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The challenges of engaging diverse communities in a digital space and ways to overcome them.

Establishing a sense of community in a landscape so shaken by an ever-changing social climate is an emerging issue, and technology has further changed how we reach out to, connect with, and engage communities. Digital community engagement is a potential solution for businesses, councils, institutions and governments that are faced with the challenge of engaging their people. By utilising digital innovation to overcome issues that arise from traditional forms of community engagement, it could have the potential to bridge the gap between people and ensure their needs are being supported in the most inclusive way.

So, what does true community engagement look like? ‘Engagement’ can have multiple meanings and there is not one ‘easy fix’ for an absence of it but combining digital innovation with more traditional forms of community connection and discussion is the emerging answer to questions surrounding engagement. Impactful public engagement is supposed to communicate information or increase participation in a way that is enjoyable and rewarding for a user and makes them want to participate continually.

Diversified engagement routes for diverse communities

In a diverse setting, engaging a large proportion of different kinds of users with differing needs, user characteristics and behaviours can be a challenge.

The ‘traditional’/’offline’/’in-person’ community engagement techniques are so valuable when gathering information and feedback from communities, however, there are many obstructions that this type of engagement techniques cannot break down alone. Digitalisation has been shown to unite communities behind issues, encourage discussion and innovation, and facilitate positive change by allowing community members to make meaningful contributions through an online environment. Digitalisation is also a significant contributing factor when capturing marginalised and previously unheard voices. However, reaching groups that are not engaged with online spaces is as important, especially considering these voices are often unheard in the community.

The positive impacts of a mixed-engagement model (both online and offline) is undeniable, however complex it may be to achieve. It is also becoming increasingly difficult attract and engage diverse audience using simply online-only model for many reasons:

the digital space is becoming more and more saturated with choice, with more than 547,200 new websites being created globally every day (Siteefy), users are overloaded by a sheer number of sites which they can choose to engage with.
different age groups access, use and respond to the same channels and platforms differently.
differing levels of digital competency mean that designing a website for ease-of-use is also essential to its ability to engage, despite digital know-how increasing significantly after the pandemic.
users expect and want personalised experiences, the days of a passive website that draw people in are long gone.
people are expecting more from their online experiences, they expect to be engaged. Therefore digital experiences must be continually engaging and develop over time, keeping up with changing technologies, while maintaining relevancy and their true nature and intent at heart.

Engaging with a varied community takes these five challenges further. To effectively engage these communities, it requires knowledge, understanding and a true analysis of each of the different user groups at each of these points in order to ensure the outcome is appropriate and effective for the user group. The more diverse a community, the more complex this can be.

The importance of data, design and communication

When engaging with diverse communities through a mixed-engagement model, it is important to ensure that each mode of engagement is connected to one another, complement each other and are well executed to ensure the end-engagement result is as well suited to the target audience as possible. This is achieved through three key elements; data collection, design and communication, these three processes are important for ensuring solutions are catered to the needs of the user and must be interconnected.

Data

When collecting data and research about diverse communities, these practises need to be all-encompassing and far-reaching in order to capture the clearest picture of the community and create the best platform for the targeted audience.

Good data practises must be followed in order accommodate for diverse audiences, such as ensuring questions are clear and not leading. Surveys or focus groups must be reaching the largest proportion of people as possible and reaching all groups proportionally to get the most accurate results that are representative of the majority. In order to reach marginalised groups, engaging with community groups, connecting with community leaders or digital community hubs such as social media is a great way to ensure that these voices are heard, or survey reach the largest proportion of people. It is important to ensure that these surveys are assessable in multiple languages in order to gain feedback from communities despite potential language barriers. By starting an engagement programme with good research practises, it will allow for a digital space to be shaped around the voices and needs of the community in a way that includes all voices.

Design

When dealing with digital engagement, it is important to ensure that the solution is developed with accessibility and inclusivity at the heart as inclusive design is central to creating a platform for a diverse community, elements to consider include:

ensuring that symbols and graphics are universally understandable and clear can ensure a website messaging is concise and it is reaching the most people.
building a platform that is easy to navigate, as you need to consider diverse digital competency.
the messaging of the website needs to be concise in its messaging and delivery.

Creating an engaging and exciting platform can also encourage continual use, incorporating gamification technology can be a great way to engage audiences long-term, this in combination with ease of use can greatly improve a community’s engagement with the platform.

Communication

Incorporating omnichannel forms of communication is also essentially in engaging the maximum amount of people as well as catering engagement to its target audience. For example, if you were to connect with users using social media you would use different platforms depending on the intended audience, as Facebook cater to an older age demographic, 65% of people aged 50-64 use the platform, whereas 90% of Instagram users are under the age of 35. Connecting a platform with software people are familiar with can be a great way to encourage use, it can be a great way to get people comfortable with your platform initially while using a platform already familiar to the user. Especially with older age demographics who statistically have less digital competency.

Considering cultural barriers to engagement is also important, for example not just ensuring the research process is accessible in multiple languages is an important feature that some users may need to engage with the platform. If the platforms focus is around connectivity and discussion, ensuring that conversations and dialogue can be easily translated so that all members of a community are involved in discussions and all voices are heard. Having public discussions in community hub and then linking those interactions to a digital space is a great way to engage new audiences that wouldn’t usually be actively engaged with digital spaces. This is a good way to draw unlikely users onto an unfamiliar platform or app.

Keeping up with the innovation

Digital innovation can transform the ways in which we do things, new advancements make things simpler, more intelligent and more efficient. Using new digital tools and innovations when addressing engagement problems can lead to more valuable insight and end-engagement results, but you can run the risk of leaving people behind if adopting them too quickly and can alienate vital groups of clienteles.

