According to Pew Research, 7 in 10 adults use social media every day. As the technological era continues to take control of our world, it is more important than ever to utilize media to your advantage.
So, What’s Going on in Chelsea?
The grassroots organization in Chelsea is the main news source that covers ongoing projects and recent developments. They are active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Unfortunately, their Facebook and Instagram accounts are not as efficient as they could be: they cover a very surface-level scope of information.
Facebook is the most widely used social media platform for the organization. Pew Research has noted that 69% of adults use Facebook and there is steady usage across all income levels. However, 25-30 year-olds make up the highest percentage of users (84%) followed by 30-49 year-olds (79%). With these statistics in mind, grassroots advocacy organizations need to cater their outreach to these audiences to successfully engage the public in supporting their work. Common outreach strategy mistakes include:
Lack of specificity
No contacts to reach out to for more information
For example, below is a recent post from the organization. Many questions arise upon first glance. What are the goals of this urban farm? Where is it located? Who is in charge? How can I get involved? For individuals new to Chelsea, the organization, or in a surrounding neighborhood who want to get involved, this level of detail is nonnegotiable. .
Failure to respond to community questions
The organization can work to to increase engagement on posts by personally responding to comments left by community members.
Lastly, visuals are extremely important in a social media post. Photos invoke connection and emotional response in the viewer. Research from Hermann has revealed that the three most common types of images used in climate change responses are aerial, landscape, and children. Typical aerial and landscape images do not invoke any human connection, which is necessary for evoking a call to action.
The above post was a great example of branching outside of typical aerial images. The organization included a great picture of volunteers, staring directly at the camera. It is important that the organization continue to produce this type of content.
Below are several examples of how to create the most user-friendly posts to provide clear, detailed information while simultaneously improving the organization’s outreach tools.
Number One – Providing the Most Detailed Information as Possible
With an apparent lack of clear, detailed information about the organization's ongoing project, I propose employing videography as an outlet. Statistics from Iran Ahmad have shown that 55% of people watch videos online every day and that social media videos generate up to 1200% more shares than texts and images combined.
A video modeled off the post above could include real-time conversations–mashing interviews of project leaders, stakeholders, and compelling images all in one accessible location. In this case, the organization is opening up every side of their business, allowing stakeholders to get to know the change-makers behind the scenes. It could help create more of a personal connection with the community.
The video could also capture questions that the post was not able to cover, such as a discussion of the location, how to get involved, and the goals of the ongoing effort. This information could come from the project leader or other perspectives throughout the interviews.
You don’t need a large budget to create high quality video content. The videos can be quite short– two to three minutes maximum. There are many free video tools available to users, including iMovie. iMovie is simple and easy to learn and comes free on most Apple computers.
Introducing videography to the grassroots organization provides a unique, engaging, and refreshing way to disseminate information about the goals of the organization and ongoing efforts.
Number 2 – The Science of Storytelling
Throughout my research, I was not readily able to find direct testimonials from community members. Most news reports include spokespersons from the environmental organization and a few short quotes from industry leaders.
Simply focusing on raising awareness of the issue shouldn’t be the end goal. To truly increase communication and community involvement, the grassroots organization should tell stakeholder stories. We can make this happen through social media.
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a list of emotions that are especially impactful to elicit during storytelling. Some of the effective emotions include:
Pride
Awe
Admiration
Disgust
Fear
Storytelling is powerful in increasing engagement and readability of posts and information. Stories raise up voices that were unheard before. There is a certain power that comes from listening to others. Without hearing stories from community residents, one will never be able to understand what the community really needs. And without really knowing what the community needs, one cannot come up with adequate solutions.
For example, look at this post covering Mayor Jorge Elorza's personal experience with COVID-19.
The journalist chose to appeal to viewers through fear. He was able to increase engagement by telling a personal story of the Mayor’s mother. COVID-19 severely affected her and subsequently, the hospital placed her on a ventilator for two weeks. It helped get the main message through to readers; that new restrictions are necessary as COVID-19 is extremely dangerous.
The grassroots organization’s Instagram is active, but hardly utilized. Many of the posts are not engaging and do not have one coherent focus: they cover a variety of subjects, and rarely discuss ongoing efforts and environmental justice issues in the area.
Pew Research reports that though Instagram is new, and not as highly utilized by adults, it has one important followership– millennials. 75% of 18-24-year-olds use Instagram, and 57% of 25-30-year-olds use Instagram. These statistics are extremely important as we recognize how significant millennial action is toward inducing change.
The younger generation is composed of change-makers and problem-solvers. If we can get enough millennials to recognize environmental injustice occurring across the globe, they can rally for change.
In recognizing this, the grassroots organization is missing an untapped market– Instagram. If they can create posts modeled from storytelling, videography, and calls to action, the Instagram account can attract a younger crowd of followers.
The Instagram can focus on raising awareness of events, marches, and volunteer work.
Instagram is necessary to ensure appropriate communication for different audiences.
Introduction to the Blogosphere
Lastly, I would like to introduce the idea of developing a blogosphere.
According to researchers from Cox’s study in 2012, the blogosphere is the fastest growing source for environmental information. Blogs provide organizations and individuals the ability to interact with the public in a way that extends far beyond social media networks.
As Brainard found in 2015, “blogs are the penny press newspapers of the 21st century, allowing every citizen to share his or her views on the world.”
Blogs, like the one you are reading at this very moment, present citizens with the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions publicly. In this way, access to a blog is an exemplary way to raise up individual voices.
The grassroots advocacy organization could utilize the blogosphere as a place to share all types of information, from storytelling, to hands-on advice, to providing progress reports on studies and mediating scientific knowledge.
A hands-on blog makes it easy to increase community involvement. It makes solutions achievable by providing tangible steps for specific goals. This blogosphere may be just what the grassroots organization is missing.
Blogs are easy to use, easy to write, and easily accessible. The grassroots organization, with a website that is fully-functioning, can use the same domain to create a ‘blog’ page. It would require little financial investment other than time from the organization’s members.
Potential Implications
Something important to note is that to implement a new social media strategy, like the one listed above, the organization may need to hire a communication manager whose sole responsibility would be sharing clear, transparent information through various channels.