I was inspired this morning by a blog post from one of the writers I follow on Twitter. She suggested writing your own bad review/critique. Her point was “acknowledging your faults is the best way to overcome them.”
The same concept can be applied to community management. Visit your private online community and create a fake member. See what “their” (aka your) experience is as “they” visit for the first time. Does anyone reach out and welcome them/you? Do they receive suggestions on what groups to join or activities to undertake? Is the site intuitive or are you bombarded by so many options that they lose site of an obvious path to engagement?
Now write your own “review” of your member site. What has this experience shown you?
