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| Path: Main Street > Resources/Library > Research Articles > Feature Article |
Public engagement and the Internet: Know your audience
By Pattie LaCroix
March 26, 2007
Many organizations today are implementing public engagement campaigns to move a wide range of social issues onto the public agenda for action. Knowing your audience is a key element to a successful public engagement campaign.
Who are we speaking to?
It is not unusual for us to assume that the more people we reach in our public engagement campaigns the better. So we often say, “we want to reach everybody or we want to reach as large a group as possible.” This is not necessarily the best strategy. Bigger may not be better in this case.In some cases, targeting a handful of key decision makers can result in substantial social change. That's because these key decision makers within your target audience are likely to bring along more supporters or tap into their broader social network.
The recently published report, Discovering the Activation Point, describes this group: “This means targeting the right social reference group (a group of people that certain audience targets look to for affirmation of what they think and believe, and to gauge if and when action is necessary.)”
A good approach when you are mapping out the audience for your public engagement campaign is to focus on the group that is not openly opposing your message. The idea of converting those opposed to your issue is not where you are going to create the most traction in creating a public swell of action that shifts the public agenda. This approach can still mean that you are communicating with a diverse number of people and organizations. So what you need to look for is the common value or shared value sweet spot among these people. This will in turn help you focus on your messaging for the campaign.
Knowing your audience is a key building block to an effective campaign. And the Internet can help play an important role in gathering a deeper understanding about your audience.
Tapping into a small group of key decision makers and/or a group that are already predisposed to your message can be very strategic in changing the public agenda. If your audience is successfully engaged to take the action you are proposing in your campaign, they are far more likely to send your campaign on to their social network. This is when the potential for your online public engagement campaign to go viral is heightened. In terms of the online component of your campaign, your goal for your audience is really twofold:
- Surveying your target audience online can provide insight into their values, interests, their comfort level for change, and so on. Surveying your own supporters and volunteers is a good place to start.
- Enlisting the services of an online polling agency can also help you shed some light on where people view your issue as a priority in their lives.
- Reviewing your website traffic patterns can help you understand what content areas in the broad landscape of your issue are most frequently accessed by people online.
- Hosting an online forum with a select group of your current support base can add more detail in creating a clearer understanding of your target audience.
A key element in an online viral public engagement campaign is messaging. Creating effective messaging goes beyond what it is that you want to say or what you feel is important for your audience to know. Tapping into what is important in the lives of your audience in the context of your issue unearths the real gold in creating an effective public engagement campaign.
- Get your audience to take the proposed action
- Get your audience to push your campaign along to their own personal networks
The next column in this series on public engagement and the Internet will look at messaging and language in a public engagement campaign.
Pattie LaCroix has provided strategic leadership in crafting integrated communications and fundraising strategies to nonprofits for more than a decade. As CEO of Catapult Media she is passionate about the power of storytelling in engaging your audience and building support for your work. You can reach Pattie at www.catapultmedia.ca.
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