Provide regular updates

[Christine Prefontaine]

Touch base regularly with members via email. You don’t need to send much — share content you find exciting, practical, or inspirational. The goal here is to engage members and build a sense of community. Topics may include:

• Number of members and their characteristics
• Most active discussions (either from forums or comments to blog posts)
• Summaries of debates — what’s controversial? Where do members disagree?
• Links to new or most popular content (blogs, resources, multimedia)
• New member profiles
• Updates on collaborative projects or working groups
• Network achievements

Set up a system to collect your best content; you can combine it with monitoring efforts. The frequency of your updates depends on member preferences. Use an email marketing tool so that you can manage mailing lists and track popular content. Constant Contact, Vertical Response, Campaign Monitor, and BetterMail are some of the many services.

You can also create a printed version. Develop a simple template with pre-set formatting and content sections. Then it’s just a matter of dropping in the same chunks of information each time and making a few adjustments.

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Network Communications Guide
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