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Why continuous engagement matters
Community engagement often follows natural cycles – periods of high activity during major projects that may quiet down afterward. However, this fluctuating pattern of engagement can sometimes make it harder for communities to stay consistently engaged and confident in the process.
When residents only hear from you when you need something, it creates a transactional relationship rather than a collaborative one. As one representative from the city of Ghent, Belgium, mentioned, "Continuous engagement is about taking people on a journey with you, not just calling them when you need directions."
The benefits extend beyond simply keeping your platform looking active. Regular touch points build trust incrementally, diversify your user base beyond the usual suspects, and ultimately lead to better policy implementation when residents feel genuinely invested in the process.
Starting simple: Low-effort strategies
Not every engagement effort needs to be large-scale or time-intensive. Some of the most effective continuous strategies are surprisingly lightweight.
1. The monthly question: Small ask, big connector
The city of Linz in Austria has witnessed first-hand the power of the monthly question. Every month, they invite residents to reflect and share ideas on a timely, relevant topic through their platform. February's question was, "What does a climate-social Linz mean to you?" while January asked, "What do you wish for our city this year?"
What sets their approach apart is the commitment to closing the loop. After each monthly question closes, they share an AI-generated summary of responses, showing residents their input was heard and valued. This creates a valuable participation cycle – residents see their feedback acknowledged, making them more likely to chime in next month.
2. Seasonal engagement: The rhythm of community life
The calendar provides natural touch points for lightweight engagement that feel timely rather than forced. The Dutch municipality of Edam-Volendam runs seasonal photo competitions that bring people back to their platform four times a year, culminating in an annual winner.
"Each season gives us a fresh reason to invite people to the platform," shared a representative. "It's a light subject matter, but it keeps the participation muscles warm between more intensive projects."
This seasonal approach works across formats – quarterly neighborhood check-ins, summer activity surveys, or winter preparation feedback. The key is creating a predictable rhythm that residents come to expect and look forward to, much like your community's annual festivals, but in digital form.
3. Always-open feedback: The suggestion box that actually works
Remember those physical suggestion boxes that used to sit in government buildings gathering dust and the occasional bizarre note? The digital version can be surprisingly effective when implemented thoughtfully.
Durham County Council in the United Kingdom maintains an always-open feedback form specifically about their participation platform. This serves dual purposes – gathering valuable user experience insights while signaling to residents that continuous improvement matters to you.
"We launched in January and wanted immediate feedback from new visitors about their experience," shared the engagement officer from Durham. "It helps us catch issues early and demonstrates that we genuinely want the platform to work for residents, not just for us."
Going deeper: Higher-effort approaches
When you're ready to invest more resources, these tactics create sustained engagement that can transform your civic conversation.
1. Proposals: Flipping the participation script
One of the most powerful forms of continuous engagement comes through resident-initiated proposals. This approach inverts the traditional model – instead of the government deciding which topics are up for discussion, residents raise the issues that matter to them.
The city of Lokeren in Belgium implemented a proposal system where resident ideas would be considered if they gathered sufficient support. One proposal for free public toilets received nearly four times the required threshold, clearly demonstrating its importance to the community. When nature calls, the community answers, apparently!
The beauty of proposals lies in their dual function as both engagement tools and platform marketing. When a resident submits a proposal, they're motivated to share it with their networks to gather support – bringing new users to your platform in the process.
The city of Innsbruck, Austria, also experienced significant growth, gaining over 1,000 new users in a month by using proposals as an engagement tool. “The proposal tool really helped us boost platform traffic,” shared a local representative. "It made people feel like they were shaping the city and contributing directly."
The key is setting appropriate thresholds. Make them too high, and proposals become as attainable as finding a parking spot during a street festival. Too low, and you might be overwhelmed with ideas your resources can't possibly support.
2. Copy, paste, engage
Why reinvent the engagement wheel for each neighborhood? If you've created a successful project for one area, you can often replicate it across others with minimal adjustments.
The municipality of Schagen in the Netherlands has mastered this approach for playground renovations, creating a template project that they've copied for over 10 different locations. Each project follows the same format but is customized for the specific playground and neighborhood.
This approach not only saves precious staff time but also enables fascinating comparisons between neighborhoods. You might discover that priorities in one area differ significantly from another, or that certain approaches resonate better in particular communities – insights that would be nearly impossible to spot without the standardized format.
Planting seeds for long-term engagement
Building a culture of continuous engagement doesn't happen overnight – it grows gradually as trust builds between government and community. Start with smaller, manageable initiatives like monthly questions or seasonal activities. As your participation community grows, you can introduce more ambitious approaches like proposals.
Go Vocal, more than a platform
The examples and insights shared in this article didn't come out of thin air – they came directly from our thriving community of participation professionals. When you join Go Vocal, you're not just getting a platform; you're gaining access to a living, breathing network of peers who are tackling the same challenges you face every day.
Whether you're puzzling over how to engage that hard-to-reach demographic or looking for inspiration on your next big project, there's likely someone in our community who's been there, done that, and is happy to share their playbook. And we’re here to facilitate that.
Beyond monthly digital sessions, our Community Platform serves as your year-round resource hub where you can access recordings of past sessions, explore content, and connect directly with other members.
As a representative from a Finnish city put it: "I came for the platform features but definitely also stayed for the community. Learning how other cities solved problems I thought were unique to us has saved me countless hours of trial and error." When it comes to building better communities, the best place to start is by joining one.
