Interested To Create an Engaging Online Discussion? Here Are a Few Tips

You want to get a discussion started on an online forum, internal or external, but are unsure how to go about it. Will readers find it relevant? Will they respond and participate? Will it improve your presence online?

Here are tips to make your discussion fruitful and engrossing.

Have a plan: Identify the community you want to engage with. Learn about their preferences and interests. Know also what you want from the discussion.  Do you expect to gather opinions, improve collaboration, raise awareness, change mindsets, gain insights or understand the pulse of your readers? Think deeply about your intentions and what you want to achieve from your discussion.  Is the discussion one among many you intend having? Is there a common thread you plan to integrate in all your discussions?

Frame it right: Very often discussions flounder when your readers aren’t sure of the context or your interest. Remember they have limited time and will look for ways to engage right from the start. Put things in perspective by directly addressing the issue on hand. You want to garner attention from men about a women’s safety campaign your organization is running? Then, talk about what it feels to be fearful as a man. Highlight pertinent research on the state of safety in the country or region. Point your readers to some recent incident that caught your attention.

Storytelling works best:  From my experience sharing scenarios, episodes and incidents that highlight your point draw a lot of attention. It makes people relate better, reflect on the topic and bring their personal perspectives to the fore.

Keep it short: Every discussion must have one theme and focus on one outcome that you want to get from readers. Continuing with the ‘safety ‘topic – it will help to know if you want to gain consensus among your readers,  raise their alertness to issues around us or  revitalize the community in taking action.

Grab their attention: The headline of your discussion is very crucial in getting your readers to open your mailer or link which leads to your discussion topic. For example, if you are discussing women’s safety, you may want to write ‘This tip saved my life. Can it help you?’ or ‘Staying silent is as good as supporting violence’. The former fuels curiosity on the topic the latter attempts to disrupt the schema.

Test your discussion: Before you publish ‘live’ it helps to get feedback on how the discussion topic will be received. Send your draft to a few people and probe the impact and value they perceive.  There is a possibility that some words used in your discussion can be misunderstood or misrepresented. Make suitable tweaks before you go ahead.

Promote your discussion: Unless readers know you have a discussion posted online they may not be able participate. It also depends on how your intranet or social community is organized. Some sites allow streams of content to show up when they are published or allow alerts to be sent to subscribers.  Others platforms may generate a URL to be shared via e-mail. That leaves a lot to chance. To have a meaningful discussion you need to get your post in front of your readers.  Add your discussion link in your e-mail signature. Enlist the support of some readers to share their comments before you launch the discussion. Repost the link to other related communities to expand reach.

Have other suggestions? Look forward to your thoughts.