Current status of the Ning Platform is always available on the Ning Status Blog.

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me with advice on how to get members more engaged with my network...

 

AND

 

I am just a baby network right now, but in less than 24 hours I had 4 new sign ups and they weren't people that I asked to join. It was word of mouth.  Not only that but most of the members that joined immediately were engaged with the network, and I am so much more confident in the potential growth of this site.

 

One of the main problems I had in the beginning was the fact I didn't want to go overboard with adding too many graphics or colors. So instead, I went to the other extreme and made it look more bland than facebook in some ways. I had the content, but I was missing the pizazz needed for my kind of network.

 

Since my network is for artists, I realized that artists aren't attracted to bland looking things. Even I hated the look of my own network but thought it would be better to go with simple. My look and feel is still pretty simple but I added a new logo that pretty much defines everything I was hoping the network to be. I then changed up my colors to compliment the logo, and presto! I think my site looks a lot more appealing to artists and even I feel like I want to log in everyday. Pretty much as soon as I changed up my look, and posted the new logo I had 3 new sign ups without even asking anyone to join.

 

Here are my before and after photos for my logos: can you guess which one is which?

Ok, so another thing I did was well I have many artists friends on facebook, and I of course read my friends updates often, and when I see someone post something that is relevant to a discussion happening on my network I message them about it.  For example: One of my friends posted an update on facebook asking if anyone new of any art shows around down. So I messaged him and copied and pasted a discussion about planning an art show at a local venue that was happening within my network, and in turn he messaged me back and told me he would check it out. A few days later he joined, bringing with him a couple of other friends. Cool, yeah?

 

Something else I've been doing is when someone signs up I read their "about me" information in their profile.  After I welcome them to the site I mention something going on, discussion, blog, conversation or a piece of art they might be interested in relevant to what I read about them.  Or perhaps if I know they have a group in facebook, I invite them to create a group in my network as well and to invite new people to get involved in what they're already doing.

 

Also, if I read something in their profile that seems intriguing or interesting/unique and they haven't posted anything about it really, I ask them about it and ask if they can upload a photo/video and share it with everyone.

 

These are just a few tidbits that I've been doing and it seems to be helping a lot- some of them were ideas from the Creators Network and some of them I thought of myself.. but the ones i thought of myself  I think were born out of what others told me.

 

So, Thank you all!

 

-Therese

 

 

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Ning Creators Social Network to add comments!

Join Ning Creators Social Network

Comments

  • That's my motto: Simplicity is genius.  After a while, all the bells and whistles you can add to your site become quickly annoying.  Welcome to Ning Creators, I wish you and your site well.
  • Kudos to you!! Send me the link to the site to check it out?
  • Congrats Therese on Your New Direction of Your Site's Design. My network is starting to grow, in which I have a approval only set on mine to make sure spammers and scammers dont try to come on the site. Plus starting with a more concentrated number to get them more active will help in turn with growth. Would you mind exchanging networks?
This reply was deleted.

Meanwhile, you can check our social media channels