open to the public, like story times or hiring children's performers, post them too. Obviously, the more events you post the more hits you'll get from these venues, but DO NOT ABUSE THEM. Not only does spam ruin it for everyone, it may get you, personally, banned and make your life a lot harder. So play by the rules.
Craig's List also has a groups section which is highly effective. You should have an attractive, well written post about your group that includes your keywords in the posting title in the groups section, and you should also peruse the section to see if anyone has posted looking for a group like yours. Include a picture in your ad. Again, DO NOT ABUSE this by posting the same ad every day. Craig's List will allow you to run your ad for one week. Posting the same ad more often is not allowed. You can create one ad for each aspect of your group and post them- so, for instance, if you have a "new mom" club and a "walking" club within your group, rotate a post for your main group with a post for each of them rather than putting the same tired old post up every day.
Other Websites Worth Listing On
Again, I am able to track my traffic sources, so I can tell you I get very few hits from these, but, they are free and it doesn't take long to list with them, so go for it.
Our Kids
Newcomers Club
Lila Guide
Also, put a tag line about your group in your sig file of your email. A surprising number of people read these and check them out. Ask your members to do the same. Go to widgetbox and create a widget that promotes your group and ask your members to post it on their blogs, websites, and facebook pages. In the end, it all adds up.
Create a flier with tearoff tabs and ask your members to post it in libraries, pediatrician's offices, anywhere that families go that will let you post it.
To Be Evaluated:
I have recently discovered www.topix.com and will update this post with the effectiveness of using this resource.
Don't Bother
Unless you are prepared to really spend a lot, skip the Google AdWords service. I've had thousands of impressions but no clicks from them. I strongly suspect that I am not the only human being who has learned to tune out those "ads by google" links on websites. Save your money unless you want to shell out and run a picture ad.
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