2015–2016 AWARD WINNING IDEAS - AAF › _PDF › AAF Website Content › 260_ClubAchievement ›...
Transcript of 2015–2016 AWARD WINNING IDEAS - AAF › _PDF › AAF Website Content › 260_ClubAchievement ›...
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AWARD WINNING IDEASN A T I O N A L C L U B A C H I E V E M E N T C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N I N G E N T R I E S
COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS
Overview of Communications
A. Regular communication with members: To stay in touch with our members and keep
them updated on upcoming meetings, events, and other announcements, we send
frequent eBlasts via MailChimp and post on our Facebook page.
B. Event or meeting promotions and announcements: Our primary methods of
communication about events, meetings and announcements are Facebook, MailChimp
and Eventbrite.
a. Eventbrite: We set up events on Eventbrite to easily track attendees and process
payments. We do not send out invitations through Eventbrite, but instead share
the link to the event on Facebook, MailChimp and our website.
b. Facebook: We create events on Facebook and regularly share them on our
Facebook page. The Facebook invitation includes a link to an Eventbrite
invitation, where members and nonmembers could buy tickets to the meeting or
event. The majority of our announcements are shared on Facebook, as well.
c. MailChimp: To help promote events, we send eBlasts with information about the
event and the link to the Eventbrite page. For meetings, we send approximately
23 eBlasts prior to the event. For events, we send an average of 12 eBlasts per
week leading up to the event.
d. Website: We also post event details on our website with a link to the Eventbrite
page. For the American Advertising Awards, a special “Gold Rush”themed
website was created (www.aafgoldrush.com), which listed all event details, how
to submit work, the link to buy tickets, and sponsor logos.
e. Mail: This year, for the American Advertising Awards, we mailed out “Gold Rush”
themed invitations to our membership list.
C. Communication with nonmembers: We encourage nonmembers to subscribe to emails
by visiting our website. Anyone who subscribes is added to our eBlast list on MailChimp.
We also communicate with nonmembers on Facebook and in person at meetings and
events.
D. SelfPromotion: In the fall, we revamped our website and switched to a more
userfriendly Squarespace platform. We promote our club, our events and news on our
website, as well as Facebook and through news releases. We also signed up for a float
in the Highland Mardi Gras parade. We decorated our own float with AAFSB signage,
wore our AAFSB tshirts and tossed AAFSB logoed cups to the crowd
Communications Vehicle: Email Marketing
One of our mostused communications platforms is MailChimp. This is our primary method of
regular communication to both members and nonmembers and how we keep them updated on
our club’s activities and upcoming events. On average, we send about two eBlasts per month.
For events, we sent out about one to two eBlasts per week leading up to the event.
A. Goal: To grow our email subscribers and increase the frequency of email
communications sent.
B. Target audience: Members, nonmembers and students in any related advertising or
communications field/study located in Northwest Louisiana, primarily Shreveport and
Bossier City.
C. Budget: Zero.
D. Distribution system: MailChimp
E. Results Achieved: Our email subscribers grew from 260 to 316. We’ve also increased
the frequency of our emails. In the early part of 2015, we sent one eBlast per month, on
average. That increased to at least two per month for regular communications and
announcements, and three to four per month before the American Advertising Awards.
The open rate of our eBlasts consistently exceeded the industry average open rate of
14.31%, according to MailChimp.
F. Samples:
See Exhibit A1: ADDYs eBlast
See Exhibit A2: December Lunch & ADDYs Packet Pickup eBlast
Communications Vehicle: Social Media
Another one of our most popular methods of communication is through social media, primarily
Facebook. We utilize Facebook to post announcements, employment opportunities, share
relevant articles, photos, and invite our followers to events. Our most engaging posts throughout
the year were of the ADDYs winners and job announcements. Leading up to the Agency Crawl
and the ADDYs, we scheduled posts recognizing our “crawl stops” and event sponsors. Two
weeks before the ADDYs, we created funny and engaging “miner stories” to go with our theme,
“Gold Rush.” We also have MailChimp linked to our Facebook page, so when an eBlast is sent,
a link is shared on our Facebook page. We publish all of our events on Facebook with links to
our Eventbrite page so we are covering all of our bases.
A. Goal: Our goal for social media interaction was to grow our page “Likes” by 5%. We
started the year with 324 “Likes” (16 new followers).
