During this time of social isolation, and while a majority of the country is working from home, Slack has become an optimal tool for colleagues, clients and even families to connect, share information and resources, and maintain human bonds. 

I have always been an early adopter of new communications technologies… first with a beeper in middle school before moving on to AOL Instant Messenger when it launched in the late nineties (primarily to chat with boys until late at night!), and then onto a cell phone, Blackberry and waiting in line for an iPhone in 2007. 

So when Slack debuted a few years ago, I was totally game to try that, too. I set up a workplace account for my then small event planning company, and our team of three used it occasionally to keep in touch, mostly while we were traveling. It seemed so similar to Instant Messenger, and there were so few of us, that I felt completely proficient on the platform. 

Fast forward to last year when I launched a new coworking community. We soon had 100 users on our Slack workspace, and I knew it had the potential to be a powerful tool for connecting our members, sharing information, and further developing the special magic that we had created IRL. But as the Slack Community manager, I didn’t really know what I was doing, which meant our Slack was unorganized, rarely used, and perfunctory.

I knew we could do better. I wanted to turn our network into something really special and helpful, so I made it a priority in 2020 to learn how to use it properly. I called a meeting with our resident communications firm, and here is what I learned:

  1. Be sure to help everyone see your message: Use “@channel” to notify everyone on the channel (perfect for general posts with immediacy or importance or “@person” to notify someone directly or tag someone who’s relevant in the post.
  2. Direct messages are like the instant messages I was so used to. These are private conversations between one or multiple people that aren’t public to the whole community.
  3. When responding to someone’s post, start a conversation specifically to that topic thread by clicking on the Chat icon in the upper right menu above the post. This will help keep conversations organized and easy to refer back to, and the main channel clean.
  4. Respond to a message quickly and easily (and with some fun!) by using a Reaction, which can be found by clicking on the Face icon in the upper right menu above a post  You can also post GIFs to really make an impression. To do that, type “/giphy [what you’d like to search]” (for example, “/giphy cats”) and hit Shuffle to find just the right one.
  5. Be sure to properly set up your notifications so that you are receiving updates when and how you’d like. You can do this by clicking the main drop down in the upper left (on the channel name), selecting Preferences, and then selecting Notifications.
  6. Fully complete your profile by adding your first and last name, and company name (if relevant, plus at least one photo. Edit your profile by clicking the main drop down in the upper left (on the channel name) and selecting Profile & Account. 
  7. Design relevant Channels and share with your community what they’re for. You must invite your community to join each channel and encourage them to engage with the channels that make the most sense to them. Right now, our top channels include, #General, #SelfCare, #Wellness, #Marketing and #VIDAPLAY for tips on stay-home care and schooling
  8. Dedicate a little time each day to reading and commenting on posts in your Slack Workplace. Perhaps put some energy into creating habits around staying engaged — upon opening your computer for your workday, before lunch and before signing off for the day. The more you put into the community, the more you’ll get out of it!

Now that I know what I’m doing, our Slack workspace has blossomed into a wonderful tool to further develop and connect our community — and now that our space is temporarily closed to support flattening the curve through social isolation, this communication channel comes in very handy. We’ve moved our community online and our Slack workspace is a big part of our connection efforts.

I didn’t fully adopt the many uses of Slack until this year, but I’m amazed at how a few small changes made a very big difference for our members. During this time of COVID-19 and WFH, I know it will be for your business or community, too.