Part 3 of Social Media Profile Assignment as referenced from Part 2
“People are making the choice to be social” – Phil Gourlay,Special Events and Fundraising Coordinator
Wellspring, like every other non-profit organization, has limited resources to maintain its social media platforms, so a clear strategy would benefit in using its resources effectively.
There are three social media communication objectives that could help Wellspring Niagara reach their ongoing financial and community goals.
Inform
This objective is intended to educate people on current news about cancer and enhance interest and awareness of Wellspring’s programs and services.
By aligning themselves with their competition or other valuable organizations, Wellspring can post relevant information about cancer to its social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook) without having to do much work. (But be sure to have clear guidelines on what can be posted)
Measurement – Increased traffic to its website, ‘likes’ and comments posted to its Facebook page as well as ‘retweets’ and replies on Twitter.
Some of these posts might include what they’re doing already:
The competition and other organizations can help too!
- Setting up Google Alerts to get timely information on cancer sent directly to Wellspring’s inbox instead of having to spend the time on searching the web.
The Canadian Cancer Society website has an abundance of information about the disease including Canadian statistics, prevention, research, and insights
F— Cancer is a website that speaks to Generation Y about cancer, where many cool news, tips and education materials can be found.
Remind
This objective is intended for Wellspring Niagara to stay visible to its members, sponsors, donors and community reminding them to take action. The communication is meant to remind its people about Wellspring Niagara’s events, services and programs that they offer.
Measurement – Increased attendance at events, increased participation in its programs/services, ‘likes’ and comments posted to its Facebook page as well as ‘retweets’ and replies on Twitter.
Wellspring Niagara is currently doing a good job of reminding people about its events by posting photos after the events, although there is an opportunity to also remind people about the great programs and services they offer too.
- The program schedule is already posted to their website, therefore all that has to be done is use their social media platforms to remind people of the dates, time and location.
Community Goodwill
This objective is intended to promote sponsorship, donations and attract/retain volunteers through targeting their connections within the community and fostering those relationships.
Wellspring Niagara does an excellent job at thanking their sponsors and volunteers on their social media platforms, however there are a few tips that can make these acknowledgements more directed.
Measurement – Increase in Twitter followers, @replies, @mentions, and retweets.
- @mentions – Mentioning the people and companies who support Wellspring Niagara will also add Wellspring Niagara’s @mention tweet to other peoples @mention tabs in their Twitter account.
- #hashtags – Setting up a hashtag such as #WellspringNiag and promoting the hashtag in Twitter posts will help to categorize the tweets from Wellspring Niagara. Additionally, when people search for that hashtag they can find Wellspring’s Twitter account and hopefully ‘follow’ their ‘tweets’.
Sources: http://organizedleader.com/3-key-objectives-to-marketing-communications.html, http://www.chrisbrogan.com/10-communications-objectives-of-social-media/ , https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-what-are-hashtags-symbols#, http://www.letsfcancer.com/, telephone interview with Phil Gourlay 6.19.2012
Living Stories 