Building Community Through User-Generated Content

Building Community Through User-Generated Content

Client: Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council & Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities

Challenge

Both statewide organizations sought to strengthen engagement with their audiences by moving beyond traditional agency communications and creating opportunities for individuals to share their own experiences. The goal was to build trust, increase participation, and generate authentic content that reflected the diverse communities they serve.

Approach

23 East Group developed comprehensive user-generated content (UGC) strategies designed to encourage ongoing community participation and create a sustainable pipeline of authentic stories.


For the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council, 23 East Group launched the Ohio Ambassador Project, an influencer-style initiative that recruited individuals with developmental disabilities to serve as community storytellers. Ambassadors shared their experiences through social media, video, and community events, creating authentic content that expanded campaign reach and strengthened audience trust. To support long-term engagement, the agency also developed a companion podcast that invited individuals and families to submit stories and participate as featured guests, creating an ongoing source of user-generated content that could be repurposed across multiple communications channels.

For the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, 23 East Group developed multiple statewide digital engagement initiatives focused on community storytelling. The “What’s Happening in Your Town?” campaign encouraged residents to submit stories highlighting local events, successes, and issues impacting their communities. The agency also launched “Ask Me Anything,” an interactive digital campaign where individuals submitted questions, shared personal experiences, and engaged directly with subject matter experts. These initiatives transformed community participation into valuable, audience-driven content while strengthening relationships between the Council and the people it serves.

Picture of Mockups of the work

Results

  • Developed sustainable user-generated content programs that continue to generate authentic stories and audience participation.
  • Created statewide networks of community storytellers and ambassadors representing diverse communities.
  • Increased engagement and strengthened trust by featuring real experiences from people with lived expertise.
  • Built a growing library of reusable content for social media, websites, videos, email marketing, podcasts, and public awareness campaigns.
  • The Ohio podcast is now in its fifth year and has received 74 community-submitted stories, providing a continuous source of authentic content and long-term audience engagement.
  • What’s Happening in Your Town? received 15 stories in the launch, and Ask GCDD Anything has received 16 questions regarding issues like healthcare, education, and more. The questions are answered by sourced experts and released in its monthly publication, email, and social media.
  • Increased community participation by creating interactive opportunities for audiences to contribute stories, ask questions, and become active participants in statewide communications.

    Example: Ambassador Project