What are stakeholders and why are they integral to the success of a social marketing campaign?
Posted by TeamPC on 18 Sep 2017
Social marketing will only be successful in delivering behavioural change, if you involve people, or entire communities that are outside of your immediate steering, or management group. These are people that have an interest in what you are doing, often involving wide-ranging groups of diverse stakeholders.
Identify who these people are, and then find ways of engaging them
When you have identified who your key stakeholders are, you then need to find ways of assessing their expectations, requirements and find ways of motivating their interest. You may, of course, need to start with the basic question: What is social marketing?
Some social marketing agencies invite active stakeholder involvement in specific interventions, and encourage them to form their own steering/advisory groups with the core decision-making team. That promotes a sense of ownership and active interest. It is useful to invite key stakeholders to form a steering (and/or an advisory) group with the core team. It is useful to invite key stakeholders to form a steering (and/or an advisory) group with the core team. Effectively it means that these people, or stakeholders, will have a vested interest in ensuring the success of the social marketing scheme, leading to positive feedback, ideas and involvement.
Remember that stakeholders are allies, not enemies!
It is useful to invite key stakeholders to form a steering (and/or an advisory) group with the core team.Whilst a stakeholder can sometimes prove to be a nuisance, providing unwanted input, remember that it’s important that they are involved early on in the planning process.
Effective communication with groups and individuals is hugely important and they may ultimately become part of the delivery mechanism for your social marketing campaign as it develops.
A dynamic process, but don’t forget to manage it
Don’t forget that stakeholder engagement and analysis is a dynamic and essential element of your social marketing project.
Stakeholders can often be unpredictable, change their position over time, and new stakeholders may emerge. That means they need to be managed, kept informed and be involved.
Work with a social marketing partner with experience of stakeholder engagement
Finding ways of using your stakeholder’s positive power and infuence is the real skill – and that art lies in working with a social marketing agency that understands what they are doing – and the importance of stakeholder engagement.
We’re Perfect Circle – an open and honest social marketing agency that delivers life changing behavioural change campaigns.
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