6 Easy Tips To Positively Engage With Your Community Through Social Media
Maybe you are an emerging nonprofit organization, an innovative government program, or a business that has just opened your doors to a new community. How are you going to connect with the locals and become a part of the neighborhood? Community engagement is more than just setting up shop on the right street, today the digital platform is what spurs effective collaboration and growth.
What exactly is community engagement? Simply put, community engagement works to provide interactive relationships between locals, citizen groups, stakeholders and customers with organizations. These collaborative relationships then allow for long-term growth, sustainability and collaboration within communities. In our digital world understanding how to use social media as a community engagement tool will be your key to success.
1. Get to know your community
Learning about a community’s background, history, culture, geography and assets are vital for any business or organization. The best way to learn is by gathering data and researching what defines the community. Today, social media can be your greatest resource when studying your community. What is the community’s presence on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? How are locals communicating? What can you learn about your community through their social media presence?
As a new organization don’t make the mistake of not doing your research or making any decisions without first understanding and consulting the community. Unfortunately, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, made this mistake when he undertook an ambitious social change project in Newark. There are many takeaways when drafting your engagement plan. Community Engagement Matters (Now More Than Ever)
2. Share your mission through chosen social media platforms
Now that you have done your research you know more about what your community wants and needs and how they communicate, especially when it comes to social media platforms. If you live in a Facebook central community then start by adapting and updating your Facebook page to be able to connect with other local groups, leaders, businesses and organizations. Make sure your mission, product, or purpose is easily accessible for people in your community. You want a good digital first impression.
Also know which social media platform best fits with your mission and goals. If you’re a non-profit consider these platforms. If you’re a business check out these ideas.
3. Personalize your accounts
Share the faces and names behind your social media accounts so you can be more personable to locals. Organizations may seem removed and impersonal without a solid social media presence. Transparency is increasingly important in a world full of façade.
Find ways to open up your organization to the public by doing spotlights, live streams, or behind the scenes into daily operations. This will allow the community not just to know the brand but to know and come to trust the people behind it as well.
4. Make connections
Connecting with leaders, local groups, businesses and organizations are vital to establishing not only your online presence but your overall presence in the community. Make sure to add, friend, subscribe or like prominent leaders and influencers in your community. Pay it forward by liking and engaging with their materials on their social media platforms.
You might be asking though, isn’t “face to face” communication always better when it comes to working with the community? While it is true that being in a room together is preferable, because of the internet our world has expanded ten-fold. Sometimes the digital platform is the only way to establish that first connection. That is why Digital-First Community Engagement is emerging as a prominent new strategy in networking.
5. Interact and communicate
Provide opportunities through social media for the community to interact together and communicate with you. This can be through interactive posts, giveaways, questions, highlights or videos! Get creative and make sure people know you are open for dialogue. Find a way to connect with the community in a way that has not been done before, then spread the word to have more people participate through the platform. The more opportunities you have to hear from locals, the more you learn about how you can work with them.
Even the Department of Homeland Security has created a guide for Community Engagement and Social Media Best Practices.
“Social media provides a platform from which agencies can remain transparent with the community and from where they can share information about activities, outcomes, questions, responses and more.”
6. Collaborate
Social media allows so many connections to be made. For your business or organization to be successful within the community, connections need to become collaborations. Make sure your use of social media platforms lead to tangible opportunities to get involved with the community. This can be hosted through events, open forums, polls, surveys or chats. Use social media to bridge the gap and give your community a voice. This is just the first step in a longer chain of continued collaboration.
The Downtown Denver Partnership is a good example of how social media can be used to promote this sustainable form of collaboration. The partnership provides the city of Denver opportunities as a community to engage through their Facebook page and website. In your research of your community see if there is already a partnership program in place that you can become a part of.
