Using Social Media to Get Your Community-Related Cause Activated
What happens in our communities is important to us. This is where we live; where we play; where we raise our families; enjoy the company of our neighbors; and, create memories.
At times, however, there are things that happen in our community that warrants change. That could mean littering, street traffic, elder care, sidewalk beautification or simply a neighborhood watch.
And, as most community activists will tell you, there are two issues that can hamper efforts — time and money.
It’s takes considerable resources to get your community activated around a cause and frankly, keep them activated. With the help of social media, however, one can utilize a variety of free tools to rally the troops, keep the neighborhood engaged and plan activities.
Here are some ways that social media can help you in getting your cause activated:
Facebook: With nearly a billion people on the social network, Facebook is a good place to start. Build a community page that lets people in your neighborhood about your cause; what events are coming up; how to get involved; and, help promote the group’s efforts.
Twitter: Leverage Twitter to promote the group’s activities and as well as communicate with others around the country to learn best practices, discover new resources and gain public attention to your efforts.
YouTube: The best possible way to tell the story of your cause is by capturing it via video. There are a slew of tools that one can use — even the smartphone in your pocket — to capture short clips of what you and your neighbors are doing to impact your community. Video will help rally support and be good content fodder for your Facebook page and Twitter account.
Eventbrite: Most of your efforts will be around organizing events. Use Eventbrite, a free service, to organize group meet-ups, all of which is shareable via social networking channels (which also allows you to recruit new members).
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