Online Communities Handbook: Building Your Business and Brand on the Web

Recruiting More Members

In general, the bigger and better known your website is, the easier it is to attract members through passive recruitment. Once you have achieved a certain level of success, you can adapt your recruitment strategy accordingly. You may be able to stop spending money on recruitment altogether and rely solely on viral methods, press relations, member-to-member referrals, and search engine traffic. All of these tactics become exponentially more effective in proportion to the size of your community. Or you can focus your recruitment efforts on expanding the scope of your community to reach new target groups according to your company’s sales and marketing needs.