How do I politely bug volunteers?

April 17, 2015 7:58 AM

I run a website. I try to get other people involved in writing, and many start out excited to participate, but that interest drops off. I'm not sure how to "nicely bug" people to encourage that community participation. Help?

I run a website that is mostly my passion about a topic. But I want to get more guest bloggers. I get a lot of people who either volunteer to write, or who I ask to write and start out excited, but then they don't come through.

I've been on the other side, and I know there is an art to getting people to follow through. I don't has it, but am hoping it's something I can learn. These are all unpaid (I don't get paid) but most people who've agreed to write are fans of the site and seem stoked when asked. But then fail to follow through.

One problem I face is that I don't want to bug people and be overbearing, so I tend to go the other direction. A mistake I'm learning from is that I say "no, no deadline, whenever you have time is fine." Then months pass and I ask if they're still interested. They are! But the cycle starts again.

I've started to ask people get things done within a time frame, but try and make it generous, and but I haven't been good at following up. I feel really weird about it. I suspect I should be more assertive, but I don't know how to balance the difference of coming off demanding and just a gentle reminder.

A specific example, one of the people I asked to write was really excited about it and said he'd get it to me asap about six weeks ago. Just recently, he emailed me complimenting me on a different article I wrote. I feel like this would be a good opportunity to remind him that he was going to write an article. But I also feel if I do, he might be afraid to check in for other things. If that makes sense?

Part of this plays into the fact that I feel guilty for asking people to help out without pay. If the site made money, I would pay the authors, but right now it doesn't. Maybe that's what I'm struggling with? But I know many sites that are similar have lots of community help; it appears to be due to their ability to mobilize and encourage their community to take action.

posted by [insert clever name here] to Human Relations (13 answers total)

I think one thing that can help is to manage expectations from the get-go. You're worried here, for one reason, because sending a reminder e-mail feels like you're bugging them, like you're being intrusive when you shouldn't be. So, how about, when someone first agrees to write something, you send a response like: "Great! I really look forward to reading it. Let me know when you've finished it, or in a couple weeks I'll check in to see how it's going." I'm not sure if that's the best wording, but the idea is to establish, at the beginning, that they should expect you to get in touch with them about it again. That way, when you write to them about it later on, it's not an unexpected "intrusion" but an expected part of the process.
posted by meese at 8:09 AM on April 17, 2015

There just isn't a lot of priority to unpaid work, right?

However, in the absence of being paid, people respond to a promise they have made and a deadline they have agreed to. It becomes a social obligation rather than some vague, "I'd love to write an article....." with no follow-through.

So your solution is to have a monthly schedule. If someone agrees to write an article, you put it on some calendar you share with everyone, and they know that is their deadline.
posted by RedEmma at 8:13 AM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

P.S.

The ostensible reason for the schedule is to "keep the website fresh" and stimulate readership and interest.
posted by RedEmma at 8:14 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

An editorial calendar is your friend. If you ask people to write whenever they have time, they'll do just that. However, if you give a detailed schedule of where their article/blog post/whatever fits in with the editorial plans of the month/quarter and what else will be surrounding it and is reliant upon that material being available, the stakes suddenly feel real, and you'll get better results.

You also have to have something in it for the writers beyond "exposure." See what their plans are. Instead of a one-off article, could they have a regular blog that you will use the site and other social venues to market to potential other writing gigs, etc.? Is there an opportunity to network that wouldn't be available if they didn't write?

Every site wants free content. You have to find a reason why your site is worthy of attention by authors.
posted by xingcat at 8:22 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

What RedEmma says. If there is no specific not too far in the future timeframe for completion of a task human nature means that it goes right down to the bottom of the to do list. Then life happens and priorities change and before you know it weeks and months have passed. So give them a reasonable deadline and follow up as required. There is a reason why they say to give a task that needs to be done quickly to a busy person...they'll just get it done so they know it's done and can stop worrying about it.
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:22 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Agree with RedEmma. Also you could say the schedule means contributors don't duplicate topics.
Could you promote a community feel by getting the volunteers to chat in some way? E.g. Private Facebook group or Slack channel etc
posted by KateViolet at 8:24 AM on April 17, 2015

Maybe instead of having people write for free, you could find a way to make the postings more cooperative--like having one person interview another, or do a Q & A with readers or a video tour that's relevant. Or reward your writers with something--a free book from a publisher or a discount coupon from a supplier.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:34 AM on April 17, 2015

Sometimes it's hard to do something we're particularly excited about because it seems overwhelming. Maybe ask them for smaller steps of progress than "the finished article". How about asking them for:

1) A list of ideas or topics they might write about; you, as editor, can pick the topic you think is the best fit, or you can decide together, or they can decide;

1a) Focus the idea on the audience you and the writer want to reach. If your web site has a clear audience, or if you want to appeal to a specific underserved audience, having that clear in a writer's mind can improve the eventual text;

2) E-mail back and forth about approaches to their topic. Interview? Book review? Pros/Cons? Objective-ish description? Advocacy? Overview? Expanding on a single detail?

