In my last post, I discussed three reasons that motivate members to post documents into a resource library. These reasons will increase the number of contributions, but there’s a faster, more reliable way to increase the number of items in your resource library.
Be a content curator in your own community. Here’s how:
Five steps to curating content in your private community
- Every day, look for conversations where members mention documents or tools that they use
- When you find one, contact the member and request a copy, letting them know that you’d like to add it to the resource library
- Upload the document yourself, give it a snazzy description (including a link to the discussion that elicited the resource), and attribute the resource to the member that submitted it (better yet, submit the resource while logged in using their profile, if possible)
- Link from the discussion post to the new resource you just uploaded
- Feature and link to the most downloaded, highest rated, or best resources in association publications, giving credit to the member who provided the resource
This approach to growing your resource library can have a beneficial side effect, too. As members see that others are gaining attention for their resources, they understand a reason (remember the last post) to submit resources and you increase the likelihood that they’ll submit resources all on their own. You’ve also demonstrated an effective way to add resources (with links to relevant discussions, a snazzy description, attribution, etc.) and members will be more likely to model that behavior themselves.
Like many aspects of private community management, work happens behind the scenes to cultivate and sustain a useful resource library.