| How do I do digital engagement? | Through trial and error. By posting, interacting with your intended audience, and analyzing the data, you will be able to fine-tune your strategy and engage the right people. |
You do digital engagement every day, whether you realize it or not.
Digital marketing is just talking to people online. If you have a website, you’re doing it. If you’re on social media, manage an email list, have a YouTube channel, or buy ads online, you’re doing it.
Digital engagement is so commonplace that 89% of nonprofits say digital communications are critical to achieving their organization’s mission.
Digital is everywhere and it’s important. At the same time, most Canadian charities say they are comfortable using office and financial software, but communications and engagement tools are still a mystery.
Let’s fix that.
Digital marketing uses skills and techniques that have always been part of communications and outreach, such as knowing:
Communications and outreach principles haven’t changed much, but the tools have. That’s the reason you see a rise in digital engagement and digital marketing specialists. These are folks who understand the tools that help organizations engage their communities online.
You use tools (mostly software) to publish messages, deliver messages, solicit feedback, and facilitate presentations and conversations. Common tools include services like websites (WordPress, Squarespace, custom sites), Mailchimp, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Zoom, and Gmail. Tools like Google Analytics and Ubersuggest give you insight into the ways people are engaging with you. And tools like NationBuilder or Salesforce keep track of all your organization’s contacts, including donors and donor history.
With these new digital tools comes a new mindset. This is the second twist.
Digital engagement is not linear. You don’t create an entire campaign or program and then release it to the world. Instead, you put out a test, see what happens, revise, and put out the next version. You are constantly testing and iterating until you get the results you want.
By contrast, the technology behind billboards and newspapers and print mail campaigns forced you to work in a more linear way and to deliver an identical message to large swaths of people.
This non-linear approach is less risky. You can start small, test, and only scale what works. With digital technology, you can also tailor information to the very specific needs and concerns of smaller groups of people instead of talking to everyone all at once.
To understand how this works, imagine every engagement effort is a leaky bucket.
If you want to embrace a digital engagement mindset, think about working with a leaky bucket.
Your engagement strategy is the bucket. People are going to pour into it, like water. Some will remain and some will slip out through the holes in your bucket.
When you first create your bucket, you don’t expect perfection. You know there are going to be some holes, but you can’t see them until you pour water (i.e. people) into your bucket.
All this testing and iteration can sound impersonal, but the opposite is true. Digital engagement gives you an opportunity to watch how people interact with your work, learn from their responses, and improve. You get to listen, empathize, and learn from your community’s reactions in ways that are consistent with social impact values.
There are four places you should look for “leaks” in every engagement process: reach, attraction, action, and loyalty. The stronger you are in one area, the more people will flow through to the next.
First, look at your reach. Are you actually reaching people? How many people saw your message? Are they the people you are trying to engage? With digital outreach, you won’t have to guess — you’ll have hard data.
If the number of people you are reaching seems low, you know you need to focus on reaching people more effectively. You could do more of the same outreach or you could try something different. For example, it could mean advertising your event or program in new ways, talking about it on social media, asking partners to spread the word, or launching an earned media campaign to generate more attention.
Second, look at how the people you reached responded to your work. Did they go to your event page, look at the donation form, read the article you shared?
If they ignored the information you showed them, you know you need to do one of two things: change the message or change the way you are presenting it.
Third, look to see if people took the action you wanted them to take. Did they donate? Did they buy a ticket for your event, sign your petition, or watch your webinar?
If people didn’t act, you know you need to improve your call to action. Maybe you need to present it differently. Maybe you need to make it easier to do. Or maybe you need to make your message more persuasive.
The action is always the most important part of an engagement campaign. It doesn’t have to be digital, but it does need to drive your mission forward. It’s the reason you are talking to people in the first place.
An optional fourth step is to look at whether people return and engage with you again. Do people repeat the action more than once? Do they take part in the next initiative?
If your organization or project intends to be around for a few years, nurturing relationships with those who take action is an important part of building a community. Their support and participation is what gives your work power.
Digital engagement is a major component of your presence in the world. It won’t completely replace the face-to-face experience, but most interactions are influenced by things people saw online before they met you and the information you share with them afterwards.
If technology is intimidating or you aren’t sure how to move forward in online spaces, don’t worry. You don’t need to be perfect from the outset (or ever). You just need to get started.
Learning as you go isn’t a sign of weakness — it’s the way the online world was designed to work.
The Organizer is a newsletter for people working to create equitable and sustainable communities. Whether you are part of a nonprofit, a charity, or a social enterprise, this newsletter is for you.
Each edition, we explore one aspect of social impact work. We answer a common “How do I …?” question, and we tell you about a tool that will help make your work a little easier. Subscribe for free at Entremission.com.