B. Target audience: Students and professionals in any related advertising or
communications field/study located in Northwest Louisiana, primarily Shreveport and
Bossier City.
C. Budget recap: Zero.
D. Distribution system: Facebook
E. Results achieved: On February 28, 2016, we had 394 likes on our Facebook page,
exceeding our goal of 16 new followers by 54. We achieved these results by analyzing
the Facebook data and found that our most engaging posts were job posts. Any time a
relevant job opportunity is announced or posted, we share it on our page. It has become
a hub for students and professionals looking for careers or a change in an everchanging
industry. We share slides from our ADDYs winners presentation so that our Facebook
followers can check out the awardwinning submissions.
F. Samples
Exhibit B1: Facebook metrics 2/28/2015 2/28/2016
Exhibit B2: Facebook post
Exhibit B3: Facebook Event Invite
Communications Vehicle: Eventbrite
Eventbrite allows us to create an event, set up ticket/payment options, invite guests, and track
event attendees and other analytics. We share the link to the Eventbrite pages on Facebook
event invites.
A. Goal: To provide a “onestop shop” for event coordination where we can create, promote
and manage events in an organized interface that’s userfriendly for both AAFSB and
our event attendees.
B. Target audience: Students and professionals in any related advertising or
communications field/study located in Northwest Louisiana, primarily Shreveport and
Bossier City.
C. Budget: Zero.
D. Distribution system: Eventbrite
E. Results Achieved: Eventbrite has continued to work extremely well for our club. Whether
we share the event link on our website, in a Facebook event invite, or in eBlasts, our
members and nonmembers have had great success in buying tickets, and it has kept
AAFSB organized and able to easily track attendance. For the ADDYs, we were able to
customize order options so our guests could indicate what they wanted for dinner or
where they wanted to be seated. We’ve been able to set ticket deadlines and easily
withdraw our payment after events and luncheons.
F. Samples:
Exhibit C1: ADDYs Eventbrite Page
Communications Vehicle: Website
Our former website was unorganized and difficult to update. The content and design was
outdated. It hindered our ability to effectively communicate with our audience. We decided to
build a new website on SquareSpace.
A. Goal: Switch to a more userfriendly website platform and utilize it more frequently to
communicate to our members and prospects.
B. Target audience: Students and professionals in any related advertising or
communications field/study located in Northwest Louisiana, primarily Shreveport and
Bossier City.
C. Budget: $216.00 annually
D. Distribution system: AAFSB.org
E. Results Achieved: Our new website has an updated design and is easy to use. The
functionality is convenient for our audience. We resumed the ability to share news
releases, event details, information about the ADDYs and how to enter, and continued to
accept membership applications. Members and nonmembers utilized the “Contact Us”
feature and have signed up to receive email notifications.
F. Samples:
Exhibit D1: AAFSB.org “JOIN” page
Communications Vehicle: News Releases
AAFSB has a history of only getting published after the ADDYs. We came up with the goal to
get in the news more often than just following the ADDYs. With the addition of the Agency Crawl
event, we had more opportunities to get in the news.
A. Goal: Get AAFSB published more frequently, in addition to the ADDYs.
B. Target audience: Local news media.
C. Budget: Zero.
D. Distribution system: News releases emailed from AAFSB Communications Chair, Ashley
Ellingsen.
E. Results Achieved: A photo and brief from our first Agency Crawl was published in the
“On the Scene” section of The Forum a local news magazine on November 11. We
were also published in the Bossier Press Tribune before the ADDYs and received
postevent ADDYs coverage on KTAL’s website, arklatexhomepage.com.
F. Samples:
Exhibit E1: The Forum Brief
Exhibit E2: Bossier Press Tribune Article
Exhibit E3: KTAL Article
Exhibit A1: ADDYs eBlast
Exhibit A2: December Lunch & ADDYs Packet Pickup eBlast
Exhibit B1: Facebook metrics 2/28/2015 2/28/2016
Exhibit B2: Facebook post
Exhibit B3: Facebook Event Invite
Exhibit C1: ADDYs Eventbrite Page
Exhibid D1: AAFSB.org “JOIN” page
Exhibit E1: The Forum Brief
Exhibit E2: Bossier Press Tribune Article
Exhibit E3: KTAL Article
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