Why group communications matter
Your members might benefit from regular communications from you
that allows them to develop useful habits about how they visit and
participate in the group. 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. Either way, a simple group
communications plan to coordinate what needs to be shared with members
and when, can do wonders for creating an active and thriving group.
As a Knowledge Hub group facilitator you have two key communication
tools to hand – group announcements and group messages. You can use
these tools to reach your members in different ways, as well as
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.
Group announcements
A group announcement gets published on your group’s home page and
is one of the first things your members will come across when they
visit your group. It will also trigger an update in your group’s email
notifications to your members. Create announcements to welcome
members, share important messages, flag any key issues and signpost to
the latest content and activity. You’ll find the ‘add announcement’
button on your group’s home page.
Group messages
When you send a group message it triggers an instant email
notification to all your members – members cannot switch these off
because it is part of their group membership communications. So even
if members have opted for a weekly group email notification, they will
not have to wait till their next group notification for any
time-critical, important updates from the group. Use customised group
messages to highlight and promote useful content and activity across
the group such as discussions in the forum, new documents to comment
on, upcoming events to sign up to and polls to vote in. Go to your
group’s ‘settings’ to send a group message.
Making the most of group communications
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.
To add a hyperlink simply highlight the text you want to use as the
link, a text editor bar will pop up, and select the ‘link’ symbol.
Copy the page URL from the page you want to link to and paste it
here, and then select the ‘tick’ to save the hyperlink.
It might be helpful to open two web tabs and use one web tab to open
the group announcement/message page, and use the second web tab to
locate the relevant page(s) to link to and copy the page URLs from. Find out more about adding hyperlinks (sign in required).
Your group’s communications can work towards encouraging your members
to take ownership of the group and share its benefits. Make sure
members know what the group 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 group email notifications or log in directly to
visit your group. Both present the 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 group’s activities and make it the place to go to.
To find out more about facilitating and managing your group, please
visit our ‘getting your group started’ guide (sign in
required).