Optimizing Your Meetup Page
There are two universal questions people ask themselves when deciding whether to join your meetup. The first is “ARE they Like me?” The second question is “WILL they like me?”
So when someone is looking at a Meetup page, their choice to attend an event will be influenced by whether what they see about your group seems as if it will fit them.
Whether they continue to attend will depend a lot on how they are received when they come to your group.
The first opportunity we have to make an impression and demonstrate what the group members are like starts with your Meetup page.
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Your About Page is where you have the first opportunity to introduce your purpose or goal. This is where you put your mission statement and where you should be very clear about what you are about. It may not just be enough to say “we are a group about WordPress.” If however, you say “we are WordPress users who teach and learn from each other, who enjoy sharing knowledge, and who are passionate about encouraging others into WordPress and Open Source’” you are introducing both the mission to advance WordPress and the inclusive nature of the event.
If you are interested in a template for that page that you can edit and adjust for your own group, you can find that here.
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In addition to the main about section on Meetup, you have tools available to create custom pages that provide more detailed information about your group. This is also where you are able to create a page for your code of conduct that gives people clear information about what you expect of group members and the kind of environment WordPress Meetups are expected to provide.
The second area you have available to make great impressions is your member profile pages. On Meetup, you have an opportunity to ask people questions about themselves. While we often use those questions as organizers to help inform us as to what people want from the Meetup, they are also valuable for people to obtain more information about the kind of people they will meet when they come to your event.
In wanting to stay as inclusive as possible, these are not a requirement for people joining the group, but for those who do answer (and we have found that most do), they give a great window to outsiders looking to come in. Here are some good questions. (Choose one or two)
What would you like to learn about WordPress?
How are you already using WordPress?
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Have a photo gallery that helps showcase your events. Use your top level Meetup gallery to showcase good quality, clear, and informative welcoming photos of your group (not grainy low quality phone photos).
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Finally, the welcome email is a great way of introducing your group to new members when they have taken the plunge and actually joined but have not yet attended an event. It is an excellent opportunity to introduce yourselves a bit more personally to new members.
Here is a template you can use to craft your own welcome email.
