As a Knowledge Hub Group Community Manager, you may have a wealth of valuable information and resources to offer your members. However, if your members don't know about it or need a little 'nudge' to get involved, you may need a consistent approach to communicating with them. Effective Online Community communication is crucial for engaging members, fostering participation and creating an active and thriving community.

Developing a simple Online Community Communications Plan can coordinate what needs to be shared with members and when. There may be news and updates that members will be keen to find out on a routine basis, or perhaps more ad-hoc communications to keep momentum going. 

Whatever the approach, a consistent flow of information can help create useful habits among members about how they visit and participate in the online community.

As a Knowledge Hub Group Community Manager, you have two key communication tools at your disposal: group announcements and group messages. These tools can be used in different ways to reach your members, highlight key content and activity, signpost members directly to the relevant pages in your group, and make it easy for members to join in and get involved.

Using Group Announcements with your Online Community 

• Group announcements are published on your group's home page and are one of the first things your members will come across when they visit your online community group. They also trigger an update in your group's email notifications to your members. You can use announcements to welcome members, share important messages, flag any key issues, and signpost to the latest content and activity. 

Using Group messages with your Online Community 

• Group messages trigger an instant email notification to all your members. Members cannot switch these off because it is part of their membership communications. So even if members have opted for a weekly email notification, they will not have to wait untill their next group notification for any time-critical, important updates from the group. You can use customised group messages to highlight and promote useful content and activity across the group, such as discussions, new documents to comment on, upcoming events to sign up to, and polls to vote in.

Group announcements and group messages further support member participation by allowing you to tailor your messages and use hyperlinks to direct members straight to the group's pages. 

This way, you can guide your members directly to the relevant content and make their user experience more enjoyable.

Effective group communication can help encourage your members to take ownership of the online community and share its benefits. Make sure members know what the online community is for and how to make the best use of it to support their role. 

When members have taken the time to get involved, be sure to thank them, highlight their contributions and include their names. This will help to nurture members, build trust, as well as entice other members to join in.

Members may rely on email notifications or log in directly to visit your online community group on Knowledge Hub. 

Both present an opportunity to shout out about the good things that are happening in your group, who's been sharing what, how to join in, and what to look forward to. Reach your members, communicate your online community group's activities and make it the place to go to.

To sum it all up, effective communication with your online community group is essential for fostering member participation and creating an active and thriving community. 

Developing a simple group communication plan using tools such as group announcements and messages with the additions of hyperlinks to guide members directly to relevant content, and thank members for their contributions.

With these steps, you can create a supportive and engaging online community group environment that benefits everyone involved.