Best practices for discussion titles

VirginiaButler
VirginiaButler Vanilla Sprout
in Talk Community #1

Do you have any "how to" information that you provide to your users for how to make an engaging discussion title?

Comments

  • Adrian
    Adrian HLV Staff Alumni
    #2

    I always loved this Tidbit our founder Todd gave early on on titles:

    Try and phrase the title of your question as a complete question.

    Just reading the title of your question should give people a good idea of what your problem is. There should be little need to read the description except for specifics and clarification. If you phrase your question well, people with expertise will be more likely to click through and answer.

    You can add this as a message on the discussion creation page - or something similar. The idea is you want to impart with your community that a good title/question will lead to a better chance of people clicking in and giving you an answer.

  • Kara
    Kara Vanilla Ice Cream
    #3

    Hi @VirginiaButler! I haven't communicated any specific tips, but that's not a bad idea. I do post a #TuesdayTip every other Tuesday with helpful things like "how to bookmark a discussion thread", or updates on anything new we've introduced. Maybe that will be my next #TuesdayTip!

    I think I'd suggest "short and specific...and funny doesn't hurt!" and then provide an example. Example: Posting a discussion titled "Scholarships" is too broad, so something like "Recruiting Diverse Scholarship Applicants" would be an improvement and attract people who have experience in that area to the discussion. You could also suggest wording the discussion title as a question. "How are you recruiting diverse scholarship applicants?" or "Do you have examples of recruitment tools targeting diverse applicants?"

    I saw a post once that sounded more like a conference session title: "We Want You!: Recruiting Diversity while Managing Board Bias" which I thought was an interesting approach to a discussion title too.

    Hope this gives you a couple of ideas!

    Kara

  • Kara
    Kara Vanilla Ice Cream
    edited September 2020 #4

    Hi @VirginiaButler! If you're already a FeverBee follower you've seen this...but just in case! Their blog post today is about "Better Post Titles"!

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