Before starting a business community, you first must select a good community chat platform or community chat software. These applications are not nearly tools; they are just like modern offices. Companies and institutions with shared physical workspaces rely heavily on these chat softwares to get things done. Every member can participate in the discussions or view all-important conversations. Members can also ignore texts which are not important.
There are hundreds of community chart software on the internet. Some popular ones are Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Mattermost.
These community chat softwares have thousands of features that can benefit businesses and companies. However, some features are less known, and even the most experienced users do not use these tools to their advantage. Today we will discuss some of these unknown features of community chat softwares. To learn more, go through this article.
Features that your community chat software should have
- User friendly: Can be used by different members of the community.
- The admin can add as many members as required
- Improves community interaction
- The software must allow video and audio chat features.
- It should have a universal search feature so members can search for past conversations for essential data.
Important features you didn’t know about community chat software
1. Schedule messages
Some community chat software allows the user to schedule text messages to be sent at a particular time of the day. Additionally, the user can also send silent messages at non-office hours (like midnight) when they do not want to disturb the receiver.
2. Live location
A unique feature of community chat applications is that you can send live locations. It allows you to track the other person in real-time for a specific time while they are moving.
You also get the option to set proximity alerts. With this feature, you will automatically receive a notification or mini alert when another user is close. The proximity alert feature can be set when the contact is within 50 m of your radius.
3. Edit and replace images while sending
Have you accidentally sent the wrong image, or maybe you haven’t highlighted the critical text in a document? Don’t worry; community chat applications have a feature where you can edit the photographs and replace them after sending them to the user.
To do this, first long-press on the picture you have already sent and then select the edit button. You can also edit a text once you have sent it. Next, you can use the inbuilt photo editor to add filters or crop images.
4. Unlimited cloud storage
Community chat softwares like Telegram and WhatsApp has ‘personal saved messages’ space for each user. In this space, the users can save important information and images, which will automatically be backed up on the secure cloud server, just like your chat. Now you can access this virtual space from any device where your account is logged in.
5. Chat folders
With the help of these applications, you can now also classify your chats into different folders. This lets the user deal with a different set of group chats at a time and avoid the others which are irrelevant. For example, you can create a separate folder for all the chats from your family members, another folder for work colleagues, and a different folder to manage your social circle.
6. See who read your texts
In community chat groups, the grey ticks only turn blue when all the group members read your text. However, you only have to hold down the message and select info to check which member has not received the text. It will now be who hasn’t read your text.
7. Send audio messages
If you are busy doing something like household activities or work, replying to text messages can be challenging. However, with this community chat softwares, you can send audio messages whenever required. You must record what you have to say and then send it like a normal message.
However, if you still want to send a text message, you can also use your mobile assistant and dictate whatever you have to say.
8. Stay selectively notified
Not all community chat groups are essential – some are filled with a little more white noise. However, you can assign a different notification tone to avoid being disturbed whenever your phone receives a text message.
All you need to do is remember the notification tone you assign to which group chats.
9. Star message
Now you can also highlight important text and other information by star marking. You can easily retrieve this information by clicking on the star button. Once you are done with the information, you can remove the star.
10. Add important dates to your calendar
If you are busy, forgetting appointments is nothing odd. You make appointments and plans for hanging out with your friends, and as the conversation rolls on, you forget about it.
However, now you will never miss out on an important community event. Whenever someone mentions a date in the group chat, it is underlined and highlighted. All you have to do is tap on the link, and the application will directly take it to your calendar, where you can create an event on a specific date. Community chat software can also recognize words like today, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and can automatically assign the event as per the date.
11. Emphasize your texts
Texting in community groups can be hectic as there will be hundreds of chats. So if you are trying to convey a piece of important information, it can easily get lost in these hundreds of texts. So to emphasize your text, you can change the format by bolding it, using Italics, or underlining it.
Endnote
During the pandemic, when communication was difficult, instant online communication was the only way to convey essential data and information. To make an effective and helpful community, you need to learn about these hidden features. No matter what community chat software is used, investing in your community and connecting with the members will pay off in the long run, and your business will succeed.
