When most guests are asked how they heard about our Toastmasters club, the most common response is Meetup. Meetup is by far our biggest lead for new members.
Why is it effective?
Meetup is one of the largest platforms on the web to find groups and local communities. When a person looks for a new club to join, Meetup consistently arrives as one of the top search results.
Meetup’s biggest caveat is that is has a yearly fee to have your club listed. This con is its biggest pro. On Facebook and Instagram your club is never gonna be organically shown to others. The algorithm will show your group if it has engagement at least in the hundreds, which is hard for a club with 20-30 members. On Meetup, only people willing to pay will be shown, so your club is more likely to be seen.
Making a captivating event
The first thing most people will search for on Meetup is events, so we need to make sure we pop out!
Create a new Group for your club and create a reoccurring event with a catchy title such as “Unleash Your Inner Speaker – In Person”. Note how I added “In Person”. Now we have a title with an emphasis of how the meeting is attended. Its engaging and will attract anyone who is interested.
Our event should have a description that sells why people should come to the event. Explain what Toastmasters is and how it can help new members grow.
For the event photo, a genuine amazing photo of someone speaking works best. Using stock photos may look good but it will not come off as genuine. A stock photo can be used if you are unable to get a good photo.
How to gain more views
If you want to be seen more on Meetup, you will need need more engagement. By gaining engagement, my club rose higher on the ranks and now almost always is shown on the first page of search results in my valley.
The easiest way to gain this engagement is by RSVP your members to the events. First we need to ask everyone to join meetup and RSVP the first event. Ideally it would be best if everyone RSVP’d every time but this ends up being a hassle and less people RSVP as time goes on.
Thankfully Meetup has a feature where you can RSVP members for them. Go to any event, and you will be able to click manage on the Attendees. Make sure to RSVP anyone with a role for the next club meeting. If you have officers on the board, you can RSVP them for the meeting as well.
By having more RSVPs, your event be shown to potential new guests sooner. And when a stranger views your event, they’ll know your club is active from all the RSVPs you have.
Leave a Reply