Tips for chat topics

Learn three simple ways to come up with topics, and see how other group admins use community chats.

You’re ready to start a community chat. Amazing! But while we do provide a list of pre-suggested topics to inspire your first one—like “Memes & more” and “Sports talk”—you might want to pick your own, and you just don’t know where to begin.

Don’t fear, we’re here to help! With a few tips and some real-life examples, we’ll have you coming up with your own chat topics in no time. Keep in mind that social channels have a member cap of 1,000, so depending on the popularity of the topic, you may want to consider creating multiple channels of the same topic.

“You start slow and then you build up as you get the feel for it and get into the rhythm of how the chats work...”

Max T.

MediaVerse: Comics Unwrapped

3 Tips for Top-Notch Topics

One of the easiest ways to come up with topics is to use your most valuable resource—your members! In addition to polling your members or posting a question on your group’s page (such as, “What topics would you all be interested in discussing on a deeper level in a Community Chat?”), your members can actually suggest Community Chats directly to you. Take some time to look through them—chances are, you’re sitting on a goldmine that can help bring your community closer together.

SHOWING HOW MEMBERS CAN SUBMIT COMMUNITY CHATS TO ADMIN

You know those group feed posts that pop off and have 100 comments in an hour? It’s proof that the topic really resonated with your members, and it could also mean an opportunity to extend the conversation to a Community Chat. Another great source of inspiration? The trending posts in your group!

One of the tried-and-true ways to get members talking is by folding in cultural events, holidays, and celebrations that they care about. If there’s one that relates to your group, consider starting a community chat to have a meaningful, deep-dive discussion about it, or even plan an event to celebrate together. This provides a second outlet for your members who already pay homage to these important moments, or a first for those who want to, but for one reason or another, haven’t yet.

We know it can be hard to get going, so we’ve curated some topic inspiration from fellow group admins. Take a read through to see how they use Community Chats!

Learn how they use Community Chats!

"We typically center the chats to coincide with our spoiler posts. So if there’s something new coming out, we’ll release a post with a link to the chat and say “Oh, if you guys want to discuss this in real-time, please join our chat." - Max T., MediaVerse: Comics Unwrapped

"If someone’s talking about nursing or breastfeeding or pumping, and I know that our lactation consultant is able to answer the question—if I see that she’s not in the chat, I’m able to invite her so she can pour into that mom.” - Martine S., McDonough Moms

"We have Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Wing or Wine or Wellness Wednesdays, Thirsty Thursdays, Fish Fry Fridays, Sheet Pan Saturdays, and Soulful Sundays. Each day we just talk about those topics and post our pictures, ask about recipes, and things like that.” - Davicia H., Black Girls Culinary

"A lot of times we’ll have members who will post something and be like “Hey, I’m standing in the store, what do you guys think of this pair of sneakers?” or “I have an offer on these, do you think it’s too high? Too low?” The chat is valuable in that you can get quick answers.” - Justin B., SneakerHeads

"Especially the day before events, the day of events, it’s a really fast way to communicate between everybody. “Hey, are you going?” “Hey, can I grab a ride?” “What time are you gonna be there?”" - Katrina P., Witches of West Michigan

"We only have three chats. One is perform at The Soapstone, one is become a producer, and then one is become a host. So if somebody wants to be a host and host their own show in The Soapstone, that chat is the window for them to engage, connect up with other hosts and then find their opportunity.” - Aaron S., Team Soapstone

"A lot of people, they love the chat—it really did bring a lot to the community and brought a lot to the weight loss challenge.” - Alex L., We Are Transman Bodybuilders