How to Quickly Grow Your Community & Your Clout by Running a Challenge
Running a successful challenge takes a hot idea, planning and organization. But there’s more to it than just structure. You need to tailor it to your members, their needs and their learning styles.
You have to be observant, if not a mind-reader sometimes, and above all, provide quality content and resources that keep them eagerly checking in for more.
And you have to build and carry the conversations, so that it flows naturally, keeping your challenge active and racing towards success for all.
Here are twenty-one ideas for spicing up your challenge:
Plan and Schedule all Content and Components in Advance
Having an actual plan/schedule laid out for content sharing should be a basic “given”. Without it, the flow and pacing of your challenge will feel uneven and you will miss opportunities to add value, right, left and center.
So spend a good chunk of your planning time in deciding not only what content and resources to create for your Challenge site, but also what you are going to post in the Group—and when.
Be Proactive About Finding Out What they Want
Don’t wait for your Group members to tell you what they need: Be proactive. Find out how much they think they can handle. Find out what they are most concerned with by asking leading questions, as moderator Alice Seba of WriterHelpWanted.com does here:
She asks questions like these not just at the beginning of a member’s journey, but at regular intervals so that old and new members alike are prompted to stop, take stock and re-commit.
Not only does this type of proactive questioning help you run a better challenge, it reminds members that you are steering the ship and you are the one able to help them negotiate rocky waters.
And it gets conversation going!
Look for Opportunities to Add Value
While planning is necessary, also be on the alert for opportunities to add additional resources and kick up your challenge’s value.
Complaints and questions will be your number-one source of clues. For example, if a member complains that she wishes there was a checklist of all the steps to take when doing a particular challenge task—create one! And do it straight away (not three days later, when she’s on to other tasks or has already completed the one she was complaining about).
Set a Private Challenge for Yourself
While you are running your challenge, set personal goals such as “post a photo every day” or “share a new tip or trick”.
And set private challenges that are not just for your Group, but are personal too (e.g. “Get up an hour earlier every morning and go for a walk.”)
As you stretch your own horizons, you will find your own confidence being boosted and you will be surprised at how your creativity towards your challenge will soar.
Consider a JV Partner
Two heads are better than one - and that is often the case with running an active, ongoing program such as a challenge.
Reasons for including a JV partner:
If you’re relatively new, a seasoned JV partner can kick-start the partnership. Just make sure you’ve already done the lion’s share of the work when you approach them and that you make it worth their while.
You can tag-team each other, filling in when your partner is busy (and vice versa) or alerting them to questions requiring their unique expertise or skills
People enjoy the added value of TWO experts for the price of one
Inspiration—having a partner and brainstorming or checking in can help you quickly weed out less productive ideas—and fill you with new ones.
Create Measurable Goals that Require Action and Sacrifice
The success of your challenge will also rest on how well-targeted your main goal is, as well as how well-spaced-out your milestones (mini-goals) are.
Goals have to be neither so immense that your member can’t believe she’ll ever achieve it, nor so simple they are no challenge at all. Simple goals create boredom.
Getting people to find their comfort zone; then stretch just enough beyond to cause discomfort is a good formula to follow, according to seasoned challenge runners. The discomfort should provoke the same feeling runners get, after making themselves participate in a grueling run, but return filled with endorphins and a typical runner’s “high”.
Gauge Your Challenge Goals and Milestones to Your Members’ Mindsets
Every niche, sport, or business has common psychology. For example, athletes are conditioned to achieve goals by pushing through pain and going the extra distance in training. Many have a “macho” head space and are proud of going well beyond what the average human being will endure in the name of health and exercise.
You also need to consider their own all-consuming objectives: For example, what is more, important to your group of athletes—perfect, healthy bodies… or winning? Staving off old age… or reaching the Olympics?
Likewise, if you are a divorce coach, you’ll know you cannot push a group of people getting over shattering infidelity the way you would push a group of CrossFit athletes. With those in a vulnerable state, you need to rebuild their confidence and constantly reassure them that they have value and that life can be brighter (with your help).
Neither mindset—macho or nurturing—is wrong. You just have to make sure you fit the right mindset to your challenge members’ needs, where they are now, and where they want desperately to be.
Make it Fun
You can be perfectly serious and hold your members accountable while making your challenge a fun place to be.
They should get up in the morning eager to check in with the Group, join in the chatting and see what’s new—and exciting.
Be Real
Your members don’t want to connect with a marketer, slave-driver—or (worse) someone who disappears the moment they’ve signed up. They want private access to you.
Being yourself is one of the most energizing things you can do for your challenge. This is one time when you are the most important resource of all. Confess your own weak spots, speak candidly, be patient, and above all, listen and respond.
That’s how to make people believe in your challenge—and in themselves!
Provide Inspiration
One of the best ways to keep people inspired is to care: To genuinely believe in them.
Holden Leadership Center at the University of Oregon really hit the nail on the head when it posted: “Group members measure the quality of their organization through the trust, commitment and love its leaders show towards them”.
Another great way to provide inspiration is to be inspired yourself. Read books on leadership and articles on motivating people. Hang out with the people who inspire you.
And share inspiring quotes—and stories—with your readers too.
