DJW2307:Our biggest problem and one we haven't resolved is getting new members onto the forum (am sure it is the same in all CC's).. That to me is a key in getting players involved
Absolutely key.
If you dont encourage and market participation, you wont get it.
Much to the bemusement of us owners who ask;
DJW2307: why they join in the first place?
**Keep in mind our club does NOT recruit Legends and above and rarely TMasters. We have a focus of developing players & recruit Hacks & above IF their history shows a certain level of commitment. ALL of our Legends and above were developed. Hence they are all loyal.
What we do firstly is post on a new members wall a link to an 'introduce yourself' thread within the club forum.
Most at least do this.
Once they have done that, we have a strong contingent of members who then friend up the new members and seek them to play games.
We also have 5 captains in the club who are all aware of this focus and also will 'nurture' new members.
These existing members will, if needed, help the new member with suggestions and game tips.
Myself as owner will always try to get a game or two in with a new member ASAP.
This does a few things...
Firstly it gets them into the club forum and from that interaction they have now made a handful of club friends.
Secondly they are now playing with club members, perhaps invited to skype, shown the ropes offered some help and have met their comrades.
Finally they have had a game with the 'owner' (probably an Alt match or Blitz, with others in their tier and maybe another legend) who has displayed a friendly and welcoming personality and also has asked them what they think of the club so far and has asked them if there is anything they would like to see from the club.
At this point they are in awe of playing with a Legend/s firstly and they can see how close they actually are to being a higher tier. Not losing by much or simply interacting with the club and the top members.
(this helps prevent hack/amateur apathy)
I will often set up MP games with new members and announce they are all members & to 'friend up' .
Our club also has a mentoring program which is a Stickied thread in our forums, here members can see an opportunity to ask their peers for help - anothr part of the nurturing program, but thats another topic.
I have taken members under my wing and focussed specifically on them and held their hand till their next tier, then let them go on their own.
I love hearing of their achievements after this :)
The second thing we do to help forum participation is to ask members to claim their prizes via the tournament thread in the forum.
So - tournaments are named "XYZ event - PRIZES!! See Forum."
We send Club Emails at the start of Prized Tourneys and at the end with links to the forum thread.
The forum thread details the tourney/ event, lists the prizes - (we have banners made up and posters etc) - and we ask all winners to claim their choice of prize from the pro shop via the thread.
eg: win 500credits of Pro Shop goods.
This in itself is very successful to get members making their first forum post.
As we know we all like to see our name in lights, so winners are highlighted and glorified. Once they have posted, it is in our human nature (call it ego) to return to see if our post was 'ok', has been replied to, etc.
This also makes the prize giving transparent for ALL members to see it actually happening.
Promoting these events in a somewhat commercial manner is needed to increase the awareness of the happenings in the club.
Unlike our recently ejected member from this thread, most dont have their head stuck in the sand and at some stage actually do interact with the club. When a person is seen to be newly participating, we try to take that involvement further..
Our Club forum's first page contains approx 8 - 9 'stickied' threads. Things like - "introduce yourself here"
"Game Tips" (including a link to another section for "newbie info" containing WGT navigation tips etc)
"Your best rounds" - Score cards posted and applause given
"Great Shots" - replays posted and applause given
Many other stickied resources & Also any current tourneys are stickied until they end.
All of these threads are very active.
I myself as an owner always remain approachable and enthusiastic. I try to remain in the background and let my captains remain in the spotlight, however I will always applaud achievement & will always answer anyone who approaches me.
Our club has a 'nurture' & 'mentor' focus and with the above things in place and with regular captain's involvement we can get some very good participation results in the tourneys and in the forums.
We cull. once per 3 months. We remove inactive players. After the 1st or 2nd month - we send a message.
We have a few that are ""on leave" and they have announced that, either in a forum note or a message to me.
95% of our club has played WGT in the last month.
We rarely have members leave and when they do, they are usually those who may or may not have been active, but not really participating within the club anyway.
We will also kick members if they are abrasive or found to be multi's or guy-gals.
There is a lot to getting maximum participation.
There will always be 'silent' members and we will never truly get 100% involvement.
However, breeding a culture of nurture and friendliness, keeping a finger on the pulse of lower tiers, whilst rewarding ALL achievements, i feel is paramount towards that direction.
holy clap!
/ epic post