INFORMATION NOTE: UPDATE ON VOLUNTEER VIEW ROYAL’S SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH EFFORTS

INFORMATION NOTE FOR COUNCIL

Ref: 201606001 Date: 7 June 2016

Issue: UPDATE ON VOLUNTEER VIEW ROYAL’S SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH EFFORTS

Background: Volunteer View Royal (VVR)’s new social media team has been working to establish both a Facebook and Internet presence for the committee. A new Facebook (FB) and website (Site) were launched starting in late 2015 to promote not only VVR events, but volunteer initiatives and organizations throughout the View Royal community.

Discussion: Starting with “0” likes in September 2015, VVR FB page now has 58 followers. Increased spikes in page activity have been recorded whenever new material such as a photo, announcement, community update (VVR web-based newsletter) or event is posted to the page. The graphic below illustrates the increased traffic the page received after pictures from the recent View Royal Volunteer Appreciation Event were posted:

The VVR Site was created early in 2016. So far this page has not generated as many visits as the VVR FB page. We are not concerned about this as the site is a newer and lesser-known information-sharing vehicle. A strategy for increasing the amount of traffic to both sites is currently being worked on by the social media team.

Links to both of the pages can be found here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/viewroyalvolunteer VVR Online: https://volunteerviewroyalblog.wordpress.com

A key part of generating traffic for both sites is content. As mentioned above, new material generates renewed interest in the site and VVR which in turn will generate more of the volunteers that View Royal has traditionally depended upon. What we propose as a project over the next few months is to produce a series of short videos about volunteering in View Royal and post them to the sites; we would like to start with Mayor and council. We will then seek out individuals and organizations throughout the region and produce additional promotional videos for posting.

In the interim, if you have not already done this, please like the pages and share our posts as broadly as possible. We aim to have something new each week so that people do not forget VVR is out there.

Conclusion: Much has been achieved from an internet standpoint in the last few months at zero dollar cost to the taxpayers. With the spirited help/leadership of Clare Walton, we have increased our web presence and will work to expand our reach. We aim to have our social media sites become the first place that people look for information about volunteer opportunities within our community and for scheduled events. For this momentum to continue, the social media team will count on Mayor and council for information/support and through building partnerships, the entire community for additional content to post and share.

Contact: Neil A. Mayers, MA, VVR Social Media Coordinator