Communities are a great way to interact within teams or project and interest groups and organize the work within your team. In the case of a help community, you provide your users with a place to access helpful tooltips on demand and the chance to raise questions or discuss use cases.
Aim of the community
Before creating the community, consider its objectives:
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Creating a place for discussion and questions for users and the editorial team.
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Sharing assistance, tips, and best practices for the use of Haiilo.
- Providing information about the latest developments of the platform and new features.
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Collecting and providing frequently asked questions from employees at one central location.
- Raising requests like new pages or training inquiries.
Set up in Haiilo
The community should be set up as "public" to provide easy access for all users. We recommend using the following apps:
Example
This is what a help community could look like. The apps used and their purpose are explained below. For a better overview, it's always recommended to use app groups and structure the community's content according to different use cases.
The following apps were used in the example above:
- Timeline app: Employees can get in touch with each other via the timeline app or ask the editorial team questions. By raising questions publicly, every community member can benefit from the answer, and the keywords of the discussion will appear in the global search.
- Content app: The content app, with its flexibility regarding different layouts and the use of widgets, is the perfect tool to provide users with an overview of the community, text-heavy information, or linked documents like guidelines or terms of use.
- Blog app: You can share special tips or the latest features and product developments using a blog app (here "Tips & Tricks"). Comprehensive posts with an editorial character are easily created with the app. The reach of blog posts can be increased by sharing them on one or more timelines across other pages or communities.
- Wiki app: The Wiki app, in general, is an excellent tool for displaying information in a compressed and structured way. This makes it the perfect app to provide guidelines for different target groups or frequently asked questions about the platform. If content is updated or changed, users are automatically informed about this via a notification.
- Form app: The form app allows quick and easy submission of training inquiries or requests to create new communities to be processed in the community. In our example, we added a form to report missing content (here, "Missing content").
To lower the barrier for new joiners, you can introduce Haiilo help hours, in which you answer questions directly and help them become familiar with the platform. You can include this kind of information, for example, with the help of a content app.
Further tips & tricks
- If you're using the mobile version of the intranet, consider adding a content app with all information regarding the mobile app. This could include a QR code to download the app and some tips on navigating your intranet using the mobile app.
- To make your help content more interactive, you can produce video tutorials about using your intranet and provide them in the guidelines section.
- Additionally, using the teaser widget can help you draw attention to content you want to promote within the help community. This could be a link to a video tutorial on using your intranet or the latest feature development your users were waiting for.