Online Support Groups

Lesson 3: Getting Members To Join Your Group

In this Lesson, we will look at the different ways that prospective members can be alerted to the group's presence on the Internet. This can be considered a simplified marketing overview. We will discuss sending personal invitations, search engines, newspapers, group associations, and how your members can help spread the word.

Is Anybody Out There?

One of the first things you can do to attract new members is to look for them. You may have friends or family members that would be interested in joining your group. If this is the case, send them a personal email letting them know that you have created the group, where it is located at, and why you think they might be interested.

If you are a regular poster on a message board, or newsgroup, you can ask the moderator if you can add a link to your group as a part of your signature, and if they would mind if you could announce your group on the board or to the newsgroup. If you are a regular poster, most moderators will not mind your doing this, but it is always best to ask first. If you are not a regular poster, do not post about your group. This can be considered spam and can get you into trouble and also give your new group a bad name.

If the place where you create your group also has profiles online, you can try searching through them for individuals that mention your group's topic. If you search through Yahoo's member profiles, you can see if they have a posted email address or if they use Yahoo! Messenger. Be careful how you word any correspondence with unknown individuals. Let them know that you are contacting them because of their profile and you thought that they might be interested in your group.

Do not send out a generic message to several individuals at once. This is considered spam, and those receiving the message will probably not read it, let alone join your group. Whatever you send out, keep it as simple and short as possible. An example of a possible letter to send to an unknown individual:

Dear ________,

I saw your profile on ______ and realized that we have something in common. I have created a group at _______ about _________, and thought that you might be interested in joining me there for mutual support, understanding and maybe even friendship.

If you have any questions for me about the group or about myself, please don't hesitate to ask me. You can learn more about the group, or join it at ___________.

Best Wishes,
Your Name

As you can see this is very short, and is also right to the point of why you are contacting them. You should address the subject of the message similar to I saw you on _______, or I just wanted to tell you about this.

Do not expect a sudden rush of new members. It will take time to get the word out about your new group, but this is a good way to start. Be careful about who you contact. Their profile may seem harmless, but they may not be.

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