When it comes to resident retention, you’re consistently looking for ways to better your communities’ engagement strategies. Effective community engagement is critical to keeping residents happy and resigning a lease. One aspect that can make your community engagement strategies that much more effective is including a virtual option. Including virtual options in your list of community engagement activities is increasingly important. While COVID restrictions are certainly a factor, it’s also a matter of convenience. If your resident has built up a community, they don’t want to miss out on an event with their friends and neighbors. Having virtual options means that everyone can participate. Whether they are traveling or can’t attend for any number of reasons, adding a virtual option to the invite opens the event up to that group.
Why a Virtual Option for Resident Events is a Must-Have This Winter 🥶
Most of us have reaped the benefits of online community engagement. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve witnessed firsthand the impact community, in person or online, has on someone’s happiness and overall well-being. It’s so important to understand how to encourage community involvement and participation in all sorts of ways to foster an inclusive and fun community. Here are three multifamily community engagement strategies where you can easily have a virtual option included.
Workout Classes
Offering virtual workout classes is an easy way to help your residents stay healthy. Have a local instructor host a live stream workout like a Bootcamp or a yoga class – even a guided meditation. Residents can queue up the live stream, get a little exercise, and have the opportunity to share an experience with their neighbors. It may not be the same as a typical workout class, but it will help build connections within the community and give some endorphins to help everyone feel a little bit better.
Food and Beverage
Hosting food and beverage-related events is by far one of the most popular examples of community engagement. You could host a virtual wine or whiskey tasting class. Each resident can purchase their own bottles, or there could be a registration fee and you can provide them. Have a sommelier or whiskey expert walk them through the experience – how to taste, what they are tasting, and how to pair them. A community engagement idea that we’ve seen grow in popularity is a charcuterie class. You could have an expert show how to layout a showstopping board. They can cover what to include and even how to make those little flowers with meats. Of course, there is always a live stream cooking class for residents to follow in their own kitchens. This category has so much potential depending on what your resident demographic is interested in.
Games or Classes
Much like food and beverage activities, games and classes are easy to add a virtual spin. Think about hosting a drawing or painting class. That’s something a resident can easily do from their home, and it could involve their entire family. Bingo or trivia games are all games that lend themselves to virtual easily. Regardless of the game you select, all you need is to make sure residents know the rules, that it’s an easy virtual experience, and, most importantly, that it’s fun. Maybe throw in some great prizes to bring out a competitive edge. Now, clearly, a built-for multifamily video engagement platform like Realync can assist with the virtual aspect of these events. And, another way Realync can help and boost attendance, is with the invitation and the event recaps functionality. Sending invites, follow-up invites, and recaps using video is one of the best ways to get residents interested. Normalizing the virtual environment is going to be critical as we move forward. Many people are working from home more frequently and Zoom and Google Meet are common hosting site. With that, it can become easier than ever for residents to isolate themselves. That’s where the importance of thoughtful community engagement strategies are more important than ever. People want that connection and community. It’s up to you to help make it happen.
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