OK, so here are some thoughts.
- What made you launch the community? Did you do some research to ensure that there is a legitimate demand for it? Most communities that fail do so because they weren’t properly conceptualised to begin with. You can’t just build it and assume they will come. You need to be solving a need for your audience.
- If the answer to the above is yes, then the next question is how and where are you advertising the community? You need to ensure that you’re promoting to a relevant audience. Traffic isn’t enough. You need to tell people that have a legitimate interest in discussing the subject.
- If you’re doing the above, then you likely have an onboarding or culture issue. Communities are a slow burn. You need to begin with a beta group – a small group of people that you have a strong personal relationship with, or who are strongly motivated to participate for some other reason. You are missing this. You need those people to act as a ‘mini-community’ that seed content and build relationships with each other. Once they are functioning healthily you build on that group slowly. Don’t do a big launch of your community.
Now read this:
A Model For Getting People To Join and Participate In Your Online Community
Here are a few things that I notice when I visit your community:
- Most of the content is yours. You need that group of beta users to create genuinely interesting discussions that don’t feel fake or forced. Getting others to do it means that the content will be diverse yet relevant.
- In the early days when there isn’t a lot of content you’re probably better going with a category homepage, rather than a latest content feed. Channel people into the places where they feel comfortable.
- A lot of the current content is very low quality. Even moderators are making what I’d consider ‘fluff’ posts. They almost look like sockpuppets in some cases.
- There is nothing obvious that makes me want to engage. What is the benefit? What problem will it solve for me?
I hope this gives you a starting point. I’m happy to elaborate on any of the above or answer further questions.
Good luck. 