My friend Stacy sent me a link to a press release about an upcoming event – Dawgs for Mito presents Carson’s Classic. Stacy’s son Carson has mitochondrial disease, which causes developmental issues.
A family babysitter, Hannah Bossie, was so taken by Carson, that she decided to hold an inaugural golf tournament to raise awareness about Carson’s condition. Hannah and a team of students at UGA launched the first collegiate chapter of UMDF, a nonprofit dedicated to finding a cure for mitochondrial disorders and to provide support to affected individuals and families.
Now the chapter is holding its first event, a golf classic named in Carson’s honor.
Stacy asked if I could make some suggestions on how to get the word out about Carson’s Classic and help keep Carson’s story alive.
No question that events are a great way to create and engage a community to support your cause. I set the stage for converting event donors to program donors in my last blog post.
Social media is key for making your event a success and keeping your story alive.
Here are some details on using social media to keep the conversation going:
Event website
- Your event website serves as the hub for your event and after-event activities
- Post awards
- Post photographs and a link to download and/or purchase
- Embed YouTube presentations
- Provide easy to find links to your social media sites.
- Launch a Facebook page for your event.
- Start building your community by inviting people to Like your page
- Feature your sponsors & post their comments on their event participation
- Provide event recaps in photos and videos
- Thank participants, sponsors, volunteers
- Quote participants about their experiencesnonprofit strategic on your event page
- Post a recap e-newsletter
- After the event turn your friends into activists for your cause. Make sure you focus on opportunities to be engaged.
- Link to YouTube presentations from the event
- Share your successes
- Create a Twitter hashtag for your event
- Share relevant information/content about your organization
- Put links to your event in your tweets
- Build engaged community before and during your event
- Invite people to retweet information on your cause
- Say thank you to people who retweet your post
- Set up twitter to post tweets directly onto your Facebook page
- Tweet links to event videos, & testimonials
- Keep up your presence with meaningful information on your cause
- Continue to build an interested community
- Link to YouTube presentations from the event
- Create a group for your organization.
- Post information about your events in your group.
- At the same time, foster robust discussion groups and encourage members of your group to join the discussion
- Link to YouTube presentations from the event
- Share your successes
Your social media initiatives should live on, extending the life of your events. Social media makes it easier for you to reach out to attendees, volunteers and sponsors and keep them engaged.
Need help with your social media initiatives for your next event? Please contact me at deborah@creative-si.com.