The content you create is as important to community engagement as the tools you use. This includes project descriptions, tool descriptions, and how you write questions within your tools.
You can write tool content so that it encourages deeper and more meaningful engagement, results in broader insights, and allows your community to engage with complex topics.
To help you, we’ve created the following list of content writing tips to consider as you write tool descriptions and questions:
Write clearly: Use plain language instead of jargon or workplace terms and explain any acronyms or unfamiliar terms. You should also be brief and avoid verbose language.
Encourage creativity: Open-ended questions can help participants respond creatively and encourage deeper thinking about complex issues
Provide options: Use the Allow other option setting for closed questions, so contributors can provide responses outside of the multiple choice you’ve given them.
Clarify: Follow closed questions by asking the reasons behind their response to gain deeper insights. You may find more value in the reasons behind a response than in the response itself.
Avoid ambiguity: Be specific when asking about elements of your projects, and don’t expect your participants to know the details of proposed projects and plans. For example, if your consultation is about a specific place, then focus your questions on it to motivate participants.
Understand your audience: If a demographic will be highly impacted by a consultation, target your questions toward that group. Generic questions can seem inclusive but may also result in no response from groups that are most impacted by decisions.
Be motivational: Using active voice and call-to-actions can motivate community members to be more active in their participation. Ask questions that empower community members to take change. Use positive language to understand problem areas and determine what needs to be done about them.
Communicate honestly: Some changes may be inevitable. Always be honest about how community members can contribute and what they can change about proposals. This will help cultivate trust between your organization and the community they serve.
Provide context: Write relevant background information into your questions and tool descriptions. Contextualizing a question will help drive conversations and informed participants provide valuable contributions. In surveys, you can also use the Section Title and Description to link plans, policies, or other documents that you are asking respondents about.
Simplify where possible: Presenting scenarios can help explain complex questions, and you can simplify questions using clear options where appropriate. Avoid “double-barreled” survey questions (where you have two metrics in one question) as this will make it hard for you to interpret your data.