What Makes a Good Social Engagement Program?

Do you feel like you need meaning in your life? Something bigger than simply making money and succeeding in the corporate world? Does your stomach ache every time you see someone begging on the streets? Do you feel helpless witnessing social injustice, wishing you could fix it all? A good social engagement program can be the answer. It offers you the opportunity to contribute to meaningful causes, helping communities in need and addressing issues that matter. By participating in such a program, you can make a tangible difference in the lives of others, which, in turn, gives your own life greater purpose and fulfillment.

If you can relate to this, you might want to know that you are not alone. There’s a growing urge among business owners and people in general for social engagement and contribution to the greater good.  Entrepreneurs seem to feel the need to make things better in their communities. Hence, there’s an increasing interest in the paths to meaningful and good social engagement program.

As a consultant on philanthropic efforts and social impact, clients often ask me about creating good social engagement programs. They are curious about the key elements that make these initiatives effective. There’s no simple answer, as it depends on factors like your business model, industry, and whether you operate in B2B or B2C. However, all effective social engagement programs share key features that make them both sustainable and meaningful.

If you, like my clients, want to tackle societal issues through your business, you’re not alone. Here’s what you need to know to build robust corporate social engagement programs.

Social & Economic results go hand in hand

This is a critical prerequisite for a successful social engagement program. It ensures your social impact aligns directly with your business outcomes. It motivates you and your employees to do your best as a business. This leads to greater contributions and success for the company. The better you do, the more you give, and the more motivation there is to do even better. By tying your economic results with your social impact, you also give a reason to your customers to choose you over somebody else.

In other words, it gives you an edge. It’s no surprise that TOMS Shoes has established itself as an exemplary when it comes to social entrepreneurship. The company operates on a one-for-one model. For every pair of shoes you purchase, TOMS Shoes donates another to someone in need. Clients realize that by simply buying a pair, they are helping someone, and employees understand that selling more shoes helps more people. Many other companies have followed the same example and donate for every item sold. Among them are Pedigree, which sells dog food, and Yoobi, which offers school supplies. Others include Twice as Warm for clothing and Warby Parker for glasses. Many more businesses follow this impactful approach.

Social Initiative somehow relates to your business

The best social engagement programs are the ones that somehow relate to what you do as a business. Why? Your clients see you as experts in your field. They trust you to understand the issues related to what you offer. A good social engagement program gets both your employees and customers excited about your bigger purpose. But how could they be excited if they don’t understand the link between what you do as a business and what you do for society? Be cautious here. If people can’t make sense of your efforts, they may question your sincerity. They might assume you are engaging with this social issue only because it’s expected of businesses.

For example, Magna – a car parts maker from the States embarked on creating an organic commune to promote healthy living. Thus, the company spent millions to build Magnaville, an organic farm for evacuees from the Katrina hurricane, where community service was to be exchanged for living. The project failed because neither the evacuees nor the surrounding communities bought into the concept. This was partly due to a lack of understanding about the connection between a car manufacturer and organic farming.

Social Impact is measurable 

It is hard to stay motivated about the difference you make if you are unsure as to whether you do make a difference and how much of a difference you make. There should be a system to measure how many lives your organization has impacted. For one-for-one examples, this is straightforward—each sale equals a person helped.

But if you decide to go for a model different than the one-for-one, it might be a bit more complicated. If you’ve partnered with a non-profit, whether by volunteering or donating time or services, ensure they have a system in place to track the results. This helps to monitor the impact of your efforts. Make sure they can measure and report the outcomes effectively.

It needs to demonstrate how your contribution translates into impact in terms of numbers. The same applies if you decide to take an initiative / cause into your own hands. Having a results-tracking system in place is essential as you need to keep both your employees and clients informed (and thus excited) about the difference you make. Otherwise, it might feel like you are wasting time and resources.

Both employees & customers are engaged

No surprise here. Whatever your cause is, you would normally need buy-in from both your employees and your customers for your social engagement program to be a success. Employees, especially in the reality of today when people need meaning in their lives more than ever, will be incredibly loyal and will do their best to help you when they feel excited and proud of your social efforts.

So if you’ve set your mind on an initiative, make sure you get feedback from your employees and see how they feel about it. The same applies to the general public and your customers in particular. As mentioned earlier, they need to understand why you do what you do first of all. Then, make sure you give them the chance to contribute themselves – either by volunteering or by spreading the word on Social Media (and outside of it) or in any other way that will allow them to be actively involved. I’ve spoken about this before but engagement is essential. It creates that buzz and community around your cause that makes it successful.

Patagonia, the outdoor apparel company, for example, are doing incredibly well, business-wise mostly due to the fact that they are doing great in their social mission to reduce consumerism and preserve the environment. What they do is, they create great initiatives that everybody is proud to be a part of and through which they engage with their customers and give them the chance to set an example for other people too. It’s a win-win.

There’s an endless list of failed corporate social initiatives and if there’s something we can learn from them it would be that first of all, you need to be genuine in your intentions and efforts and your customers need to understand that, and second of all your social mission needs to be interwoven into your business model and strategy with the right tools and mechanisms. Otherwise, it is all a waste of time, effort and resources.

If you want to know more about creating a sustainable social engagement programme that is meaningful and robust, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would be happy to chat to you and help you create and integrate a social programme that is beneficial both for your business and for society.