Now that digital community data is so accessible, it should be making our community engagement and research processes faster and easier right? But many find that’s not always the case. It may be tempting to think that digital data can completely replace traditional engagement. But instead of thinking what you can ‘cut out’, think about what you can ‘speed up’: essentially how you can utilise digital data feeds to expedite some of your research, and save the face to face engagement for targeted topics.
Here are four ways to utilise digital community data:
1. What is it like to live in the neighbourhood?
Deeply understanding local lives is key to successful engagement strategies. Digital data feeds are an excellent way to rapidly understand the context of local life such as:
- What are the economic circumstances?
- What is the housing offer?
- What amenities are available or missing?
2. Who are the true local stakeholders?
Get passed ‘traditional’ stakeholder lists to find the real community influencers. By ensuring your engagement tactics include and empower this group you are able to cut through other local ‘noise’ more effectively. Learn:
- Which businesses and organisations influence the local community?
- Who do the community trust most?
- How can I contact them?
3. Learn where to reach lots of people
Meet the locals where they are by targeting the locations people use the most. Learn
- Where can you reach the most local people?
- When are they using those locations?
4. What do local people value most about their lifestyle?
Understanding local values can add context to the motivations behind other feedback. These data sets are an excellent starting point before designing a focus group interview, or community survey. Learn:
- How do people socialise?
- What types of activities do they love?
- Where do they love to spend time?
HINT: deep-dive further into these concepts in these videos:
Take a look at this post to learn more about how ‘community voice’ data fits into the wider data ecosystem.