Master Your Technology
Nothing will frustrate your members more quickly (and lessen your credibility) than resources they can’t access or software that obstructs them. If you are using apps or providing tools, make sure they work—and that you can explain them! If they’re challenging to you too, hire a VA specialist in that area and don’t just have her set it up, have her teach you how to use it.
And remember to test every link before you publish anything on your challenge site or in the Group or forum.
Find Out What Makes Each Member Tick
Many of your challenge members will say their goal is to “lose thirty pounds” or “rid their life of negative influences”, but there’s a deeper need underlying these external goals. You need to tap into that need in order to find out what your challenge members hunger for.
With some, the achievement is the big prize—and recognition is a huge part of successful achievement. They want to get something done!
With others, being valued is what they are really craving, what their journey is all about.
Others are all about the support. They want a peer group to belong to, and friendship is a primary benefit that keeps them active within the group.
Others want to attain authority and power themselves. They want recognition for their expertise and contributions.
And then there are those who just want to get a task done. These are usually already experts themselves and are easy to work with—providing you really know your stuff and provide what you promise. They also make great potential JV partners.
Understanding where each member is coming from (or with large groups, what the most dominant needs are) can help you keep everyone happy with your challenge—and eager to give your challenge glowing recommendations.
Create a Positive Environment
The last thing you want to do in a challenge group is shut anyone down and makes them feel they can’t ask questions or that their questions are “dumb”.
That’s where patience comes in. If you haven’t got it—develop it! That’s your challenge. But you’re a coach, so most likely you will have it already.
Be gracious with every question, even while you are firmly pointing the questioner towards the correct resource. When asked questions that are out of the group's mandate, don’t be too quick to dismiss them. If these types of questions are being asked, there’s a need there. (You can be honest and say things like: “That’s really outside of my skill set. Anyone else in the group able to answer Sandi’s question?”)
Keep it Simple
While your challenges should genuinely challenge, make doing the work or taking the next step as easy as possible.
Don’t complicate things for your members—or you’ll be complicating them for yourself!
Make it Personal
Tag individuals. Use people’s names. Give personal attention. Answer specific questions. Accept each member as a valuable part of your challenge and celebrate their individuality.
Provide Rewards and Treats
What challenge members perceive as a reward can differ, so make sure you get to know what your Group would most like. Give recognition to those who crave it, encouragement to those who are insecure, acknowledgment to those who seek status—and be sure to give actual gifts too.
Unexpected bonus gifts—especially high-end ones—keep your members surprised, delighted, and engaged.
Just make sure these are timely and well-thought-out. Creating a Checklist for a specific stage or task after someone wishes in the Group postings there was one is a perfect example of this. Or they are creating a “how to” video for people who are frustrated with specific tasks.
And occasionally, give them something fun too.
Find and Prepare for the Down Points—in Advance
Group energy is by its very nature not a static thing. It dips and rises like a roller coaster.
Keep your challenge full of thrills by being aware of, and anticipating, the dips and rises. Don’t let the energy of the Group control you. Instead, make sure you keep your energy high by posting extra resources, contests, questions, quotes, and challenges during the ride.
Vary Your Post Content—and Track it
Pay attention to the types of posts people respond to the most strongly and enthusiastically. Help keep the challenge entertaining by providing different types of content—both in your Resource section and within your LinkedIn or Facebook Group.
Plan in advance to include:
Videos
Quotes
Photos
Infographics
Contests
Quick polls
Questions
Recommendations
Book reviews
And whatever else you can create to keep your challenge community lively.
Use Webinars all Through the Challenge
Not only can you use a webinar to introduce people to your challenge, but you can also include a weekly webinar as part of your Group dynamic.
Q & A webinars are perfect for (a) when you have no guests lined up and (b) allowing members to go into more depth on questions that would derail group focus if you were to discuss it within the Facebook Group.
It also allows you to provide personal recognition and one-on-one help within a structured time frame (the length of the webinar)—which in turn helps participants focus on their most important issue. This weekly interaction adds tremendous value to your challenge, justifying higher ticket prices.
Keep Your Members Focused and Engaged
While getting to know each other and sharing personal insights and comments are the sign of a tightly-connected group, it is up to you, as Moderator, to keep the Group on target, always moving towards the challenge goal. Your agenda, pre-planning, and pacing are key to succeeding with this. Make sure you have a strong, carefully thought out, and implemented program!
Take it to the Next Level
Was your initial challenge Group successful? If your answer is something along the lines of “yes, but now I know what to do better—and what not to let happen”, rinse and repeat; and do it with a new bunch.
If it was wildly successful—even if you weren’t thrilled with your own performance—be ready to move your members forward.
Hold a celebration of what you achieved. Post the results on your challenge page and showcase member achievements. Give space to each member to say what the challenge did for them and how it changed their lives. Ask people to sign up, if they want to be notified of your next challenge.
Meanwhile, allow your tight little community to stay in touch with you and each other. Monetize your group by:
Offering a lifetime membership
Taking them to the next level with a more intensive, higher-stakes challenge
Offering service or coaching packages
Creating paid courses, summits, and webinars
Your first challenge is only the beginning. It provides the base for your repeat-buying, loyal community.
Give them what they want—and enjoy your well-deserved accolades (and increase in income!)