3) Ask the author for a rough outline by a specific date. "Rough" decreases the pressure on the author to get it perfect. Tell the author it's fine if it only has 2-4 items, but a more detailed outline is fine;

4) You approve the outline, or ask questions. Interaction with you will help keep the author motivated. Make sure all exchanges are positive. If the outline makes no sense, _call_ the author (if possible) and make clear why you like that person and want him/her to write for you, and explain the awesome knowledge you hoped to have him/her share which you're not seeing in the outline.

5) Ask for a _rough draft_ by a certain date. Tell the author it can be whatever level of quality they want to give. Have an editor lined up (you, probably) and make sure expectations are clear about whether you can make extensive corrections, spelling corrections, reorganizations, title changes, or no changes at all. Even if you plan to _never edit_, use the phrase "rough draft" so that this stays a _fun_ project for your writers rather than a prospective humiliation.

If the rough draft is late, ask if they need a week's extension. If they need more, fine. Whatever the second date is, if they don't make it, maybe let them be and move on.
posted by amtho at 8:36 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

One thing that motivates volunteers is freebies, swag. This could be a physical object (e.g., a sticker) or an online thing. For example, you could put something like service stripes next to the names of contributors (black star for every article, red star for every five articles, etc). eBay does something like this based on your reputation.

The network of Stackexchange sites has "gamified" their process—you get points for popular questions, popular answers, and just sticking around for a year (and lots of other things). They also give out physical swag, like T-shirts, to especially helpful members. I get the impression that these measures do boost participation.

Pertinent to your particular situation, perhaps ask the writer to give you a submission date upfront, and after that passes and you've bugged them once or twice, ask them "should I take you off my 'bug people' list?" That won't necessarily get them to write, but it will reduce your workload.
posted by adamrice at 8:40 AM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

First, I would question a bit of the premise. Are these people excited about being asked to write? Yes! Are they excited about the idea of writing? Yes! Are they excited about actually writing? Doesn't appear that most are.

You're assuming that just because people said they were interested in writing that they actually are interested enough to complete the hard task of actually writing something. But there is a big jump there.

You might be able to cajole and arm twist and get some articles out of some people, but unless you love that kind of people work, it's going to be a painful experience for everyone. Perhaps your best course of action is to find ways to get people excited enough to get over the hump, look for more motivated writers, or rethink the structure of the project to garner more motivation and excitement.
posted by the jam at 8:48 AM on April 17, 2015

You are having a totally normal experience for someone who runs a blog/website and needs regular fresh content. Ask someone who runs an official organizational blog for a company or non-profit - they spend many hours a week begging/pleading/cajoling/ordering their colleagues to work on blog posts. I don't know why it's so hard, but it is.

Some ideas:
1. Seek out people who are already publishing content on the web related to your topic, on their own sites, and ask if they can "guest blog" by cross-posting something they have written recently. (Already written, already published, just syndicating it = no new work for them, but new traffic!) These same people are probably also the most likely to write new content for you. If you are asking people who have no demonstrated history of regularly writing and publishing web content, that's part of why you are having trouble - writing blog posts is not something they are used to doing or comfortable with. Likewise, invite people who have been speaking at public events and actively tweeting - people for whom having a public profile is clearly a goal.

2. Share info about your site's reach and traffic, in your initial outreach and reminders. "We got XX,XXX visits this week from XX countries!" "Our last blog post garnered the author lots of attention on Twitter - over XX retweets by our count."

3. Get connected to the community of writers on your topic by regularly linking to posts by other authors on other sites. If they see that you get them traffic, they will be more likely to write for you.

4. Offer to write for THEIR site as a guest blogger sometime. Once you do it, they'll owe you. ;)

5. Structure it as an email "interview" rather than a post they have to write from scratch. Send them 4-6 questions and ask for a paragraph-ish answer to each. Then you edit and send back for their approval before publishing.
posted by amaire at 10:02 AM on April 17, 2015

Yeah, this is tricky. I've been on both sides too, and would echo everything above, with one additional note: ask permission to harass.

Most volunteers, in my experience, want to help -- or at least that's the premise I'd recommend you operate on (if not, like the jam says, make sure that's the case). The issue is they just have a problem prioritizing the work. Which is why deadlines are important, and why most don't mind a little stick along with the carrot.

So I might literally say, in the beginning when you're establishing the deadline, in a nice, humorous way, Do you mind if I harass you about this? Or would it be helpful if I poke you gently every once and awhile? Then send little notes -- "hey, just poking you!" And ask them when they think they might be able to have it in.
posted by vecchio at 12:12 PM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

I wrote for a music blog for years, and recruited a few other people to write. I'm also a terrible procrastinator when it comes to writing and would regularly take 3-10x as long as promised to produce anything. While encouraging volunteers to write drafts sounds like an okay idea in theory, it would have caused me to to say, "Nah, nope, too stressful" and would probably never have submitted a thing. Others would probably have the same response.

Introducing a deadline and managing your volunteers expectations at the get-go is a great idea. Checking in with people is a-okay: that's what volunteer management is about. Sometimes just a reminder is useful. Other times, asking if they need any assistance can help.

Also, I would manage your own expectations: people are busy, this isn't a paying job, and writing can be super stressful when it's for a friend/about an important topic. I would play the numbers game and recruit more people to write articles with the assumption that maybe 25% tops will actually produce anything, even if they seem super keen to start.
posted by Paper rabies at 12:42 PM on April 17, 2015