Community Engagement
How to Increase Community Engagement with your Business
You may well have a fully rounded online marketing strategy, with social media accounts with a high level of engagement, but have to got a focussed local community project? If you are looking for a new way to build up your customer base, why not start looking in the local community. This is the place where you are situated and somewhere you shod understand better than anywhere else. If you can build up your brand’s awareness locally, you will drive more customers that way. In addition, community events are a great thing to share on social media, which means you boost that engagement too. Okay, so let’s have a think about increasing local community engagement in your area.
Get Involved with Local Events
Every community has a whole range of local events that you could take advantage of. You can find out when these are occurring by calling your local council office. You could start by attending a town meeting and listening and understanding how the people in the local community feel about certain things. You will learn about what matters to them., which can help you connect with them. You could offer to set up stalls at local events and find ways to involve people; freebies are usually a good idea. Or you could give a talk, or set up an event of your own. It could be related to your organization or be completely off the wall, it’s up to you. There are many ways you can connect your community with public services, projects, and initiatives, but by allowing real people to see your brand in a positive light, you will be doing wonders for your companies awareness.
Create a Space for Open Communication
Maybe you could initiate a local meeting every month or so, and/or create a forum – possibly on your website – or a targeted social media page for members of the local community to discuss the matters that are important to them. By creating an initiative that promotes open and honest communication, you can really get to understand the local community. Allow people the space and time to tell of their experiences, hopes, desires, etc. All of this is a great way to connect with people and understand. So, ensure that you do a lot of listening and taking notes so that the people know they are being heard. This will make them feel valued, and this is important for driving community engagement and developing strong community ties. Don’t be so open, though, that you end up with offended people. Create rules, like any good moderator.
Promote Your Core Values
Doing anything in the community is a great way to promote your companies core values. You can use them to really connect and engage with people, and that is a huge bonus. Remember your staff are a huge asset in this regard. Ensure you communicate your core values effectively to them so they become yot biggest raving fans. Core values give everyone something to believe in and an overall goal they are striving towards.
