A Qualitative Case for Community Engagement

Here is the 30 second article overview for those of you on a tight timeline.

• Social Capital is the currency of sustainable enterprise.
• If your mandate includes inspiring the adoption of more sustainable practices or the diffusion of sustainable innovation then cultivating social capital should be as important to your organization as building investor and analyst relationships is to a public company.
• Community Engagement is the ongoing process that cultivates social capital.
• Web and social media can be instrumental in the community engagement process.
• Engaging stakeholders and the extended community with a transactional mindset is the biggest barrier to cultivating social capital.
• Hiring a professional agency for community engagement can help.

With increasing sophistication, web and social media technologies make it easier to connect with stakeholders and constituents.  But to what end? In this new game, the old measures of success don’t always hold up.

Community Engagement, particularly in the online world, is seen as a great opportunity to drive marketing outcomes or influence change.  Yes, it can do that, and then some. AND new rules apply. Community engagement isn’t a means to a strategic end. It’s an end in itself.

The power of community engagement extends beyond the strategies of organizations and the boundaries of markets. It arises organically from clear intent and shared purpose and thrives in fertile environments that welcome diversity of thought, authentic conversation, reflective learning and inspired contribution.

Its ultimate power and purpose is to create a system of belonging by:

• Extending a genuine invitation to share in authentic dialogue and café style conversations,
• Unearthing the personal stories that hold the values, beliefs and assets of constituents, and
• Revealing the web of interconnectedness that exists and can be strengthened in support of a greater community vision

Short-term social media initiatives often die on the vine due to a mismatch in expectations.  Managed with a transactional mindset, you may net a few new contacts, generate some traffic and maybe even sell a few products. But with a little more care and intention, community engagement becomes the gateway between transactional and transformational and can yield the flow of vital social capital, so rarely exchanged between an organization and its stakeholders.

Cultivating social capital, as measured by the quality of the relationships an individual and an organization holds with itself and the greater community, should be a key intention for every community engagement effort.

As a community engagement professional, I encourage you to think of and treat your constituents with the same level of respect and care you would extend to a potential financial investor in your business.  In many ways, the flow of social capital and financial capital actually go hand-in-hand.

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