Six of us recently sat around a board room table, could not for the life of us agree on what the best term to refer to the act of giving back to society by a brand is.

Previously we all knew it as Corporate Social Responsibility, but now, we have – Corporate Responsibility (CR), Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Corporate Accountability, Creating Shared Value (CSV), Citizenship, and just plain Social Responsibility – all causing a rousing debate among some of the most brilliant minds in the Brand Strategy industry.

Today, let us use the term – CSR.

This is the time of the year at which many brands are thinking about social strategies, to give them a friendly and humane look to current and potential customers alike. We looked through a few ways in which you can identify, build on and execute the opportunities.

1. Pick one of these areas to focus on – go for the one that is most likely to give you direct contact with potential customers, easily integrates into your business hitting KPI’s along the way. The most common areas to pick from are: Philanthropy, Environmental responsibility, Ethical responsibility and Economic engagement.

2. Research on your stakeholders concerns and see which ones speak to your brand. This is a way to attract interaction and involvement in the CSR activity the brand picks.

3. Set goals and KPI’s related to the CSR involvement chosen. These will help tick off the successes and failures of what is picked, so that during a review, the brand can make an informed decision on how to adjust and what to integrate or drop from the implementation.

4. Assess your peers and see the gaps that you can fill. Analyze the impact of what they are doing, so you can stand out by differentiating yourself. You may also find that a partnership with another brand will have more impact.

5. Try integrate initiatives into the product experience and let the stakeholders participate. For example, for a certain quantity of products sold, let a certain percentage go into the CSR kitty.

The author is a Partner Consultant in the Strategy Division at BI. You can reach her on joyce.waithira@brandintegrated.com