The instingo chat feature allows challenge participants to connect by exchanging motivational messages and photos. Chatting in the app is easy and enables real-time engagement without pressure. Participants often share snapshots of their daily walks, short motivational messages, or funny pet photos – it always works!
Chat threads often start slowly and gain momentum as the challenge progresses, with participants encouraging each other to reach their goals. But if you find your chat getting quieter, don’t worry! We have compiled our best practice tips to stimulate conversation and make the most of your company's chat experience.
Research shows that fostering positive social connections at the workplace can not only improve your employees' well-being but also help combat the harmful effects of workplace stress and improve resilience. We have repeatedly seen success from customers who use the chat to build a greater sense of community at their workplace. Both instingo administrators and challenge participants often give us feedback that the chat feature is a highlight of their challenge experience. And with the chat being directly available through the mobile instingo app, building positive social connections with other challenge participants is easy and seamless!
Chat also offers a fun and engaging way to connect outside of work platforms like Slack or Teams. The chat keeps the conversation in a single, easily understandable thread and gives participants the opportunity to share their favorite workout gear, healthy recipes, and more! Additionally, chat reactions and photo sharing make daily things come alive. The chat can be especially useful for remote or hybrid employees or for a company with multiple locations. Even if your employees are not in the same building every day, the chat helps foster a sense of togetherness that is hard to achieve outside of a personal experience.
Once an employee participates in a challenge, they can automatically join the chat. The chat feature is displayed at the bottom right of the instingo app. It allows posting messages or sharing photos unless someone has disabled the chat feature in their profile.
Encourage discussion with chat prompts. While chats often take off on their own, it can also be helpful to prompt discussions.
Encourage photo sharing. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this saying applies to the chat at instingo too! Seeing photos shared by colleagues in the chat is a big motivator, especially when participants are located all over the world. To encourage photo sharing in the chat, we recommend sharing a quick snapshot of the day's training location, a photo of a pet, or even a photo of a delicious new recipe that a participant has tried!
Lead by example with management. One of the most important ways to encourage engagement in the chat is to lead by example. Posting in the chat provides a good opportunity to promote the involvement of leaders and management in your organization. Your participants will appreciate it when they are supported from the top down, and the challenge chat offers a perfect opportunity for leaders in your company to show their commitment to your challenges.
Instingo highlights chat engagement and rewards with a badge. Highlighting chat engagement during and at the end of a challenge is a great way to highlight communication achievements. Participants receive badges, and there is the opportunity to highlight individuals with the highest communication performance from the company. Or you can get creative by creating a video or presentation highlighting the positive messages and photos shared during the challenge. We always recommend rewarding employees based on the actions you expect from them. So, if your main goal is to improve communication or team spirit, consider offering prizes to recognize users for posting in the chat. For example, you could set up a raffle for all participants who have posted at least 1 message or photo in the chat. Instingo is happy to provide you with an evaluation at the end of the challenge.
Instingo regularly monitors the chat and redirects the conversation if necessary. If there are negative comments in a chat, instingo reminds users to direct these concerns to the company’s organization team or instingo.
Get creative. Some creative ideas we love include asking participants to share a favorite family recipe, posting daily or weekly quiz questions, or even encouraging them to post one thing they are grateful for every day in the chat. We have also seen customers successfully hold photo competitions in the chat. Ask participants to share a photo of their favorite hiking trails, landmarks or shops, new activities or training courses they are taking, or even their hiking partner for the day. Pet photos are always a hit!
Have fun building personal connections together! Instingo’s goal is to make fitness fun for everyone, and the challenge chat should be an extension of the fun and lighthearted competition that a challenge promotes among participants. Sharing messages and photos during a challenge is a perfect way to foster a greater sense of community within a team. So, as an organization leader, remember to take the time to nurture the sense of community by regularly participating in the challenge chat and having fun.
Happy chatting!