Social Media and the Planning Consultation Process in 2017

— January 13, 2017

If you look up ‘social media’ on the very trusty Wikipedia, it reliably (*cough*) informs us that it is “computer-mediated technologies that allow individuals, companies, NGOs, governments, and other organisations to view, create and share information, ideas, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.”


With communities at the heart of public consultation social media is very much a force to be reckoned with in the property development sector, although still often underused.


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We say this not only because of our own experience, but also because we’ve done our research. Our survey of over 1,400 councillors across Great Britain on social media and the planning consultation process clearly indicates that social media is a pretty powerful tool when it comes to consultation work, to better engage local communities.


The key facts and figures from our report show how cost effective, insight led and importantly, targeted social media can be at finding those who are usually hard to reach or may not otherwise be engaged with the consultation process.



  • 60% believe developers should be engaging with local communities through social media as part of the consultation process
  • 75% said that social media is an ‘important’ or ‘very important’ engagement tool

Many people within the industry are still nervous about the ‘switching on’ and potential barrage of negative abuse. These concerns are valid, however, like any communications activity when managed right, handled with the right amount of due care and used effectively like any other comms channel concerns are more often than not put to rest in light of the benefits to be gained.


It is this nervousness that we need to overcome to entice construction and property players to really take social media seriously for this level of engagement work.


Perhaps the property industry needs to have some more proof points of social media in engagement before the main pack catch on and commit to this ‘new’ technology?


In 2017 we believe that social media will become an increasingly embedded part of many more public consultation strategies as fears start to wane thanks to clear strategy, implementation and tracking of responses.

Digital & Social Articles on Business 2 Community

Author: Rhiannon Thompson


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