How can you map social marketing stakeholders?

1 Identify your stakeholders

When brainstorming and listing all the possible stakeholders related to your social marketing issue, goal, or strategy, you can use various sources of information to identify them. Examples include literature reviews, surveys, interviews, focus groups, social media analysis, or stakeholder analysis tools. Additionally, you can categorize your stakeholders into primary, secondary, or tertiary stakeholders depending on their involvement. Primary stakeholders are typically the target audience or beneficiaries of your social marketing campaign such as consumers, patients, citizens, or communities. Secondary stakeholders are the intermediaries or influencers that can facilitate or hinder your social marketing campaign such as policymakers, media, NGOs, or industry associations. Tertiary stakeholders are the supporters or critics that can affect the public perception or legitimacy of your social marketing campaign such as experts, celebrities, activists, or competitors.

2 Analyze your stakeholders

The next step is to analyze and understand your stakeholders' characteristics, motivations, expectations, and behaviors. To collect and analyze data about your stakeholders, you can use stakeholder interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, or feedback. Additionally, frameworks such as the stakeholder salience model, the stakeholder mapping matrix, or the stakeholder engagement spectrum can help you assess and visualize the level of interest and power of each stakeholder. When analyzing your stakeholders, consider questions such as their needs and preferences related to your social marketing issue, goal, or strategy; their roles and responsibilities; their expectations and opinions; their level of awareness and willingness to change their behavior; and their level of influence or authority.

3 Prioritize your stakeholders

The third step is to prioritize and segment your stakeholders based on their relevance and influence for your social marketing issue, goal, or strategy. Criteria such as the stakeholder salience model, the stakeholder mapping matrix, or the stakeholder engagement spectrum can be used to rank and group your stakeholders into different categories. Personas, profiles, or segments can be used to differentiate them based on characteristics, motivations, expectations, and behaviors. High priority stakeholders have high interest and power in your social marketing issue, goal, or strategy and can significantly affect or be affected by your social marketing campaign. These are the key stakeholders that you need to closely engage and communicate with. Medium priority stakeholders have either high interest or high power in your social marketing issue, goal, or strategy and can moderately affect or be affected by your social marketing campaign. These are the important stakeholders that you need to consult and inform regularly. Low priority stakeholders have low interest and power in your social marketing issue, goal, or strategy and can minimally affect or be affected by your social marketing campaign. These are the marginal stakeholders that you need to monitor and acknowledge occasionally.

4 Develop your stakeholder strategies

The final step in social marketing is to develop tailored communication and engagement strategies for each stakeholder group. You can use tools, such as the stakeholder communication plan, the stakeholder engagement plan, or the stakeholder action plan, to define and document your objectives, messages, channels, activities, resources, responsibilities, and indicators for each stakeholder group. Additionally, you can use techniques such as the social marketing mix, the social marketing funnel, or the social marketing ladder to design and deliver persuasive interventions for each stakeholder group. For example, when engaging with high priority stakeholders you should build strong relationships and involve them in your campaign as co-creators or co-evaluators. You should use emotional and rational appeals to motivate them to adopt or support your desired behavior. When engaging with medium priority stakeholders you should establish mutual understanding and consult them as advisors or endorsers. You should use direct and targeted communication methods to inform or educate them and use benefits and incentives to encourage them. Lastly, when engaging with low priority stakeholders you should monitor and acknowledge their presence and inform them as observers or critics. You should use mass and general communication methods to raise awareness about your campaign and use barriers and disincentives to deter undesired behavior. Mapping your stakeholders can help you design more effective social marketing campaigns that have a higher chance of achieving objectives and creating positive social change.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?