To create a community that is engaged means you will need to cultivate a sense of belonging among members. Genuine interactions with and between members will ignite the enthusiasm and commitment for your community. When members feel valued, respected, and motivated to contribute, your community will offer meaningful collaboration and support.
Whether you're an experienced workspace manager or just starting out, these top tips will give you effective strategies for building and sustaining an engaged, active community.
We also have a community huddle here on guidance for this:
1. Make the purpose of your workspace clear.
Be clear with members about the purpose of the workspace and what you are supporting and encouraging workspace members to do (e.g. access information, share learning or respond to a call to action).
2. The members own the community.
Remember that the workspace community should be owned by the members. Capture their feedback regularly, iterate and demonstrate how you are listening to them. Don’t be afraid to change based on need. See our Top Tips Guide: Member Feedback Survey
3. Form a steering group to drive workspace action.
Find a small, diverse group of members to act as a steering group and help improve the workspace.
Use this group of super users to act and encourage other experts and influencers to act as ambassadors for the workspace who actively create and engage with members about content and on your workspace forums.
4. Praise active members for their contributions.
Promote and recognise active members to encourage participation (e.g. in a weekly spotlight or by replying to content they post, comments or forum posts)
5. Get buy in from senior leaders.
Encourage senior leaders, influencers and high-profile colleagues to be regularly active on the workspace and act as ambassadors. Run Q&A sessions with them on forums, ask them to post blogs, comment on content and start forum threads.
6. Be proactive to increase engagement.
Be a proactive facilitator across the workspace, especially in forums. Initiate ice breaker conversations and make sure every new post gets a response within 24 hours. If a member asks a question on a forum thread, tag someone who may help - don’t leave their question unanswered.
7. Highlight successes on the workspace.
Showcase the best that takes place on your workspace, be it case studies of best practise or positive behaviours from members of the community. Don’t be afraid to shout out and tell your story. People will be interested and return for more.