10 Simple, Effective Ways to Engage Your Residents

Building a sense of community increases resident satisfaction, retention, and overall quality of life at your property. Whether you run a large apartment complex or a student housing community, encouraging neighbors to connect transforms your building from a collection of units into a real home.

Below are ten simple, cost-effective ways to boost resident engagement—strategies you can explore with a bit of legwork and elbow-grease, or streamline with the help of Invited’s community-building platform.

1. Host Regular Community Socials

DIY: 

Plan a monthly “meet and greet” series in the lobby or courtyard. Provide light refreshments, create a guest list, and send out flyers and email invites.

With Invited: 

Automate posting event details, tracking RSVPs, and sending reminders—from one central platform. To elevate the experience, Invited also introduces residents in small, curated groups before the event, ensuring everyone finds someone to talk to when they arrive.

2. Curate Interest-Based Clubs

DIY: 

Start clubs around reading, fitness, or cooking. Ask around to gauge interest and recruit volunteers to lead them, create sign-up sheets, schedule meetings, and facilitate them.

With Invited: 

Residents can opt into interest categories in their profiles, allowing Invited to intelligently group like-minded neighbors. Clubs form naturally with minimal effort, and members can easily coordinate meeting times and share updates within the platform.

3. Encourage Informal Meet-Ups

DIY: 

Introduce and suggest residents grab coffee together or form walking groups. Use bulletin boards, email lists, and word-of-mouth to match residents.

With Invited: 

Residents propose small-group activities—like a morning jog or Saturday brunch—and Invited matches and introduces interested participants, sends reminders, and tracks attendance so the organizer doesn’t have to do any extra work.

4. Introduce a Monthly Themed Event

DIY: 

Seasonal themes (like “Spring Gardening Tips” or “Holiday Hot Cocoa Night”) are easy ways to get residents involved. Just pick a good time, create a calendar, send invites, and collect RSVPs. Then buy whatever you need to make each event entertaining for your residents and ensure there's someone there to greet and host them.

With Invited: 

Schedule events in-app, let the platform handle RSVPs, and collect feedback afterward. Invited’s insights help you see which themes resonate most, so you can refine future gatherings. You can also better measure ROI on any event expenditures against turnout and engagement.

5. Launch a Digital Bulletin Board

DIY: 

A private Facebook, WhatsApp, or Slack group can serve as a dynamic shared space for your community to connect. It just requires some setup, monitoring, and continuous updates to ensure usefulness to your residents.

With Invited: 

All communication lives in one dedicated platform. You can share announcements and important news, and let residents interact and comment, with moderation tools built in. Everything’s streamlined and controlled so you don’t have to manage multiple channels.

6. Facilitate Skill-Sharing Sessions

DIY: 

Encourage residents to teach mini-workshops—like “Intro to Yoga” or “DIY Home Décor.” Reach out via email and surveys to identify potential instructors in your community, then coordinate timing, and develop marketing materials to encourage residents to come.

With Invited: 

Residents can highlight their skills within their profiles. Invited’s matching can identify interest groups and make scheduling these sessions easy. Post an event, match participants, and let the platform handle communication.

7. Send Out Quick Surveys

DIY: 

Email surveys or printed questionnaires can help you understand what residents and use your event budgets as wisely as possible. Even though it's worth it, manually collecting and analyzing feedback can be time-consuming.

With Invited: 

We automate sending quick polls and surveys within the platform. Residents respond in one click, and Invited compiles the data into simple reports so you can quickly identify trends and plan your next move.

8. Promote Volunteer Opportunities

DIY: 

Try organizing a clothing drive or neighborhood cleanup. Coordinate timing, location, and details, create flyers, email residents, send reminders, and collect signups.

With Invited: 

Create a community event in the app, let residents sign up with one click, and send automated reminders. Invited’s data-driven insights show you which causes resonate, helping you tailor future opportunities.

9. Highlight Resident Stories

DIY: 

Interview interested residents and write a monthly newsletter, either emailed or posted in common areas to build community culture and pride.

With Invited: 

Encourage residents to share their stories and interests in their profiles. Collect feedback within the app and reward residents for sharing their positive experiences within your community on social media on Google.

10. Celebrate Milestones & Achievements

DIY: 

Recognize residents’ birthdays, graduations, and work promotions by posting announcements on a bulletin board, and sending mass emails.

With Invited: 

Use resident profiles to note birthdays, move-in anniversaries, or other milestones. Invited can handle outreach, and you can easily sponsor gatherings to celebrate notable events, fostering a sense of belonging and loyalty.

A New Way to Engage Your Residents

Engaging residents isn’t just a “nice-to-have”—it’s a strategic move to improve satisfaction, retention, and your property’s overall reputation. While each of these engagement ideas can be executed manually with some time and effort, Invited simplifies the entire process. By facilitating connections, automating reminders, and providing actionable insights, Invited lets you focus on delivering the personal touch without getting bogged down in logistical details.

Get Started

Ready to transform your community into a place where neighbors quickly become friends? Drop a note in the chat below to see how we can help you cultivate a place your residents are happy to call home.