Creating interesting, varied events is the best way to keep your current members engaged and encourage new members to join your groups. Once you’ve come up with the idea for a great event, follow these best practices for making sure your event is promoted effectively on Meetup.
The Meetup homepage recommends popular events based on location, topics, or the number of times people click on the event. Here are some tips for improving the likelihood of your event being shown to members:
When members search for an event on Meetup, we’ll show them events that match their interests. You can make sure your events are shown to interested members by putting a relevant keyword in your event title and in your event’s description.
Let’s say that you’re hosting a coding event. First, make sure the word “coding” is included in the event title (“Coding by Women, for Women”).
When writing your event description, be concise and specific. Include the word “coding” at least twice in your description. The more you use a searchable keyword, the easier it will be for members to find your event.
All events receive an event announcement and automated event reminders. We recommend scheduling events often so that members will be consistently sent notifications about events within your groups.
If you’re scheduling an in-person event, try to pick a location without any other Meetup events. Scheduling your event at a unique location will help your event be promoted to the widest possible audience.
Meetup Pro offers community-building features for engaging prospects and customers, generating qualified leads, elevating your company’s brand, and cultivating loyalty to that brand. These features can be utilized to develop a sales funnel.
There are typically four main stages in a sales funnel: awareness, interest, desire, and action.
Learn more about these stages in this four-part playbook, including how to build a winning event marketing strategy for your business.
Learn more in our Community Matters blog about Meetup Pro business strategies.
Meetup uses topics to surface your groups and events to the right members.
Your group can have a maximum of 15 topics. Select as many relevant topics as possible. Each topic should accurately describe your group in a word or two. Interested members are more likely to find your group if you use a broad or suggested topic. (For instance, "photography" instead of a specific type of photography.)
Topics can be updated at any time. Review your topics regularly to ensure they accurately reflect your group's activities.
Learn more about editing your group's topics.
When members search for an event on Meetup, we'll show them events that match their interests. You can ensure that your events are shown to interested members by putting a relevant keyword in your event's title and description.
For example, if you're hosting a coding event, make sure the word "coding" is in the event title.
When writing your event description, be concise and specific. Include your relevant keyword at least twice in your description. The more you use a searchable keyword, the easier it will be for members to find your event.
Keep a cadence of events on the calendar—it makes it easier for potential members to join your group and get involved right away.
Even if your group has one clear directive or goal (e.g. yoga), change things up sometimes by scheduling unique events. As a Pro customer, you can create a variety of event templates to help you or your local organizers quickly put together a new member mixer, a happy hour—whatever your community needs! Scheduling a laid-back event for socializing:
Building a solid leadership team for your community is key to your success and growth. If you have multiple groups, select local organizers to help you manage the day-to-day responsibilities for each group in your network.
By collaborating with your leadership team, you'll:
Learn more about growing your community through collaborative leadership.
With a Meetup Pro network, you can lead an unlimited number of groups using a single Meetup account. Expanding your network to new areas is an effective way to drive membership growth in your community.
Check out these tips for deciding where to start your next Meetup group.
Here are some tips for scouting out potential Meetup group locations:
Above: Topics in the Career & Business category
Above: Related topics and locations under the ‘Business Owners’ topic
Above: Largest groups under the ‘Business Owners’ topic
Find your member list under the Members tab
Wherever you choose to grow next, having an amazing local organizer is key. As long as you’re supporting your team, they’ll be successful.
Congratulations on your newly active Meetup Pro account! Here are some tips to get started on the right foot:
Start small. Identify a pilot city (or cities) where you will launch your program. You should choose a city where you have a receptive audience and a local leader on the ground.
Be prepared to hit the ground running. Plan your first couple of events so that you can keep the group active and engaged while you plan for growth. Events have the best chance of succeeding when events are scheduled early and often.
Brand your Meetup network. Writing a strong group description is critical, as is creating a consistent look and feel across your network. Meetup Pro allows you to create an appearance that is true to your organization both on an individual group level and the network level.
Plan for future growth. Identify additional cities and start the search for local leaders.
To start a new Meetup Pro group in your network, log in to Meetup Pro and navigate to the Groups tab from the left navigation bar. At the top right, click ‘···Groups’ and select ‘Start new group’ from the drop-down menu and follow the prompts.
After you write your description, your new group will be reviewed by our community team. Once approved, we will help announce to potential members. Be sure to schedule your first event as soon as possible in order to capitalize on the heightened attention!
What do you want your groups to accomplish? Create goals and be clear and direct with your local organizers. Consider using S.M.A.R.T. goals — goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.
Here are some suggestions:
Use your Meetup Pro Analytics tab to help track some of your goals.
Once your goals are in place, find a way to reward organizers who achieve them. Not sure how your organizers like to be rewarded? Ask them! This will help you design a clear rewards system that your organizers can work towards.
Ideas for rewards:
Create an ongoing support system that your organizers can access after their training is complete.
Tip: Use the Organizer Performance dashboard in your Analytics tab to easily partner your more active local organizers with those that need more support and coaching
You’re expanding your Meetup Pro Network’s reach with some great local leaders, and now it’s time to help them further your mission. The leaders you’ve chosen have unique skills and ideas to bring to their events. Here are steps you can take to help them create consistently great experiences.
Review the Organizer Guide
Your organizers will come with different experiences, within and outside of Meetup. Meetup’s Organizer Guide is full of inspiration and best practices for managing your community.
If you already have some local organizers in place, create a “buddy system” to pair veteran organizers with new leaders. Encourage them to set up weekly times to connect, share resources, and celebrate milestones.
Ensure consistency by creating a document that outlines:
Make it easy for your leaders to stay in touch and share with each other.
Positive feedback is just as essential as constructive feedback. Find ways to celebrate and elevate your top leaders.
Whether you’re a single-person company or a large enterprise, you’ll need local leaders to represent your mission in real life and successfully expand your reach.
Your members already support your mission — ask them to be a part of its growth. If you’re ready to start a group in a city where you don’t know anyone, put out the call.
Use the Members tab in your Pro Console to help identify potential leaders in your existing groups. The advanced filters allow you to find your most active members based on when they last logged in and shows you how many events they’ve attended in the past.
When you have a pool of potential organizers, it can be hard to keep track of them. Use an online form creator like Google Forms or Typeform to collect and analyze their information.
Write a few questions to help you choose who fits the criteria for being a great leader.
Make it easy for you to weed out those ready to lead the group vs. those who could be future members.
Meetup’s Find page is a great resource for finding active communities in other cities. Use it to find active groups that already align with your mission, business, or goals. Look for ones with strong organizers near the places you want to reach.
Note how those groups are run:
If you think another organizer and group fits your criteria, politely message them on the site and ask if they’d be interested in becoming part of your Meetup Pro network in their city.
Learn more about using the Find page in our Help Center.
Put out the call on your social media pages. Craft your top 2–3 requirements for potential leaders. Think about logistics such as:
Share what you’re looking for in a post on your Facebook page, Twitter timeline, Instagram feed, etc.
Want to learn more in person. Join the orgaizer network and see if there is a real life Meetup happening around you. There be people who have done this before, ready to help and you can be part of something special.
Join the org network