Reaching and engaging all stakeholders is crucial for organizations and initiatives. But gaining input from "hard to reach" groups like youth, seniors, minorities or the disabled can be difficult. Digital engagement opens new doors for inclusion.

Let's look at 5 impactful ways you can work with hard to reach populations using technology and thoughtful outreach.

1. Meet Them Where They Are

Don’t expect hard to reach groups to come to your typical town halls or committees. You need to embed engagement opportunities where they already are digitally. For example, you can host Twitter chats or Reddit AMAs on topics relevant to the groups you want to engage. Run contests on Instagram or TikTok that invite their participation. Place ads on the streaming sites or apps you know your target demographics use frequently. Partner with influencers within the communities you want to reach to become ambassadors that activate their networks.

The key is to promote your engagement channels proactively on the platforms these groups are already active on. Make participating seamless and a natural part of their existing digital activities.

2. Address Access Barriers

Factors like income, language, culture and ability affect who can engage with your organization and how. That’s why you must intentionally address barriers that could restrict participation. For instance, provide multilingual outreach materials and engagement platforms to accommodate non-native English speakers. Choose digital tools and forums that are accessible across devices, including compatibility with screen readers and other adaptive devices. Use plain language principles and readability best practices when developing digital materials to make them understandable for varied education levels. Supply technical support resources like helplines, how-to guides and videos to help unfamiliar users troubleshoot accessing and using engagement platforms. Make sure to develop an overall digital space where diverse communities feel represented and welcomed. Improving accessibility in areas like these removes obstacles that could prevent harder to reach populations from engaging fully and on their own terms.

3. Build Trust with Partners

Working strategically with trusted community partners is invaluable for engaging vulnerable and isolated groups you haven’t reached before. Identify and partner with local nonprofits who already provide services and have relationships with the demographics you want to better connect with. Collaborate with religious, cultural and recreation centers to have them act as liaisons that enable you to sensitively engage with new groups. Train respected leaders within niche communities to become facilitators and ambassadors that activate their networks and connections. Make sure to compensate partners equitably for any coordination efforts they take on. Promote your partners’ brands alongside yours to tap into the trust communities already place in them.

Leveraging these kinds of existing, authentic relationships of trust allows you to expand the reach of your digital engagement in an inclusive way.

4. Personalize with Segmented Outreach

Having a one-size fits all digital outreach and engagement approach simply won’t resonate across all groups and demographics. You need to tailor your tactics and touchpoints to the specific needs of each segment you want to activate. Conduct user research to understand the cultural values, communication norms and motivating interests of each audience so you can incorporate those elements into messaging and content. Send bilingual emails or mailers to households where you know non-native language speakers reside based on data overlays. Use text reminders about engagement events that are personalized to preferred communication channels by age groups like youth versus seniors. Adapt the overall style and tone of your outreach across platforms to resonate with cultural sensibilities of each demographic. Spotlight diverse voices and images representing the communities you want to reach to make your digital spaces feel welcoming to them.

Personalized, culturally relevant outreach demonstrates your genuine commitment to understand each group’s lived experiences and meet them where they are.

5. Close the Loop with Reporting Back

For hard to reach populations who may not typically have much voice or visibility, it’s crucial to close the feedback loop and show them their involvement makes a real difference. Once you complete an engagement initiative, publicly release results that summarize key themes and metrics from their input. Report back on how the feedback you gathered directly informed or shaped final decisions and next steps for your organization. Keep the dialogue open through sustaining mechanisms like ongoing advisory panels that give these groups influence. As opportunities arise, visibly profile members of hard to reach populations in leadership and spokesperson opportunities related to the issue.

Taking steps like these to transparently report back and demonstrate these voices are valued builds lasting trust and participation with groups that may have been marginalized previously.

Innovative digital engagement paired with inclusive relationship building enables you to gain crucial insights from groups you may be missing today. Applying these tactics makes organizations more responsive, resilient and reflective of true diversity.