Social Media and Promotion Strategy Thank you for being part of the Moving Mountains Societies and for supporting the work of the charity in Kenya, Nepal and Borneo! This guide will help you set up an effective social media campaign for your society and fundraising events. It will also help to give you guidance on promoting the work of Moving Mountains in order to help us reach out to a wider audience and recruit new supporters, donors and volunteers, particularly in the student community but also from other groups, businesses, schools and youth organisations in your region. The promotional work you do as part of your contribution to the society will not only make a crucial contribution to supporting the charity and our development projects and programmes but will also give you an opportunity to learn more about our work, prepare for your volunteering trips with Moving Mountains and gain experience in social media marketing and promotion. Social media is a huge deal for fundraising! More and more people are donating after being reached through Facebook and Twitter and if done well, social media marketing offers a brilliant way of increasing reach and of sharing your fundraising pages, events and the work of Moving Mountains beyond your immediate friends and family. Support In addition to the information provided in this guide, further information, ideas, advice and support for promotion and social media can be obtained by contacting the following persons via email or directly via a call or messaging on Skype between Monday-Friday, 9am - 5pm:   
Dot King - Moving Mountains Universities Coordinator (dot@adventurealternative.com Skype: dot_king) Michael Evans - Moving Mountains Trust Coordinator (mmuk@movingmountainstrust.com Skype: michaelevans.movingmountains) Hannah Rollings - Moving Mountains Social Media and Promotion (hannah@adventurealternative.com Skype: hannah_rollings)
Get Started! 1. Word Press – Moving Mountains Blog The Moving Mountains blog (http://mmtrust.wordpress.com) is a great way to let our followers and the wider blogging community know what's going on with your society and to promote the work of the charity and the ways people can get involved. We would like each society to write at least one blog per month/two months between the group (depending on time available, more than this amount is welcome!). Blogs can be on any subject related to the work of Moving Mountains in any of the countries where we work or on any development related issues (e.g. a blog on the Black Cats programme in Kenya and the use of football and sport for development, a blog on deforestation in the Himalayas and Moving Mountains eco-friendly cooking stove projects in Nepal, a blog on indigenous cultures and our work with the Penan communities in Borneo, a blog on ethical volunteering, a blog on the history of Kenya, a blog on culture and development, a blog related to a world day of recognition, e.g. International Women's Day, World Water Day, etc). Blogs should link back to an aspect of the work of MM and in some cases can also link to volunteering opportunities with MM. To discuss or request specific ideas for blog articles or any other support please contact the MM staff detailed above. We can also put you in direct contact with our staff in Kenya, Nepal and Borneo to help you get more info and give you a direct link to the work of the charity on the ground in the regions and communities where we work. For each group going on a volunteering trip over the summer, we also have a structured outline of blog posts that we'd like you to try and achieve as a group throughout the academic year. This will help to prepare your group for the trip and give you a focused opportunity to research and write about the region and project/programme on which you will be volunteering and think about your part in the bigger picture and the community where you will volunteer. Additional more general blog posts such as the ones mentioned above can be added to the list below. E.g. based on a group going out on the Nepal Medical Camp: 1. The barriers to quality medical assistance in Nepal 2. A summary of Moving Mountains' previous work and projects surrounding public health in Nepal 3. Info about the society members and volunteers going on the trip (background, expectations, what you're hoping to get out of it, what you're hoping to achieve) 4. Info about the activities of the society in terms of fundraising and events 5. An account of your experience during the medical camp 6. An account of your experience of the medical camp after your return
(See Moving Mountains’ ‘Word Press Guidelines’ for a simple run-through on how to use the Word Press website). Aim: One blog post per month/two months (blog posts should be sent to Michael at mmuk@movingmountainstrust.com for proofing before being posted. Specific guidance on individual blog posts and further ideas can be obtained by getting in touch with one of the contacts detailed above) 2. Development Crossing/Eco Club You can copy and paste your Word Press blog entries on these sites to reach a different audience. You can set up your own account for Development Crossing and use Adventure Alternative's Eco Club account to post your blog entries. We have to be careful since these sites aren't strictly for promotional purposes and people can get quite hostile if they think you're just trying to plug something. The articles posted here should be more academic/development-focused, so look at past examples if you're unsure. Aim: copy and paste relevant blog entries on these sites. 3. Facebook This undoubtedly has the widest reach and greatest potential for spreading the word about fundraising events, promoting the society and the charity and attracting new supporters and volunteers. MM Facebook: We have over 1,300 followers of the MM Facebook page so feel free to post on the page to get the word out about any fundraising events or achievements at your society. Bear in mind though that the existing MM supporter base will already be engaged in their own fundraising or already be supporting MM in other ways and will also be targeted by our own fundraising and volunteering campaigns. (It's still great to let everyone know what you're doing as a society though as it maintains the dynamism of the charity and can help to inspire others to run their own additional fundraising events for us). However the main focus should be on reaching new supporters/volunteers, particularly within your university and the online student community more generally. This can be done by liking, commenting on and sharing the posts on the MM Facebook page with other relevant groups and forums at the university, in the region and amongst online contacts and also by developing the Facebook contacts and content of your society (see below). Develop and Maintain a Facebook page for your Society: Developing and maintaining an 'external' Facebook page for your society (in addition to the group you use for internal discussion) can be a great way to record your work and a brilliant promotional tool to present the society to
