Intratone’s Guide to Efficient Community Management

So we’ve come up with everything you need to know, to start easily managing a thriving community.

What is Community Management?

Community Management is when experiences and ideas are shared between individuals to optimise how everybody, or everything, can co-exist seamlessly.

When it comes to property, community management is about listening and responding to the needs of your tenants. This allows you to efficiently highlight when issues have occurred and discuss the best way to resolve an issue, or prevent it from happening in the first place. 

Changes to tenant satisfaction laws

Community management groups are often closed to the public because they don’t always concern the wider world. Only those with influence or who will feel the effects of proceedings tend to have access to the community discussion. 

However, the UK Government’s Regulator of Social Housing is introducing compulsory tenant satisfaction measures from 1 April 2023. The changes mean that housing associations are required to provide a method of feedback in the form of a survey, as part of their community management. This can be done through paper or verbal surveys, or digital platforms, meaning that all tenants will have an equal opportunity for their views to be heard and addressed accordingly.

While this change of legislation does not currently impact Private Properties, client satisfaction should still be a top priority for such landlords as it has immeasurable benefits when it comes to retaining tenants, receiving positive online reviews, and overall client loyalty. Despite private landowners receiving no initial ramifications, there is a chance that they may very well be in the future. By prioritising tenant satisfaction, property managers  can simultaneously exceed their short-term ambitions whilst protecting their long-term future. 

Need-to-knows for Community Management

Key competencies required in community management include attentiveness and organisation. Possessing these traits are crucial to successfully delivering for everybody within the building’s premises.

To effectively and efficiently manage a property, there are a number of considerations. Here are a few things that jump out as important:

• Regular health and safety checks
• Having the required legal documents and remaining compliant
• Conducting inventory and restocking
• Keeping the aesthetics of the premises to a high level
• Fixing building or foundation damage
• Addressing anti-social behaviour
• Listening to the thoughts of others on improvements

To properly maintain a strong community spirit, whether it’s in a residence or a workplace, is crucial to your success as a community manager. Thankfully, there are tools that help you with the day-to-day running of the property.

What mediums of Community Management are there?

If you’ve ever spent time in a facility with lots of people, such as a building of flats or a large office, you’ll have spotted a noticeboard in a communal area where people pin problems to a board, or provide the telephone number of somebody who can help. 

There are several problems with this perceived outdated form of community management: handwriting can sometimes be incomprehensible, there are often no external links or information to the companies or people being suggested who can help, and the post-it notes they’re often scribbled on can easily fall off.

Occasionally, you will see occupants given a hotline number to call to register issues. Staff dedicated to resolving the issue would then disperse the message through email, phone call, or another way. This form of community management is time consuming and not always reliable and can be misconstrued. We know that as a landlord, communicating with tenants can take up alot of your time.

For the above reasons, many companies and management groups have decided to use digital management platforms instead. It’s not social media – you won’t be inundated with unwanted updates, but it’s an efficient and easy way to foster community engagement, easily give notices or information to tenants, and monitor tenant satisfaction through surveys.

Introducing Intratone’s Interactive Digital Noticeboard

Intratone’s Interactive Digital Noticeboard has an accessible interface and doesn’t waste materials. You can select a time when your notice will be published to ensure it receives the most interaction and isn’t displayed when inapplicable. Media can be uploaded to complement your message, plus reminders for public health concerns, e.g. COVID-19, can be displayed to reinforce a message.

The Interactive Digital Noticeboard also includes a survey feature. If property managers are unsure how occupants feel about a particular issue, and if occupants haven’t raised a complaint formally, they can put the question to everyone to see what the consensus is and receive answers anonymously. Quick and easy!

Digital Noticeboard’s aren’t limited to simply being an informational/survey medium, as they are also a great tool when it comes to building a community together. Whether it be sharing events, local businesses,or just things to do;  Intratone’s Digital Noticeboard can be a real catalyst for community, bringing people closer through the sharing of positive and important information. Programming the noticeboard couldn’t be simpler either, with its online portal management allowing for updates and content to be shared within minutes, without having to move from the comfort of your desk. Maximised impact with minimal effort. 

If you’re interested in streamlining your management tasks, or if you’re an occupant who feels your property would benefit from using a digital noticeboard and want some information to send to your property manager, you can find all the specifications on Intratone’s website. 

The final word

Having the requisite skill to being a devoted property and community manager is great, but you could still use a little extra help to keep efficiency high. After all , if your time isn’t taking up by maintaining your community, you’ve got more space to improve and expand! Considering a digital platform, like Intratone’s Interactive Digital Noticeboard, could make your job more straightforward and keep community spirit high. As well as being an easy way to compile and prepare for the government’s changes to tenant satisfaction laws.