Improve user Contribution on your platform

Let users actively contribute in the form of posting or sharing information and reference material

With lots of interaction, a communication platform becomes vibrant, but true engagement is only achieved when a large proportion of users are active contributors. High contribution also encourages sharing among other users, fueling a constant flow of new content.

Active participation also increases user loyalty, as they feel more involved in the group and experience a greater sense of ownership.

In this article, you'll learn what you can do to increase contribution on the platform and we'll highlight a few topics:

1. Groups that invite participation
2. Knowledge sharing
3. Training and mentoring
4. Automatic email notifications 

Groups that invite participation

Groups within Plek are the way to create engagement around specific topics, interests or teams. By strategically setting up and managing these groups, you can significantly increase engagement.

Examples of groups:

• Theme-focused groups: Set up groups around specific topics of interest to different departments or interests within the organization, such as project groups, innovation, or networking groups. This can increase relevance and appeal to different employees.

• Open and closed groups: Offer both open groups, which anyone can join, and closed groups for specific teams or projects. Closed groups can promote confidentiality and focus on specific tasks, while open groups invite broad participation and collaboration.

• Group administrator role: Designate group leaders or moderators who ensure the group stays active and organized. They can initiate discussions, ask questions and motivate group members to contribute.

• Connection to personal and professional interests: Make groups attractive by connecting to what employees find interesting, both professionally and personally. This makes employees feel more engaged.

• Reward for active participation: Provide rewards for active participation in groups, such as recognition within the group or even company-wide awards for the most valuable contributors.

Other tips for groups that invite participation:

• Groups are personalized and focused on a topic that is relevant and interesting to the individual user
• Create “diagonal groups” that cross organizational structures. Groups that not only take into account the location where someone works, department or position, but where users can find each other because of interest or expertise.
• Use the timeline instead of chat. Chat is great for fleeting communication, but less useful for facilitating discussion or retrieving information. The timeline offers more opportunities for clustering.

Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge sharing is crucial to an active and vibrant intranet. By promoting a culture of knowledge sharing, you can ensure that employees are more supportive of each other and knowledge is better shared.

Strategies:

• Expertise platforms: Create dedicated sections within the intranet where experts within the organization can share their knowledge in the form of blogs, videos or Q&As. This makes employees feel encouraged to share their skills and insights with others.
• Wikis and knowledge bases: Set up an internal wiki or knowledge base where employees can find and add information about procedures, projects, and best practices. These wikis are ideal for capturing valuable institutional knowledge.
• Forums and discussion boards: Create forums or groups where employees can informally ask questions, share tips, or exchange experiences on particular subject areas or projects.
• Document sharing and collaboration tools: Make sure the intranet makes it easy to share files and collaborate on documents. This makes knowledge sharing part of the daily work process.

Training and mentoring

Training and guidance play an important role in encouraging more contributions. Users must first know how to use the platform and the benefits it offers before they actively post themselves. A clear explanation of the basic functionalities, such as posting messages, responding to discussions, and sharing documents can help. For example, through regular (online) workshops, drop-in sessions and question hours.

Have colleagues act as points of contact, which makes it easier for users to ask questions. As with the interaction component, ambassadors can also play an important role here. Learn more about improving interaction here.

Automatic email notifications

With the activation engine, automatic emails can be enabled and sent to motivate users to actively participate in the platform. The mailings can be used during the launch of the platform, but continue to be of value to new platform users thereafter. Some examples include:

• Inactive accounts receive an email with a reminder to activate their account
• Users who have never posted before are encouraged to post. This has a direct link to contribution
• Users who have never logged into the mobile app are encouraged to download the mobile app

Read more about automated email notifications in this article.

Other tips

• Encourage contributions and value your employees' input.
• Provide clear guidelines: That way your employees know what is expected of them.
• Ask for contributions: A direct request to share knowledge or experiences can work wonders.