Schedule time to connect with your community
Many nonprofits and smaller businesses I’ve worked with in the past have a smaller budget that stretches the capacity of their staff or even the consultants who work with them. Their communications or marketing team is probably one person doing multiple jobs simultaneously.
So, here are some ways your organization can support and implement best practices to stay connected with your digital community, but achieve your communications goals, and to ensure that you’re working internationally, and not overworking your small team.
one. Get a plan together
Craft a robust plan for your marketing and communications rollout. Consider the size of your team and allocate at least a quarterly strategy session. This session is key, as it provides you with realistic timelines for sharing content that is relevant to the community, ensuring a steady flow of information before the organization.
Not only will this save your organization time, but most marketing and communications teams produce real-time content because of the extra roles and projects they manage. Communication and developing marketing content takes time and mindful intentions, primarily when content is focused on building community.
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two. Centering Community
I’m such a huge advocate for hiring more Black, brown, and people who are intersected in LGBTQIA or disability spaces for your design, communications, and marketing needs. Not only does it provide more exposure to really dope and creative minds in the space, but it also provides an opportunity to connect to the culture and community.
For so long, our marketing, design, and communications spaces have centered on professionalism, which is the opposite of the culture and communities. A way that can be meaningful is to connect with people in comment sections, send out personal emails, and arrange a virtual or in-person meeting. Returning to the basics of connecting can provide you and your organization many opportunities to build great communication/marketing spaces for your digital community.
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three. Your social media is not a bulletin board.
Remember, less is more, but when it comes to intentionality, be extra. Many nonprofits aim to share community updates, events, and ways to expand resources. However, the key is to understand when to post on specific platforms. Not all platforms are aligned with your community, so knowing the right time can maximize your communication's impact.
This might take some time, but understanding your community in more diverse social environments might help your organization identify your engagement and where your community is socially—schedule time with your communications or marketing team to learn where the best engagement is.
For example, creating a newsletter of community updates and tagging other organizations to increase their engagement is a way that cross-posting supports community-building.
Image from Canva
Building Community
Many organizations or businesses must remember to create a budget for their marketing, communications, and digital obligations, which can relieve the stress of managing how communications and marketing are rolled out throughout the year. This is especially true during unexpected disagreements with the organization, unexpected urgency, or whatever the case.
If your organization is going the It's free, I'll do It myself route; many social platforms now have ways to schedule posts, but the other factors of what it takes to post still need to be included. However, the downfall of those "free services" is that they don't give you access to learn about your communities digitally or full access to the data you need to learn more about your online engagement. Sometimes, you'll have to spend more time understanding the materials needed to expand or learn about your digital community.