Engaging with your community is a great way to stay in the forefront of people’s minds. A big focus for parks and recreation organizations is to help improve the well-being and health of the community you serve. With that being the case, having greater visibility means being able to attract and positively impact more people which, in turn, can increase the effectiveness of your efforts.

Engaging with your community can be fairly difficult of an endeavour, if your team isn’t prepared. In this blog post, we highlight 5 of the most engaging parks and recreation groups to inspire yours to follow suit: 

National Recreation and Parks Association - 29k Facebook likes, 6,222 Twitter followers

The NRPA does a lot of incredible things for the parks and recreation industry. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation. They also help with the professional development of current and prospective parks and recreation professionals. Through their social media channels, the NRPA engages their community with great visual infographics, as well as sharing what community members post. We’re happy we get to engage with such an amazing association on a steady basis.

New York City Parks and Rec - 66k Facebook likes, 109k Twitter followers 

NYC Parks does all of the usual event announcements but they take it a step further, by featuring stories of community members and openly discussing development plans and welcoming public input. They do a great job of showcasing their parks and do a good job of replying to people’s comments. One of our favorite component’s of NYC Parks’s engagement though is the interesting, educational tidbits behind NYC Parks that they share almost daily.

Cleveland Metroparks - 93.5k Facebook likes, 44.8k Twitter followers

What makes us incredibly impressed with Cleveland Metroparks is their ability to engage their community utilizing the newest of social media. Not only do they have a massive social media following on Facebook and Twitter, they are getting a lot of people watching what they do on Snapchat. With Snapchat becoming increasingly popular, this is a great move by the parks and recreation group. Snapchat involvement can be great for many reasons. First, potential visitors may see a Snapchat story and impulsively utilize one of your services. Second, by seeing people having fun with your services on a regular basis, they will be more likely to remember to participate.

WHITE PAPER: Parks & Rec Software: A Platform to Grow with your Community

Chicago Park District - 31.5k Facebook likes, 33.7k Twitter followers

One thing that stands out about Chicago Park District’s engagement efforts is their free app. Anytime you’re in Chicago and you’re looking for something to do, you can pull up the app and get over 1,000 free events at the palm of your hands. With a solid amount of social media content to back up the app, Chicago Park District has got their community engagement down. Now that’s a great investment in your community!

Seattle Parks - 3.7k Facebook likes, 20.7k Twitter followers

Seattle Parks has a great social media presence and they really utilize it to their community’s benefit. Of course they do all of the fundamentals but they go above and beyond in many ways. One thing that’s important in building an engaged community is the ability to listen. Seattle Parks really effectively uses their social media to hear the opinions of their community. In one instance, they asked their community, “if you had $100 to invest in recreational programs, which 3 would you choose?” We think this is a great way to not only open your eyes to what people need but also to establish yourself as an organization that truly engages and cares about their community.

At Xplor Recreation, we specialize in helping organizations be more engaged with their community. Learn more about how we can help you attract, connect, and keep communities.