The Meetup call today rocked and got me thinking about change for the better…
I have been in Meetup for many years. If you don’t know it, you should so sign up with a free account. It’s a ‘Face to Face’ community platform which is all about hosting real events wherever you are.
It’s massive in Sydney with hundreds of groups, a great following, top people and it’s been something that I have been into years (check my group out here!).
I recently accepted the volunteer role of ‘Meetup City Organiser’ for Sydney. It’s where I help support Meetup groups in the city and share with them my own experiences to help get theirs off the ground.
Meetup has gone through lots of change for the better and one of their moves is their new website. It’s a massive update to the platform making it cleaner, more beautiful and just powerful.
Interestingly as this change was made, most people love it. You however had this small minority of people who were really against it. Like all things, I tend to remain silent however once I have the facts; I GO IN WITH GUNS BLAZING!
I had a few of these negative Nancy’s very poorly trolling me for being a supporter of the new website and I can tell you that it’s wonderful. There are some bugs that are being gradually fixed, however this is what Meetup has successful achieved with their website update:
– Cleaner, easier to navigate and prettier.
– Looks much better on mobile phone.
– Less clutter.
– Many more redundant features have been removed.
– YOU GET MUCH HIGHER BOOKING CONVERSIONS!
This is the bottom point that I have really noticed. With the new platform, I get way more bookings when I invite someone to my event. It would be at least an increase of 40% in conversion in that I find people just book in more easily now.
This makes sense to me in many ways and my advice and thinking? Change can be difficult and sometimes some people just won’t go along with it. That’s cool and like Meetup has done, they have made a great move that is always a bit painful.
Many people have given great feedback and Meetup, just rocks! Check it out, I love their work and stay awesome friends!
My community and I love the new Meetup website!
8 Responses
The new meetup platform is a total disaster. It might work for you but for my hiking group of over 2000 members it is now relatively useless. Too many features have been taken away, the maps dont work, no shows can not be marked and the fact it loads rival groups events first before your own is an absolute disgrace. Support questions now are canned answers if they do bother to reply and when they do they come up with the most stupidest ideas which shows they have no idea how what it is like to be an organisor. Most of my members are in the over 35 yrs group and we are not so reliant on apps and mobile device so the shift to mobil and flipping the bird to those that dont is insulting. Speaking to other organisors in person AND online, you are the very first I have come across that actually likes it so you are clearly in a very small minority.
I have already made my decision and if meetup doesnt care or listen to its organisors, who pay for their existence, then we will just go elsewhere which in fact I have just successfully done.
Thanks for the comment John and I shall pass this straight onto Meetup.
I hear you and fair enough! From my viewpoint, the changes are wonderful. Much better conversion (we obviously use it in different ways).
Best of luck, take care and passing this on now. Thanks!
Have you read the 95% negative feedback on Facebook? Clearly the new changes are not liked by “most people”. Like John I run a group and some of the best features have been removed. What’s even crazier is that Meet Up knew that their proposed changes were not popular with organisers but they went ahead anyway because they were more concerned with making the App look superficially better to maximize the amount of money they could get upon the sale to We Work. I bet We Work are regretting their investment now though! Like a lot of organisers I am waiting for a suitable alternative to Meet Up at which point I will move my group.
Thank you Amanda and yes I have! Thanks for your feedback, shall pass it onto them.
Heaps of great platforms out there, enjoy and best of luck!
There is already a more-than-suitable alternative.
Take a look here: https://groups.place
What planet are you living on??? Most of the Meetup community does not like the new changes. Where do you get your information from to make that comment? The Meetup restructure has been a disaster for both the organizers and their group members.
Thanks Penny! Planet Sydney. My own members loved it, so been very popular there. I have noticed a much higher conversion rate for people booking in (which is great for me). My group is here, you are welcome anytime: https://www.meetup.com/profitable-marketing
Again too, shall pass this all on to Meetup. I know that lots aren’t happy with how it played out. Thanks!