What Hosting A House Party Can Teach You About Building Community: Online and Offline
I love hosting events and I’ve always had a bit of a knack and love for bringing people together — both online and offline. I wanted to try to decode this as it applies to online community, and I’ve realized: having a party online isn’t very different from having a party offline.
Online communities are distilled digital versions of the interactions we’re all used to in everyday social life. Parties, meet-ups, one-on-ones, concerts, communication, etc…
Here’s a great analog I’ve found helpful when it comes to explaining how to build an authentic online community. In short, treat your community just like you would a social gathering in real life. Here are some tips straight out of WikiHow’s guide to hosting a good party, and how I believe it related to building a sustainable online community. Thanks to WikiHow for inspiration on the analog.
1. Greet each guest individually as they arrive.
Welcome people. Do something outstanding and special to make them feel at home.
At Overnight we text, call and message everyone who signs up as a host or makes a request to book. We know it isn’t going to be scalable forever, but I’m obsessed with scaling quality human touch and making an excellent experience for everyone who joins us. Like being at the door when someone shows up at your party, it’s important to say hello and make each individual feel welcomed.
The analog:
Set the tone of the party with a warm greeting when people arrive. Offer to take coats or jackets and direct them to the right room. It is usually best to let any guests who haven’t been over before where they can get a drink or some food, and point out the guest bathroom.
2. Spend some time with each guest
Get to know your community.
Community takes time and nurturing to build — it’s cultivated. It doesn’t just happen overnight (see what I did there?), it’s a collection of human connections that you build up as delicately as any relationship you have in life. It’s a critical thing. Do unscalable things until your community happily takes this over.
Like any good party host, you should spend some time with each guest and make them feel special, important and unique. We feature awesome members of our community (like Elli) and hosts on our blog regularly. Love your community and they’ll love you back and your community will grow.
Take time to make sure there is something for everyone — exactly how you would throw a great party. Don’t just invite people over, plunk down a bottle of champagne, and expect the party to start itself.
If your thinking is: “If you build it, they will come” you’re already wrong.
Offer introductions, help, music, activities, and the fun will follow. We call hosts and help them make their listings awesome, mostly Andres does this. We invite members of our community to visit our HQ when they’re in town. We do un-obvious things: Joey is building music playlists, a book club, food guides, and engaging content to appeal to everyone.
We also take things offline with our community. When we talk to an outstanding host, we make sure we write a card, and we mail it. This is an awesome process that I know Ryan Hoover and the Product Hunt team does.
“Mail swag! Why? Because it’s delightful. Product Hunt sent out thousands of stickers via snail mail. It’s break in the status quo and makes users feel like a part of the family. There’s no definitive ROI other than positive vibes. But, there’s no doubt, happy customers build strong business value.” — Ryan Hoover
We send Overnight overnight bags, hand-written notes, and Fruit by the Foot because it’s what fueled us while we were building Overnight and we want to share that with our community.
The analog:
Make an effort, once things calm down and the party is in full swing, to talk with each guest. You’ll do a lot of drifting to make sure everyone is engaged and happy, but your guests will be happy that you took the time to see them. This doesn’t have to be a systematic movement through the crowd. Just try to have one good, memorable moment with each guest before the night is over.
3. Keep your guests engaged by checking in periodically
Ask for feedback and pay attention.
Pick up a phone and talk to your customers.
Ask for feedback. Talk to your customers. These days there’s nothing more surprising than a startup that cares what their customers think — be outstanding and pick up a phone. Call and speak with those people who make up your community. Even meet them in person and take it offline.
The analog:
Mix up the conversation groups by introducing people to one another and sliding from one group to another. Find ways to engage shyer guests, or those on the fringes looking at their phones, through conversation and activities.
This goes for every participant in your community, from the new-comers to the fleeing members. See someone who’s really enjoying your presence? Get them involved — have them become ambassadors, make them feel valued. Having members feel like contributors instead of spectators is key to growing your community.
4. Adapt to the party as it evolves.
Read the room and iterate to keep the party going.
Iterate accordingly and involve your community in this process. Make your product grow along with the community. Facilitate their needs and build something they will continue to love — also, involve them in your process. Just like asking a guest what music they would love to hear next.
Examples:
- Snapchat was once exclusively disappearing photos.
- Facebook was once exclusively for colleges.
- Instagram was Burbn.
- Ebay was once for Pez dispensers.
- Twitter was on SMS.
- Airbnb was for air beds.
The most innovative companies started as one thing, adapted, and evolved into another. If 30% of people at your house party are starving and craving pizza — order pizza! Who cares if your main product isn’t pizza. That 30% will make the party better because they’re happy, and they’ll rave about how awesome the party is and eventually surpass the 70%.
As long as the party’s still going, you’ll have time to adjust — make sure people aren’t starved.
The product you build today will not be the product that exists in a year, or two years.
The analog:
Everyone may love dancing, loud music, and drinking in the first half of the evening. After dinner, you’ll likely notice more people sitting and talking in intimate conversations, or moving away from the dance floor. Feel free to adapt accordingly, putting on calmer music and moving the chairs closer together. Put on a pot of coffee or tea after dessert to entice people to relax. You could also go the opposite direction, too, keeping things calm and conversational until people get a little tipsy, then upping the music to get people out on the dance floor for the second, raging half of the party.
The best parties happen when everyone is contributing to the party in their own unique ways.
Hopefully things get out of control if you do it right. :)
TL;DR:
- Be welcoming, communicate with your users in an outstanding and personal way.
- Get to know the members of your community. It’s important.
- Continuously engage with your members authentically. Don’t forget — they keep the party going.
- Iterate and make sure everyone’s having a good time. Read the room and have fun.
