How to Get Students Using the Message Board: Some Top Tips!
Are your students coming to you directly to ask about finding a housemate for their flat?
Or because they want to leave their current accommodation and need to fill their space?
If so, have a read through the following Ideas & Top Tips to maximise how your Message Board is being used. Redirect students towards the useful functionality it provides, and remind them of all of the benefits the Message Board has to offer!
1. Raise Awareness
Promote your Message Board in as many places as you can! Tell students about it via online accommodation pages, the student intranet, TV screens on-campus, a university app if you have one and targeted communications. Emphasise the convenience of the Message Board, telling students how quick and easy it is to share their accommodation in a place where students are actively looking for accommodation. The more places students are reminded of it, the more students will default to it.
2. Engage Key Stakeholders
Get others on board! Make sure as many teams as possible within the university are aware of the Message Board service and are actively promoting it to students. Loop in your SU teams, support teams, halls teams and more to ensure there 'one voice' is directing the students towards the Message Board when the opportunity arises.
3. Open Access
Have you considered opening up access to the Message Board on either a temporary or longer-term basis? If not, it may be worth doing. Allowing guest access to the Message Board (ideal for international students) whilst still maintaining password protection, provides even more opportunity for students to utilise the service.
4. Organise Events
Get students in the room together by hosting specific 'Find a Flatmate' events. These work great held online too for first encounters of new students. Encouraging community connections and bolstering support of the Message Board by bringing it up in these kinds of meetings is a great way to introduce it to new starters, and remind existing students of how best to get their accommodation out there.
Your students couldn't make the event? Send a follow up email out telling them to visit the Message Board to chat with other students who need/have accommodation.
Your students couldn't make the event? Send a follow up email out telling them to visit the Message Board to chat with other students who need/have accommodation.
5. Leverage Social Media
Encourage engagement with the Message Board by posting about it online. Promote the tools and events you have set up across all social platforms to reach a broader audience.
Want more?
Ask us about Room Mate Finder (or 'Sharers'). This is a secure additional module that sits within your Message Board page on Studentpad. Students using Sharers need to register with more in-depth information, set entirely by you. This makes their accommodation search much more bespoke and tailored (eg. a student could look for a female, non-smoker for their flat space), meeting individual interests or course matching. Additionally, it provides you with much richer data capture and encourages students to stay in the secure Studentpad portal rather than looking elsewhere. Contact us to learn more about Sharers.
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