As social restrictions start to ease globally, we've reviewed how our customers have used The HiVE to engage with their communities and stakeholders in different ways than usual.

With nine highly flexible participation tools and over 30 customisable content tools, The HiVE enhances the digital engagement journey and makes it easy and enjoyable.

Over the last three months, we've seen our customers (including a range from different industries) start using The HiVE in unique ways. As we settle into a 'new normal', we were curious to see how our customers have been engaging their community and the tools and approaches they used to keep people coming back for more.

Here are some of our favourites.

A virtual neighbourhood centre

Conversations Gladstone is Gladstone Regional Council's community engagement portal, but in the last few months, they have been using it for more than standard council consultations.

After much planning and project building, the Gladstone team launched a virtual neighbourhood centre as "a [virtual] space for the community to engage and connect with like-minded residents and existing services to encourage social connectedness, inclusivity and support."

The City built eight themed sub-pages using The HiVE's versatile Feature Grid tool, including spaces for youth, seniors and families, and areas for active living, lifestyle and arts, culture and entertainment.

The Councillor Cafe area allows the community to submit questions to the local Councillors and see responses posted back in video format, allowing them to have a 'virtual cuppa' while listening along. This approach is a fantastic way to engage and socialise while physical distancing.

Screenshot from Conservations Gladstone's Virtual Neighbourhood Centre page.

Local Community and Business Hub

The City of Canada Bay continued to consult during the pandemic outbreak throughCollaborate Canada Bay, using the platform to stay connected with their community and keep them informed of changes as restrictions took hold.

The City added two new Covid19-specific sections to their homepage, providing correct and up to date information relevant to both their residential and businesses communities.

They created a 'community' space to educate and entertain with learning opportunities and competitions provided. Citizens could identify 'local legends', people who were doing remarkable things during the pandemic.

The community space also included 'Love Local Directory', an interactive map that let people list their local business and any current restrictions.
We originally wrote about this in April 2020 on our blog piece Digital Innovation is keeping a community connected, and we've enjoyed watching it grow, providing ongoing community benefit.

With restrictions easing across Australia, Canada Bay has used its platform to real-time information on the rules, regulations, and relief opportunities. We believe this transparency and connection with the City will lead to greater trust and participation in future engagements.

Screenshot from Collaborate Canada Bay's - Connect Community Space.

Gamification for the win

Previously, we shared how the City of Canterbury Bankstown harnessed their community's isolation time during the Covid-19 pandemic to help design a local version of Monopoly in‘Canterbury Bankstown asks community to think Board Game not boredom’.

In the last few months, the City took their 'gaming' approach to the next level, adding a touch of gamification to The HiVE in the Parry Park Play Space concept design.

They used a number of participation tools, including Fund-it the using 'points' mode (instead of dollars) to understand people's preferences for new playground equipment for the park. This trade-off approach helped people appreciate they needed to make some sacrifices to get what they want.

The engagement also utilised numerous instances of the Swipe tool to show before and after images of the concept designs, and a designated section for parents included a targeted survey for them to share their insights.

But it's what they did with the 'Kids Zone' that made this engagement exceptional. Using an integrated outcome-based quiz builder that mapped responses to results based on the answers, they created an interactive gamified survey.

Children answered questions about what they wanted to see in a new playspace. Their responses matched them to a fictional 'Playspace' super-hero inspired character they were most similar to (much like the Facebook quizzes that tell you which Friends character you're most like).

Screenshot from Have Your Say City of Canterbury Bankstown's Parry Park Play Space page.

That’s just a few examples of what our clients have been doing with The HIVE, and we can’t wait to support them with what they do next as we move forward in a post-Covid world. If you are interested in using The HiVE for innovative community engagement, contact us today for a demo.