Using a mixture of offline and online communication is the best way to integrate new and valuable technologies whilst maintaining appeal to a wide demographic. This omni-channel approach ensures that all angles of your community can get involved without feeling excluded. Examples of this can come in forms Incorporating things like QR codes into engagement programmes can be a great way to facilitate ease of use through a non-digital space.

Nuturing your community

Community engagement is not something that is easily solved through a singular channel, it is a process that requires nurturing and innovative solutions that follow the whole process from conception to actualisation. It requires understanding of interpersonal relationships and community boundaries as well as in-depth understanding of how to create bespoke platforms for a wide audience.

Ensuring that users’ needs are considered and prioritised throughout the whole engagement process is the key to engaging with diverse communities. Considering data, design and communication throughout the conception of a platform while weaving these processes together is crucial to the creation of a solution fit for the needs of a diverse community. In order to meet the changing needs of a community you must ensure continued support throughout the process as well as afterwards and consider changing markets, community development, technological innovation and other environmental changes that could affect engagement. This is crucial in providing an exemplary platform for a diverse community of users.

23/11/2022/by Millie Probert

Customer, Engagement

Customer Experience Starts with Excelling in Omnichannel

Omnichannel marketing is far from being a new concept, but it has seen significant changes across different sectors in recent years. It essentially refers to the various integrated channels (physical and digital) businesses use to reach customers and deliver their brand experience. When most of the world was in lockdown, omnichannel moved into the spotlight as those businesses who had previously invested in strong digital presence where able to maintain communication and contact with customers as they lost the ability to draw them to their physical locations. However even before the pandemic, omnichannel was already a buzzword at the forefront of most marketing and loyalty departments, with the rise of different social media platforms opening up new possibilities to market, attract, and engage customers.

In the world of retail, omnichannel is far from being a gimmick and with amounting challenges impacting supply chain, high street presence, and general accessibility for many customers, nailing omnichannel strategy is increasingly necessary in order to stay relevant, to stay front of mind, and to even just stay in business. For retailers to genuinely achieve omnichannel excellence and place consumers at the centre of every transaction, they must be able to offer customers a unified, consistent, and real-time experience regardless of their location or preferred channel.

In this blog, we’re going to take a look at just how to deliver an excellent omnichannel experience of your brand to customers, but also what features play a key role in creating a strong omnichannel strategy.

How to create the right omnichannel strategy for your brand

It’s not just that people are shopping online more than ever before. It’s the way consumers are browsing and how they reach your brand – the new type of ‘window’ shopping or app hopping, as you go from a look that catches your eye on Instagram to the brand’s profile to putting the item in your basket after downloading their mobile app. An omnichannel presence needs to support the omnichannel customer who is always connected, active store-to-store but also always moving between devices looking for comfort and convenience.

Your end customer is influenced by an inspirational idea or recommendation from a trusted source, leading them to evaluate the purchase from many fronts: from comparing prices with a competitor who pops up in personalised advertising when they are browsing, to evaluating whether they engage with brand ambassadors across all social networks, to assessing the ease with which returns are made, to scanning the news to see where your brand stands on issues that mean something to them.

Omnichannel strategy can’t solely focus on efficiency or speed. It’s vital to consider how your different channels also establish and promote the brand experience, further endearing customers and potential customers alike.

Below, we explain different aspects that your company can follow to establish a solid omnichannel strategy:

1. Understand how to reach your audience

You may learn a lot about a person’s demographics, such as age, locations and gender by looking at where they are most likely to shop. For instance, customers in the Gen Z age may be more at ease with social commerce (using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to directly sell products) and even prefer it to traditional eCommerce sites (process used by companies and customers to exchange goods and services using an electronic medium). Therefore, you might want to ask for suggestions or carry out surveys to target a more precise audience. Knowing your customers well can help you start to decide which method is or isn’t appropriate for them.

2. Establish a consistent brand

You need a coherent brand in order to create a holistic experience. You must be in control of how your brand is perceived. This must be the same across all platforms. If your website is personable and interactive, then your social media presence should be much alike. Additionally, omnichannel marketing ensures that your brand is noticed by your target audience where it matters most. You must know how to reach consumers because they no longer actively seek out brands and anticipate you to come to them.

3. Provide readily available customer support

People respond better to other people. This is why it is important to establish your brand as relatable and approachable who is aware of the demands and preferences of its target market. Understanding the effectiveness of your omnichannel efforts depends on speaking with the customers. Customers evaluate brands 104% better when they combine AI and operators in their customer service. Offering human connection will ensure that you are providing your consumers with a tailored experience.

4. Don’t try and do it all

Omnichannel doesn’t mean you have to be on all channels if it’s not the right approach for your brand and your people. Don’t fall into the trap of making an app or create a TikTok profile just because everyone else has one – if you have a high performing, mobile responsive website, sustain and nurture that if consumers respond well to it. Build good paths to where your customers are, but don’t focus on building too many of them. A mediocre or bad channel experience can do a lot of damage to a brand.

5. Utilise the right data

Making data-driven improvements to your omnichannel approach is vital. By gathering and analysing data, personalisation and integration efforts can be improved. You will eventually be able to identify trends among market segments. If you observe your data, you will find that your customers will tell you exactly how best to assist them. A Salesforce survey found that 57% of all consumers voluntarily give their personal information to business in exchange for personalised offers and incentives.

Therefore, it follows that creating a strong omnichannel experience is important if you want people to recognise and value your brand. However, it is not necessary to be present on absolutely every platform, as doing so may have the reverse effect and hinder your business. Every brand will have unique preferences and capabilities. Regardless of the customer’s preferred location or channel, omnichannel excellence places the consumer at the centre of every transaction and enables businesses to provide seamless, consistent and real time experiences.

Inspired? Next read: Creative Solutions for Captivating Customers

17/10/2022/by Patricia Wiggett