Spreadin’ the Love through Social Media

Every year, Philabundance, the region’s largest hunger relief organization, sees a spike in donations, volunteers and overall interest in the organization around the holidays, end of October through the end of December. And every year, like clockwork, donations, volunteers and interest drop significantly once January hits.

In an effort to keep Philabundance and hunger top of mind for supporters during the ‘after holiday slump’, Philabundance needed a way to increase food donations and overall awareness. Hence, Spread the Love was born, a two week virtual food drive securing peanut butter & jelly from a local grocer for every “like” Philabundance received on Facebook.  The concept of Spread the Love was inspired by both the viral nature of the campaign and the Valentine’s Day time frame.

The Goal

Spread the Love was designed as a Valentine’s themed social media campaign. The goal was to grow our Facebook fan page “likes” while engaging current and new supporters as well as growing our eNewsletter subscription base.

The Incentive

Our first step was to find incentives for potential supporters. We decided to hold a virtual food drive through Facebook to increase our “likes” and offered a chance at winning a $500 travel voucher from US Air for signing up for FreshNews, our eNewsletter or forwarding FreshNews to a friend.

Partners

In order to hold a virtual food drive, Philabundance needed to secure a food industry partner that was willing to donate. ShopRite agreed to partner with Philabundance for Spread the Love and would donate a jar of peanut butter or jelly for every new “like” Philabundance received on Facebook.

US Airways, the official airline of Philabundance, offered Philabundance a $500 travel voucher to raffle off through a social media push- Spread the Love was a perfect opportunity.

Mix 106 partnered as the media sponsor and aired PSA’s promoting the two week long food drive and hosted a charity badge on their website where monetary donations could be made for purchase of pb&j.

Suburban Square partnered with Philabundance for the Spread the Love event held near the end of the campaign.

Execution

Philabundance pushed this opportunity out through our eNewsletter, Facebook and Twitter. Strategically targeted tweets and Facebook posts encouraged current supporters to invite members of their network to join Philabundance’s network in order to provide a jar or peanut butter or jelly to neighbors in need.

Local papers and blogs were alerted of the virtual food drive and encouraged their readers to participate. We secured coverage from Action News, Examiner.com, WHYY’s News Works and KYW.

The Spread the Love event was held at a local farmers market to help close out the campaign. Supporters could drop off PB&J donations in person and sign up for our eNewsletter for chances at the $500 travel voucher.

Results

This campaign was extremely successful for Philabundance. In two weeks, Philabundance gained more than 4800 news fans. As a result, more than 4800 jars of peanut butter and jelly were delivered to Philabundance from ShopRite. We also gained more than 230 new eNewsletter subscriptions and Philabundance saw an increase of nearly 95% in web traffic. We were able to track all of these statistics through Facebook analytics and our own website statistics.

With a little creativity and some TLC, executing a successful social media campaign can be very rewarding and your results have the potential to grow each year the campaign is conducted. Check out Mashable for a breakdown of what others have done in the past. Have you ever helped drive a social media campaign for your company or client? How did it work out?  

Lindsay Bues currently serves as Public Relations Coordinator at Philabundance, the Delaware Valley’s largest hunger relief organization. As PR Coordinator, Lindsay is responsible for expanding relationships with regional media and increasing Philabundance’s visibility throughout the region. She recently graduated from Temple University with a degree in Strategic and Organizational Communication in 2009. While at Temple, Lindsay served as chapter president of Temple’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).

How To Manage An Intern

Not too long ago I was sitting in the intern hot-seat, following the lead of my managers and allowing my brain to act like a sponge, trying to learn everything and anything. I have had managers that were effective and successful at communicating and I have had managers that were not great at communicating, with their interns at least.

Recently, the roles were reversed and now I am managing a PR intern. Because of my experiences, it was easy to identify communication and managing styles that I found effective and also greatly appreciated as an intern.

The task of managing an intern can be a challenge but by establishing expectations, keeping lines of communication open and giving thorough directions, you will be well on your way to establishing the mutually beneficial internship program.

1. Establish expectations. This can be done as early as the interview process. Explain clearly what your company needs from an intern and listen to what candidates are interested in and the experiences they are hoping to leave with. If your needs and their goals match up, then the program is off to a great start.

2. Keep lines of communication open. Your intern needs to feel comfortable asking questions; especially if it deals with work they have been assigned. Not only must an intern be comfortable coming to you, but as a manager you must be comfortable giving constructive feedback. Remember that interns are looking for mentors, people that are going to guide them in the right direction and help them prepare for the real world.

3. Thorough directions. Look, interns are not mind readers. Make sure you thoroughly explain every aspect of what you need the project to include, down to basic formatting. It may take some extra time to explain, but in the end its better than having only half of the project because you were not clear. Spending this extra time will also alleviate any frustrations the intern may feel after spending time on an assignment to find out they must redo it.

Although these may seem like basic principles you would be surprised at the amount of managers who disregard them. Also, managing an intern is priceless experience prepping you for a possible management position in the future.

Lindsay Bues currently serves as Public Relations Coordinator at Philabundance, the Delaware Valley’s largest hunger relief organization. As PR Coordinator, Lindsay is responsible for expanding relationships with regional media and increasing Philabundance’s visibility throughout the region. She recently graduated from Temple University with a degree in Strategic and Organizational Communication in 2009. While at Temple, Lindsay served as chapter president of Temple’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).