After launching your community, the challenge is to establish a regular animation dynamic and engagement habits among members.
The first few weeks are critical: they create participation habits that last over time. By following our best practices, you ensure you manage your community effectively.
Animation plan: the basics
Before diving into the details of each community type (consumers or influencers), here is the recommended animation rhythm to maintain engagement over time:
- At least 3 posts per week across channels
- Interact with comments and questions regularly
- Moderate community content for 30 minutes to 1 hour per day
- At least 1 contest
- 1 mission specific to the current month or a quiz every 2 weeks
- Highlight a Member of the Month
- 1 community-focused newsletter
- At least 1 survey
- Identify trends, best practices, ambassadors and most active members
- Collect and analyze verbatims
Consistency is key. It creates expectations and gives members a reason to come back, whether it's light-hearted posts, exclusive announcements or regular animations.
A customizable animation calendar template is available to download at the bottom of this article to help you organize and track your plan easily.
Consumer community
A well-nurtured community is an engaged community. Here are the key actions to put in place to get started and maintain momentum over time.
Offer an engaging onboarding experience
The beginning sets the tone: it should make members want to explore the community, and start interacting or participating.
Set up a few simple missions to help members understand how the community works and publish their first content (review, post, photo, comment). These missions structure the arrival of new members and make it easier for them to get started on the platform.
Learn how to create and manage missions in this article.
A launch contest rewards your first members and quickly generates engagement. We then recommend organizing about one per month to maintain a consistent level of animation.
Learn how to create and manage contests in this article.
Each member receives a welcome message in their internal inbox as soon as they join. This message is essential to:
- Introduce the community's Community Managers and their role
- Encourage first interactions
- Make members want to come back to the community quickly
You can enable/disable and edit it in Configuration > Welcome inbox.
Optimize the community's home page so that navigation is simple and smooth from the moment members arrive. It can include Homecards or Featured Channels to redirect members to key community activities.
Learn how to manage it in this article.
Animation and moderation
A community becomes active because it is animated regularly. That is why it is important for your team to be present to set the pace.
We recommend posting at least 3 times per week on the community. This sustained rhythm establishes a continuous dynamic and prevents the community from losing momentum.
Set aside 30 minutes to 1 hour per day to:
- Reply to comments
- Welcome new members
- Re-engage conversations
- Manage incoming messages
This daily presence shows that the community is alive and that the brand is present.
Some missions require members to provide screenshots. Validate these missions daily: this quick recognition is a strong engagement driver and encourages participation over time.
Learn how to manage missions with manual validation in this article.
The product test is the most attractive activation for a consumer community. It is recommended to offer one from the first few weeks, then regularly if it is a relevant lever for the brand.
Its benefits are multiple:
- Collection of authentic verbatims
- Generation of UGC content
- Collection of detailed reviews
- Recognition of selected members
Content from product tests can be used on your social media, in your newsletters, product pages and advertising campaigns. This lever creates a virtuous cycle: members test, produce content, get recognized, then come back to participate.
Learn how to create and manage a product test in this article, and discover 6 best practices in this one.
Once the first few weeks are over, you can establish a less frequent mission rhythm: one per month, per season, or aligned with your key marketing moments.
Influencer community
After launching your influencer community, you enter the most important phase: animation and relationship with members. This is where the right habits are built — the ones that will make the difference in terms of engagement, content quality and community dynamic.
Application validation
Validating applications is not a purely operational task: it is the first lever to shape the atmosphere and energy of your community.
Take the time to observe:
- The profile's consistency with your brand universe
- The quality of published content
- The motivation of applicants
A well-qualified community will naturally be more engaged and more enjoyable to manage. Learn how to manage applications in your community in this article.
FAQ responses and availability
At launch, members often need support: questions about missions, how the platform works, timelines or rewards.
We recommend a daily presence of at least 1 to 2 hours to respond quickly and maintain a smooth relationship. This proximity builds trust and encourages members to get more involved.
Follow our guide to answer your members' frequently asked questions.
Social missions
Social missions are the heart of the animation of an influencer community. They should make members want to express themselves and create content for your brand.
To maximize the quality of generated content, make sure your briefs are:
- Clear: the mission objective is immediately understandable
- Simple: the steps to follow are accessible, especially for the first missions
- Contextualized: members understand why this mission matters to the brand
Learn how to create and manage them in this article.
Social Campaign Hub
The Social Campaign Hub is your ally to keep track of what is happening within the community: active social campaigns, performance and produced content. Learn how to use it in this article.
It allows you to:
- Get an overview of all your active social campaigns
- Identify what works best
- Easily repurpose the best UGC across other marketing channels