Community managers have a responsibility to make sure that their residents are as happy and comfortable as they can be. One incredible way to do that is to create a no-pressure way to communicate with them and for them to communicate with each other.
A great way to do that is a bulletin board in a centralized location in the community. A good place for the bulletin board would be a place that residents frequently walk past, like entrances and exits to buildings or neighborhoods! Residential bulletin boards are often used in college dormitories, so it may seem a bit silly to you or your adult residents at first, but there’s a reason they are so commonly used, and it’s because they are a great tool for community building!
Bringing you to the members of your community
A community thrives when residents feel like they can trust their community manager, and the best way to get them to trust you is to let them get to know you! But, let’s face it, they don’t want the information forced upon them. A “get to know me” text or email is so often ignored because a resident might feel like they don’t need to know. However, if an interesting corner of a bulletin board catches their eye, they will read it because it was their idea, they’re interested in knowing you instead of being asked. Decorate a corner of a bulletin board with your name and contact information andw some fun facts about you. Residents will see it and start to think of you as a person they know rather than a scary authority figure and therefore will feel more comfortable reaching out for essential communication!
Bringing the members of your community to you
Just as it’s helpful to your community to know you, it’s helpful for you to know your community! Who are the types of people who live in the communities you manage? Are they of similar or varied demographics, what do they like to do for fun? Also, do these factors have anything to do with why they live in your community. You can learn all this and more by inviting residents to create their own small “get to know me” areas on the board. It’s just a fact of life that some people love to talk about themselves and would jump at the opportunity to put themselves out there in their community.
From there, you can understand more what kind of people live in your community, and from that, you can plan events based on your community’s real interests. However, the best part about giving members the opportunity to share themselves with the community is that it’s exactly that, an opportunity. There are people living in your community who would be incredibly uncomfortable if they were required to share themselves with the community so openly. If people don’t want to, it’s not required. However, the people who don’t want to participate still have the opportunity to read the board and get to know others in the community.
Bringing the members of your community to each other.
This is the most important and useful community-building aspect of a bulletin board. A bulletin board is a low-maintenance no-pressure way that you can bring your community together without even requiring a meeting or conversation. Encourage the members of your community to put up fliers for things they are involved in or fliers from events around the community that they’re interested in. Encourage them to ask questions on the board and receive anonymous answers! They might share art, poetry, jokes and inspirational quotes, anything that can be written on a scrap of paper and pinned to a board!
In short, the best way to bring your community together is to give them optional access to each other. A bulletin board brings a community together!