In our increasingly diverse and interconnected world, social impact campaigns play a vital role in increasing awareness and driving behavior change across communities. However, to truly make a difference, social impact campaigns must be designed to authentically reach audiences with messages that are both resonant and relevant to their everyday lives — which requires a deep understanding of the people you intend to reach. 

When we begin with ethnographic research to gain insights about audiences, we can uncover the messages and information that are most meaningful and impactful for them, plus we can identify the most successful path to help them think and act differently. This approach encourages us to center ourselves in their reality: their lived experience, values, and beliefs. We must learn what they care about and want to know, then allow this understanding — rather than our assumptions — to inform our campaign strategy, message platform, and communication.

At Interplay, our campaign development praxis is born from the idea and belief that the most effective social impact campaigns start with a strong foundation of interdisciplinary audience research. This is the bridge between what we think we know about our audiences and the action we want them to take. 

Before we can truly know how to reach audiences from multiple cultures and experiences, we need to understand the unique barriers they face to accessing information, their daily lived realities, and what motivates them to not only engage with information, but take the next step of action to implement that information. Research shows that when we center our audiences and their needs, we create a critical pathway for engagement and long-term change. By understanding where and how our audiences are finding their information, we can meet them with relevant messages right where they are when they need it most. We call this communicating at the right time, in the right places, using the right messages.

After years of building effective and lasting social impact campaigns for multicultural audiences, we’ve developed the following step-by-step best practices for building a compelling campaign with lasting results. Our goal is to inspire and support organizations and causes to think about and approach developing social impact campaigns differently.

The Social Impact Campaign Journey

We’ve developed a clear set of effective steps for building a compelling social impact campaign — from centering equity and using a research-first approach to integrating ethnographic data to develop an effective campaign strategy.

Step 1: Center Equity

An equity-centered approach to a campaign prioritizes the lived experiences of the audiences we are trying to reach. It goes beyond acknowledging practices that perpetuate barriers by intentionally creating tools for engagement that are trauma-informed, culturally relevant, accessible, and authentic to a group’s lived experience. Embedded within the strategies, the creative deliverables, the engagement tactics, and messaging — the how of the campaign — our audiences’ needs and lived experiences are considered from start to finish. When you partner with us, we’ll explore ways to integrate this lens throughout the lifecycle of your campaign.

Step 2: Audit The Landscape

Effective campaigns begin with an audience-first discovery phase. We have to understand what messages exist, but we can’t end there. Auditing helps us understand how they have been received, whether they were harmful or successful in reaching their intended audiences, if there is already research into the topics we’re honed in on, and how all of this can inform the work we are doing. In this phase, we review audience-facing materials, scan relevant campaigns, engage in listening sessions, and dig into any existing secondary research data. All of this insight helps us learn the landscape where our messaging will exist, where our audiences are finding their information, and what online platforms they visit in order to reach them where they are. 

Step 3: Research Your Audiences

Strategic communications is not one-size-fits-all. Developing effective messaging requires that we clearly identify the audience we aim to reach. To successfully understand our audiences’ awareness and perceptions of our desired messages, we cannot assume we know what they need. Beginning with audience research allows us to:

• Uncover the unique challenges and barriers that may impede their participation

• Identify culturally resonant methods of communication

• Become familiar with our audiences’ journey to finding information, including various touchpoints where we can best reach them and how to support them along the way 

• Determine the types of messengers and information sources that will speak directly to their lived experiences and influence their thinking and action

Step 4: Integrate & Analyze Data

After the research stage, it’s important to use an integrated approach to analyzing the data we capture. Pooling the information together to create a full picture from the many parts, helps us understand, in a more holistic way, what the information is telling us. For example, when we see data that indicates high levels of engagement on social platforms but low levels of engagement on a website, our integrated analysis helps us dig deeper into the audience journey and potentially uncover accessibility barriers or an incomplete user experience. This helps us know what messages to use, where, and how to use them successfully to ensure our campaigns are reaching the right people, at the right time with the right messages.

Step 5: Engage With Community & Partners

When reaching specific communities and providing the services they need, we must create the opportunity for them to see themselves reflected in the entire process. Culturally representative engagement focuses on co-creating strategies grounded in the cultural knowledge and nuance of a community by including members in the work itself. But it doesn’t end there. Fostering lasting relationships with current and prospective community partners is essential in activating a sustainable community partner network that can help support the messages once they are out in the field. Collaboration with community and organizational partners can also foster a sense of ownership and investment among audiences, increasing the likelihood of campaign success and sustainability. When you partner with Interplay, we explore how to integrate this praxis as well as accountability measures throughout and beyond the lifecycle of a campaign. 

Want to learn more? First, read our best practice framework for community engagement.

Step 6: Develop Your Campaign Strategy

Our final step is a set of key ingredients that can ensure your campaign not only runs smoothly but reaches the audiences it intends to reach. When strategy informs the work from start to finish, we can engage at various touchpoints to ensure success. 

With Interplay as your partner, we’ll develop your campaign strategy and recommend key ingredients — from developing a campaign framework to incorporating transcreation, identifying credible messengers, ensuring you exceed accessibility standards, and creating a memorable campaign brand and visuals rooted in justice-driven design. Ultimately, our goal for every social impact campaign is to empower individuals and communities to become agents of change and foster a sense of agency over calls to action. By inviting audiences to be active contributors, social impact campaigns can cultivate a sense of ownership and collective responsibility for the issues at hand.

Creating compelling social impact campaigns that resonate with multicultural audiences requires a thoughtful and inclusive approach. By embracing equity, researching your landscape and key audiences, integrating data, and engaging communities and partners along the way, campaign creators can develop an effective strategy for connecting with and inspiring people to join in the collective pursuit of positive change. As we strive to build a more equitable, inclusive, and just society, these best practices serve as guiding principles for creating impactful campaigns that leave a lasting impression on communities around the world.