5 Simple Community Engagement Tools You Can Start Using Today
A robust community engagement strategy is arguably one of the most important indicators of a public organizations’ success.
Whether it’s getting buy-in from neighborhood groups on a new project, increasing awareness to increase program enrollment, or understanding the changing needs of a certain interest group to pivot a marketing strategy - stakeholder engagement is critical to a healthy and functioning organization.
But before we dive into the tools to make engagement successful, it’s important to understand the difference between community engagement and community outreach.
They sound similar and they’re easy to confuse, but it’s important to understand why they’re different.
Community outreach is a one-way or transactional conversation from an organization to a community. This can look like a flyer, a single newsletter, or a social media post with information or an update.
Outreach is usually a part of a larger community engagement strategy and usually happens when an organization is raising awareness.
Community engagement, on the other hand, is a two-way conversation between an organization and a community group. You may want to engage a community to help define a problem or create a focus group to come up with solutions.
So bottom line - since engagement is a two-way street, it’s critical that the tools you use allow for that.
Every engagement strategy will look a little different depending on what the organization and community need and what the desired outcomes are.
But successful ones will always have multiple stages that lead to a goal or desired outcome that are typically mutually beneficial.
Stages of A Successful Community Engagement Strategy
Beginning Stage
Defining the problem
Identifying the community stakeholders
Raising awareness of the problem with the stakeholder group
Middle Stage
Communicating how community involvement can help solve the problem
Showing how the organization will partner with the community
Sending out the initial call to participate
Final Stage
Gradually increasing requests to participate
Asking for feedback along the way
Reporting out numbers and the impact of participant efforts
Engagement strategies are always evolving, especially with advancements in technology. Virtual community engagement has surged due to pandemic restrictions, and many organizations have had to pivot quickly to continue engaging with their communities.
But the good news is that organizations can improve and expand their community engagement strategies today without high-end A.I. technology.
In fact, organizations already have access to these tools, but may not know where they fit into a larger community engagement strategy.
Here are 5 community engagement tools that fit into your existing strategy:
Articles and Op-Ed Series
Engagement Stage: Beginning
How to Use: Organizations submit articles and/or op-eds to local media outlets in the initial stages of awareness building.
Advantages:
Allows the organization to shape the narrative around this particular problem.
By creating a series of op-eds and introducing them periodically will build curiosity. Organizations can focus on one aspect of the initiative at a time to keep stakeholders interested in learning what comes next.
Reaches a broader community than any single network or e-mail list.
Podcasts or YouTube Video Series
Engagement Stage: Beginning and Middle
How to Use: This form of media allows an organization to build awareness and go a little deeper into the benefits of the community.
Advantages:
Invites the community into the conversation in a more intimate, direct way.
Adds a human, emotional element that may be missing from written content.
Provides the platform to paint a picture of the desired outcome, which increases buy-in and builds trust
Opportunity to Include testimonials of real people and communities who have already benefited from the initiative, program, or project.
Targets a younger population.
Presentations or Webinars
Engagement Stage: Middle and Final
How to Use: A way to host community meetings or formally pitch the project at pivotal moments.
Advantages:
Offers a clear and direct way to present the organization’s case
The structure of a presentation allows the organization to control the narrative in a compelling way.
Allows the opportunity for Q&A or solicit feedback from stakeholders
Webinars can foster a sense of community and are convenient for participants
Webinars allow participants to leave feedback for the presenter in real-time
Webinars can be re-used on multiple platforms.
A webinar format is an interesting alternative to logging into a Zoom meeting.
Emails and Newsletters
Engagement Stage: All
How to Use: Emails and email campaigns can be used to inform existing stakeholders in the initial awareness stages and to keep them updated throughout the campaign. Signing up for newsletter updates can be one of the first asks of a potential participant.
Advantages:
Signing up for a newsletter is easy and low risk to the participant, but it increases an organization’s chances that they’ll be willing to say yes to bigger things in the future (like volunteering, participating in a working group, or donating).
Keeps your stakeholders updated, especially if they are unable to attend events.
Emails are personal and foster likeability and trust.
Reports, E-Books, or Guides
Engagement Stage: Beginning or Final
How to Use: Depending on the issue, organizations may wish to begin an awareness campaign with data and statistics that prove the problem. During the final stages of community engagement, progress and outcomes can be presented to stakeholders in the form of a report, guide, or e-book.
Advantages:
Reports reflect the authority and responsibility of the organization.
Sharing outcomes and statistics is transparent and builds trust.
A professionally designed report makes your audience feel important and valued.
Reports can be published quarterly or even monthly depending on the campaign to keep stakeholders on track and invested.
Keep in mind that these are just 5 of many tools! There are many other aspects of a successful engagement campaign that require additional tools and materials.
These are just a few of the basic tools organizations can use right now to engage more effectively with a community. No need to buy fancy software or a new digital product!
Other materials you may want to consider are:
One-page brochures or PDFs to leave behind with important stakeholders, community groups, or elected officials.
Project websites that serve as the “hub” of the initiative are expected nowadays. Websites are easy to point to, update, and can serve as the launching pad for all other materials.
If designed well, a project website can capture email addresses to start building an online network to send newsletters to or point them to an online survey to receive citizen feedback.
White papers can be used similarly to reports to express complicated and technical information, especially for large and complex campaigns.
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