Written by Robyn T. Braley
This is the last post in our series about how to build a media campaign for Rotary Clubs and other community organizations. In this final article, I wrap up the series with ideas for integrating your own social media campaign into your strategy. This will be a natural transition to our next series about developing a custom social media program for your club.
As a quick review, throughout this series I have used the term media convergence. Social media (SM) is totally integrated with mainstream media.
What is Convergence?
If radio, TV or newspapers
run a story about your project or event, it will quickly be posted online and promoted through their social media channels.
- Radio interviews are packaged as podcasts
- TV clips are uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube or embedded in the media website
- Daily newspapers send a videographer and upload video clips to their websites
- All may livestream coverage from your event
- All promote their coverage on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other platform
Turning the Table
So, what am I talking about in this post? Enhancing media activity by launching your own social media component within your overall strategy.At conferences I was speaking at, I started to notice 3-4 people at a table at the back of the hall typing furiously on their laptops as early as 2011. Some detective work revealed they were busy uploading speaker quotes, observations and photos to the conference promotor's social media campaign.
As traffic began to build throughout the event, much of their time was spent retweeting and responding to comments. The goal is to generate so much traffic that the event will trend across the country. I've seen it happen.
What is Your Event?
In our post Tips for Building a Quality Media List for Your Service Club,
I included a section about how to identify story angles. If you don’t
have an event scheduled, the list will trigger ideas about coming speaker topics or other activities at your club that would
be ideal for attracting major media attention.
Setting the Scene
For our purpose, let's imagine a made-up meeting about Micro-Credit. At the meeting,
two Mom’s from Guatemala will tell their story about how Micro-Finance changed
their lives, the lives of their families and their entire village.
In my story, as the women succeeded in their micro-businesses, they were
able to buy more nutritious food and could afford to pay for proper schooling
for their kids. Eventually, as their resources grew, they were able to buy
their own home.
There is more! For 10 years members from your club traveled to the
ladies’ village where they helped out with micro-credit startup projects. Once the
programs were established, the Rotarians developed a clean water project and then helped
build a school so the children wouldn’t have to walk through the dangerous
jungle to the next village.
Also at the meeting will also be the President of the NGO Micro-credit organization that your club has partnered with. The person is accompanying the ladies on a speaker tour of partnering organizations.
I also suggest including a photographer who is good at taking live-action shots.
Pre-write informative tweets or facebook posts. Organize your photos so they will be easy to find in the heat of the action.
Create a list of social media addresses like;
@ Potential media who may attend
@ The partnering NGO
@ Other clubs who support you
@ Individuals who are champions of your projects
@ Your town or city
@ The venue you meet at
@ Government organizations or foundation that may have matched funds
Why is this important? Your goal is to stimulate retweets, liking and other social media endorsements.
Also at the meeting will also be the President of the NGO Micro-credit organization that your club has partnered with. The person is accompanying the ladies on a speaker tour of partnering organizations.
Recruiting a Team
If your club does not have an active Facebook or Twitter account, set up dedicated accounts. Ask a couple of club members to volunteer to be your content curators. This be an opportunity to involve community volunteers to help out.I also suggest including a photographer who is good at taking live-action shots.
- The best writer (experienced doing SM) will manage the channels
- The production assistant (PA) will record the event using a program like Audacity
- They PA will download, size, and send to the SM manager live-action photos taken by the photographer
- The PA will quick-edit video shot throughout the event on their phone
- The photographer will shoot throughout the event periodically downloading photos to the team.
Content Curation
In preparation for the event, ask your social media team to do some research about micro-credit in general, the health benefits of clean water projects and about the partnering NGO. Also secure photos your club's members have taken when in Guatemala.Pre-write informative tweets or facebook posts. Organize your photos so they will be easy to find in the heat of the action.
Hash-Tags and Tags
When your event happens, media activity will happen quickly. Research a list of keywords for hash tagging like #microcredit or #cleanwater or #womenshealth ir #Guatemala. A list keywords will provide a variety of terms to work with.Create a list of social media addresses like;
@ Potential media who may attend
@ The partnering NGO
@ Other clubs who support you
@ Individuals who are champions of your projects
@ Your town or city
@ The venue you meet at
@ Government organizations or foundation that may have matched funds
Why is this important? Your goal is to stimulate retweets, liking and other social media endorsements.
Social Media Possibilities
This is a stream of social media consciousness providng a sketch of what might happen around your event.
- 2-3 days before your event began posting and tweeting content about your event. Caution; content should go beyond simple promotional messages. Talk about 'why' this is important.
- Include keywords and tag various address from the list above
- The day of the event, start broadcasting about an hour before your event
- Have the photographer shoot as people come
- Take photos of media doing interviews before or after the event
- Edit audio and video clips and upload
- After the event, using your phone, interview the ladies, the NGO president and key members of your club. Edit and disseminate on Facebook or Twitter
- Modify content and continue broadcasting for several days after the event is over
Leading Questions; What do You Think?
What event related social media experiences have you had with your not-for-profit organization? I’d like to hear your opinions and ideas. Please share your ideas. I'll respond!
Robyn Braley is a marketing specialist, keynote speaker and writer. He is also a Rotarian who is passionate about Building the Rotary Brand. He has led two teams that received the Rotary International PR Award. He has also served as the PR Chair for District 5360. Robyn has placed hundreds of traditional and new media stories about Rotary and other organizations.
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