Well, here are the top 5 methods to get users to return to your website that will ultimately lead to increased engagement:

1) Create a question of the week. Whether your social network revolves around baseball players, musicians, writers, or activists, there is always something to talk about. Users love sharing their opinions and being heard. Sometimes, they just need a little inspiration to spark their creative juices. Posing a question to be answered will surely generate a lot of talk within your social network.

2) Have a rewards system. Many theories of engagement revolve around game theory. Why is it that video games are so engaging aside from the immersive experience? It’s because users are constantly working toward something and they are handsomely rewarded along the way as well as at the end. Therefore, your social network should have a short term and long term reward system.

Examples of Short Term rewards systems:

• Fill out this survey and get 10% off your next order
• Buy this featured book and receive a 25$ off coupon
• Fill out your profile and receive 25 points

Examples of Long Term rewards systems:

• Create a list of rewards that can be obtained once a user has gathered a certain amount of points (ie. 100 points get a pen, 200 points get a T-Shirt, etc.)
• Statuses / Class systems. If your social network has a discussion forum, let users who are active obtain levels of badges depending on how active they are (ie. trainee, patrolman, captain, seargent, etc.). This will give them bragging rights as well as credibility within your community.

3) Create a community leader. This leader is not an admin. This is an avid user who truly wants to help the community out. This user could be part of the admin team but they actively participate in the forums, the first to comment on user generated content, comments on user’s profiles, and sends personal messages to users within your community. If a user hasn’t revisited the community in a while, this community leader could send a message saying something to the effect of: “Hey! I read your comment about the movie, Toy Story. It isn’t just a movie for kids, but definitely for adults as well. How many times have you seen the movie?”

These tactics should definitely help you boost the return visitors to your website. If you’ve employed any of these strategies, please comment about them. I would love to hear individual accounts of success (or not).

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