outsiders. The page can then be used to attract new members to the society, show past fundraising events and volunteering trips and provide additional continuity to the society as it develops over the years. Posting regular photos and updates is key here. Invite people to like your page and develop online links with other relevant organisations, both inside and outside of the university. Advertise your events via Facebook: If you're holding an event, make it stand out by creating a separate Facebook event for it, invite as many people as possible and ask them to share the event and invite others. If you're promoting an event, remember to post it on your personal Facebook Timeline. Use JustGiving for Facebook: You can also increase direct donations to your fundraising for MM and the projects you'll volunteer on by using the JustGiving Facebook app. The great thing about the app is that your friends can donate to your page without ever having to leave Facebook. By making it even easier for people to donate, you'll hopefully see a little added generosity – people give an average of 44% more when they donate without leaving Facebook. Aims:
Creation and maintenance of 'external' Facebook page for Society. Two Facebook posts a week on society page, either text, links or photos/videos. At least one post per month on main MM Facebook page to update on society activities Creation of Facebook 'events' for all fundraising activities Regular interaction with main MM Facebook page
4. Twitter Set up a Twitter account for your society and start adding people! Tweet to your followers a link to your page and ask them to give it a retweet so it's seen by their followers too. A great way to get more followers is to add people who you think might be interested, hopefully they'll follow you back. Please also retweet from the main MM Twitter account. JustTweeting is a handy tool, enabling you to schedule automatic tweets that tell your followers how they can support you and keep them up-to-date with your fundraising progress. Aim: two or three ‘tweets’ a week. 5. Google+ Although Google+ hasn’t taken off as hoped, by creating a group page you might reach new people. Get into the habit of copying and pasting posts from Facebook to Google+.
Google+ has a really nice way of displaying uploading photos, one of the few things it beats Facebook on. So, make some albums and upload society photos from events and trips to engage your followers. Google+ really is just visually better than Facebook, so make the most of it! Aim: every time you post to FB, post on Google+ as well. Upload society photos here as well as on Facebook. 6. Student Hubs Hub Blog – student guest blogs and ‘Summit’ accepts student articles (published Oct, Feb & June). Aims: Submit your blog entries to Student Hub’s blog as guest blog entries. Keep check of the upcoming ‘Summit’ topics and submit an article proposal if something relevant comes up. 7. Flickr Take photos of your training events or fundraising activities and share these on Moving Mountains' Flickr account. Sharing photos assures followers that you're taking action and it’s always nice to have a visual account of your progress; people often find photos more engaging than text! Aim: Get photo evidence of all society events and post them on Flickr. And finally remember....!
Link all of your social media posts to your MyDonate/JustGiving fundraising page! Champion your fundraisers online and remember to thank your donors! It seems simple, but they will really appreciate it and it'll start to form a relationship between the society and its followers. If your supporters are taking part in your event, they are almost certainly interested in issues that relate to the charity too. While you have their attention, make them more likely to continue supporting MM by introducing them to our work. Make sure that you take note of Moving Mountain's progress so that you can share it with society members and donors. If you are interested in getting involved with other work for the charity please contact Michael at mmuk@movingmountainstrust.com. There is always a long and ever-changing list of jobs which need doing and which we can involve you in! It can be a great way to learn more about running a development NGO, gain experience, develop your CV and support the work of MM!
Good sources for recent international development news/information: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development https://www.devex.com/en/news http://intldevelopment.einnews.com/
Summary of Aims: MM Blog: One blog post per month/two months Eco Hub/Development Crossing: Copy and paste relevant blog entries on these sites. Facebook: Creation and maintenance of 'external' Facebook page for Society. Two Facebook posts a week on society page, either text, links or photos/videos. At least one post per month on main MM Facebook page to update on society activities Creation of Facebook 'events' for all fundraising activities Regular interaction with main MM Facebook page Twitter Two or three ‘tweets’ a week. Google + Every time you post to FB, post on Google+ as well. Upload society photos here as well as on Facebook. Student Hubs Submit your blog entries to Student Hub’s blog as guest blog entries. Keep check of the upcoming ‘Summit’ topics and submit an article proposal if something relevant comes up. Flickr Get photo evidence of all society events and post them on Flickr.
On behalf of all our staff and beneficiaries in Kenya, Nepal and Borneo and the Moving Mountains Trustees, Thank you to everyone involved with the society for your support!