Western Sydney University – The power of pets and pictures to persuade people to (Viva) Engage
Are you struggling to get your colleagues engaged on Viva Engage? Do you want to inject some fresh content that leads to conversation starters?
And if you’re also wanting a place where your colleagues can “practise” using Viva Engage, and build new connections across your organisation, this is the story for you!
It’s simple, and one you can emulate today.
Better still, we have the real-life data to prove its success.
It’s a story Western Sydney University shared.
The university has been using Viva Engage, and formerly Yammer, for years and the platform has always been promoted by the communications team as a primary place for communication, particularly for two-way dialogue.
There are plenty of one-way communications channels across the university – think newsletters, broadcast emails and webinars - but Viva Engage is the only one that boasts two-way communication, so the comms team is always wanting people to engage on it, particularly to form new connections.
Like any organisation, people are busy, and need a reason to spend their time on Viva Engage. So, a couple of years ago, the comms team decided to focus on informal, or more social, communities to get people interested in visiting Viva Engage. Once they’re on the platform and comfortable using it, it’s much easier to get people contributing to business-related conversations.
Toula Arronis, Communications Coordinator, Western Sydney University.
“These more informal groups are not necessarily work-related, but the idea was to draw users into the platform and start to engage, so they see what else is there,” said Toula Arronis, Communications Coordinator at Western Sydney University (Western).
Two communities immediately grabbed the attention of colleagues, and two years later, they remain some of the most engaged communities across Western’s Viva Engage network.
The first is called Pets and their Hoomans.
You guessed it! It’s a place where colleagues are encouraged to share photos of their pets. It’s received envious engagement metrics, SWOOP Analytics data shows, and almost every post receives replies and reactions.
The Viva Engage post launching Western Sydney University’s Pets and their Hoomans community.
“It instantly became one of the most engaged with communities on Viva Engage,” Toula said.
“New starters will be introduced, and people will be like; “If you’ve got a pet, you need to go onto the Viva Engage Pets and Their Humans community.
“There’s lots of engaging content.”
And while it’s a fun and engaging community, it also comes with plenty of business benefits. For anyone new to Viva Engage, how easy is it to react to a photo of a cute puppy or kitten? It might be the first time someone has the confidence to hit “like” on a Viva Engage post.
Taking the next step, this person might start to feel comfortable to comment on a photo of a colleague’s new puppy, or share a GIF, or perhaps even a photo of their own pet.
Maybe in a few weeks’ time, that person might feel ready to create their first Viva Engage post and share a photo of their puppy. Suddenly, they’re using Viva Engage, they’re logging in and building confidence to react, comment or post themselves.
Importantly, they’re also building connections across the organisation. They may have commented on a post from someone in another department, and weeks later they come across that person in a business context. Suddenly, they have something to connect with and chat about, which can be an important ice breaker.
Toula shared the story of Nathaniel, who adopted a cat from someone who posted on WSU’s Pets and their Hoomans community. Nathaniel now provides ongoing regular updates on the cat on Viva Engage so everyone can track the cat’s progress.
Leading from the top
Importantly, this approach at Western to share social aspects of life has been supported from the executive, with even the former Vice-Chancellor posting photos of his dog Stella in the community.
Toula said it was among her career highlights to see to the Vice Chancellor posting and engaging in the community, completely unprompted.
WSU Campus Photos
Western Sydney University boasts a number of campuses across western and south-western Sydney, along with international locations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
These vary from high-rise urban buildings to rural settings.
Just like the Pets and their Hoomans community, another community called WSU Campus Photos was created to encourage colleagues to share their own photos, this time of sights from their workplace.
The beauty of this community is the mix between work and social.
“You’ve got that investment from people because it’s their campus but it’s also allowing other people to see what’s happening at other campuses, and feel a part of the bigger picture,” Toula said.
“So it’s connecting people across campuses.
“For me, it’s great being able to see all of our other campuses: the mix of vertical campuses, the modern sustainable buildings, all the way to the historic Hawkesbury campus which is quite rural with cows and sheep.
“They’re so diverse and each campus showcases its own unique beauty, so it really helps with building pride in the organisation.”
The WSU Campus Photos community was created by Katrina Trewin, Impact Officer, Research at Western, who wanted to be able to share the sights from her lunchtime walks around campus with her colleagues.
Katrina Trewin, Impact Officer, Research, Western Sydney University.
“I started the WSU Campus Photos community for a few reasons,” Katrina said.
“Firstly, in walking around campus at lunchtime I was taking so many photos of the wonderful surroundings that I wanted somewhere to share them with fellow appreciators!
“We’re lucky to have some really striking landscapes, beautifully maintained grounds, and fascinating wildlife on our campuses, so I felt it was important to capture those for future reference - my librarian heart imagines them one day forming an archival collection, but I haven’t actually talked to the Archives team about that!
“I never imagined that so many others would contribute but I’m so happy that it has struck a chord and now I look forward to seeing new photos every time I visit the group!”
Toula shared some SWOOP Analytics reports from the WSU Campus Photos community, which show the high rate of Interactive Users and an enviable 98% Response Rate to posts in the community!
A screenshot of SWOOP Analytics’ Interactive Users report for WSU’s Campus Photos community.
A screenshot of SWOOP Analytics’ Most Engaging Posts report for WSU’s Campus Photos community.
A screenshot of SWOOP Analytics’ Response Rate report for WSU’s Campus Photos community, showing 98% of posts receive a response.
How do people know about these communities?
Once the decision was made to create these informal communities at WSU, the Communications team had to promote them to achieve the goal of using these communities to attract more people to Viva Engage.
The university has a weekly email update on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor which is sent to all staff and regularly receives strong engagement. In that email, one Viva Engage community is spotlighted each edition, with a direct link to the community on Viva Engage.
An example of a Viva Engage community spotlight.
“We definitely get click throughs on the links we share in the newsletters,” Toula said.
“They’re all public communities and the ‘seen by’ counts always exceed the member numbers.
“This approach has been about injecting new life into Viva Engage and it’s working for us. We are keen to keep building on this success and explore new ways to keep that engagement rising!”
