Community of the Week: Revel

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I first heard of the Revel Community through a recent episode of the Community Signal podcast. Having recently had a milestone birthday, I was personally intrigued by this women’s group and the particular demographic it serves (ages 40+). I joined right away! Naturally, whenever I join something, I’m curious about what I can pick up on regarding their community strategy. Here’s my quick review and observations of Revel:

What I love:

  • The onboarding process. The very first email I received, after signing up, was an ideal welcome email. It reiterated the purpose of the group, directed me on where to get started, and linked to the Events page. It’s clear that the community team has thought through the specific behaviors that they want new members to engage in, and they are emphasizing those behaviors.

  • The continued emphasis on Events and Groups. In further communications from Revel, I am reminded of the online groups to check out, and I’m encouraged to choose a virtual or local event to attend. It seems to me that the best value from Revel comes from using the online community to meet people offline, so that’s the actions that are being reinforced over and over again. I appreciate this consistency, as it shows the importance of taking specific actions in order to get the experience one might be seeking from this group. The home page speaks to this as well by listing all Events in the main feed and including a counter. Mine says “61 new events posted this week.” You know what goes through my mind when I see a number like that? “61?! Wow, this is a super active group and I hope I haven’t missed anything!” The FOMO is real y’all.

  • Meet Revelers in your area. The home page also has this section which is showing me avatars and brief profile info on other members in my area. This is an important personalization touch, and again, it’s a bit of a FOMO approach that works for me. It’s almost like saying, “Look at all these great people near you! What are you waiting for? Come meet them!”

  • The opportunity to become a Host. I love that this is something available to everyone from the moment they sign up. This allows members to get creative and create their own event, meaning that a member can share an experience she loves or invite people to join her in a new experience.

My wish list:

  • Enhance the Groups Page. By default, I’m in the Revelers Worldwide group. Looks like I need to take action to join any other groups. Before I join a group, it would be helpful to see some stats about them, such as the number of members, number of conversations, and the date of the latest conversation/post.

  • Some sort of incentive or reward for time spent on Revel. What is something that Revel could offer me that would encourage me to spend more time on the community or incentivize me to sign up for an event? Maybe there are certain levels or distinctions for members who are more active? I see there’s an option for this for people to become Super Hosts, but how are they catering to the part of the membership that might not want to host?

  • Highlight popular discussions. For times when I need to pop in quickly to the community, I’d love to see a list of the most popular conversations happening so that I don’t have to take the time to go look for them myself.

What do YOU think of the Revel Community?

Random Question

Do you think it’s possible to plan and build a community in 30 days? (Considering that the launch would occur immediately after the 30-day period.)

Why or why not? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.

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