Don't Make This Common Mistake When Welcoming Members

0:00Gina Bianchini:Purpose, connection, surprise, that's what creates a magical first experience.

0:12Hey Gina, I'm close to launching my crocheting community and I'm stuck on my welcome area. Should I do a video explaining my community guidelines? What's the best way to welcome people to your community? I am a huge believer in number one, thinking about your guidelines as the culture that you're creating.

0:35Gina Bianchini:Starting with what do you want members to do? Because engagement is going to come when you're like, hey, this is what we do here. This is a place where you can show up and the first thing you can do is explore who else is here. You know what? the best way to explore who else is here, make sure you fill out your profile so you can see similarities between you and other members. Now, listen to that. It's like, this is what's in it for you versus what nine out of 10 communities do, which is fill out your profile. Fill out your profile for what? Why? When you create a magical first experience, you are starting with the benefits, the results.

1:16Gina Bianchini:What are you going to do? You're going to meet really cool people and you want to fill out your profile because they're going to be able to see more about you and be stoked to meet you. Another thing I like to do when it comes to creating a magical first experience for your members is think about those other cultural elements, those other ways of tying the things that you want your members to do to the value that they're going to create. For example, oh my gosh, we have got these Tuesday 9 a.m. live streams that are amazing because you're going to be able to meet other members and we tackle this month's theme broken down into four weekly calendar live stream items and it's super fun and you're going to meet people and it's going to be great.

2:03Gina Bianchini:When you start with the positive, when you start with the value, it doesn't mean you're ignoring the guidelines. It doesn't mean you're ignoring, hey, don't spam people. Don't sell your stuff. Don't show up and be a jerk. Don't show up and be negative. And the real opportunity for you is to emphasize the positive, emphasize the fun. So to recap, the formula for a magical first experience is to reinforce the purpose. Like, why are people here? They are here to meet other people who are going through the same transition, that are excited about having a very similar best year ever, that are really looking forward then to the second component of a magical first experience, which is to meet other members.

2:57Gina Bianchini:Kind of obvious stuff, but it's only obvious if you are sitting there with a community where people don't know each other yet and you gotta find ways to introduce them to each other. And finally, what makes it magical as opposed to just a first experience? Surprise. So what could a surprise look like? Well, maybe your community has a playlist. And especially it has a new member playlist that is designed for a new member to play while they're starting to explore other members in the community. Or they are listening to or watching a video while they are filling out their profile so that they can meet the most interesting people.

3:40Gina Bianchini:Or a surprise is your welcome committee of other founding members who might actually be checking out who those new members are and sending them a really nice quick note. These three things, purpose, connection, surprise, that's what creates a magical first experience. So I know this is controversial, but I want to encourage you to reframe it into these are the 10 things we want people to do and why it's valuable to them. And then share the guidelines, but just make it like 10 % of that first experience, not the primary thing that you have to go through at the very beginning in order to even join the community.

4:28Gina Bianchini:Paint the picture of the culture you want to build. Give your members things that they can do that are going to get them those early wins that people are going to respond really well to versus saddle them with a lot of work right up front. Yes, there are the things like they got to watch the video. They got to, you know, they got to know how these things work and how you've set up your network. But I would encourage you to start from the place of what can I offer a new member to get them their first win as quickly as possible? So take it from their perspective back, not you as the host are like, I need them to do all of these things.

5:18Then think about what are the connections that you want them to make?

5:24Gina Bianchini:How, for example, do they meet members who are near them? And then what are those elements of surprise? A playlist, a ritual, a surprise welcome message that someone records really quickly and DMs to that person, and that person being that new member. There are so many different things that you can do that create a community culture of the things you want people to do. And the first step is just spending a little bit of time brainstorming, imagining. thinking bigger, dreaming bigger about what this can become in people's lives. And then obviously, make sure that as you are dreaming and thinking, when you launch and go through the dip, and then just make sure you get to workshopping because that's where all of the magic truly happens.

6:12Gina Bianchini:That is what unlocks growth. And when you think about that magical first experience, start with the positive. That's really what I'm saying in all sorts of different ways. I'm saying start with the positive. Start with how do you get your members those quick wins where they see the value of what you've created and who you've brought together and what they're going to be able to get from it. Because that member's experience in your first session in their first week, that actually determines whether they're still a member and getting value from it six months from now versus not. So if you take one thing away from this podcast, from this conversation, it's get your members' purpose, reinforce the purpose, reinforce connections, and sprinkle it with surprise that creates a magical first experience.

7:08And I'm going to just

7:10Gina Bianchini:brag a little bit here. It is easier to create a magical first experience with these three elements on a mighty network than probably anywhere else. And so if we can help you with that, let us know, because it really does make the biggest difference. And with that, stay tuned for what's next.