Our initiative is to encourage 2SLGBTQIA+ members, their families, and friends to see and contribute to the Transgender Archives and BC Gay and Lesbian Archives during the 2024 Vancouver Pride Parade. The objective is to encourage these contributions using all social media platforms, in a blog post series, and through earned and shared media.
AUDIENCE
The campaign will be aimed at a younger demographic of 2SLGBTQIA+ community, allies, and families. Understanding the core audience is crucial; however, connecting with a greater audience, such as extended members and allies, may result in greater success for the campaign and increased number of archival pieces collected.
RESEARCH
One of the goals of the campaign is to reach a younger audience and educate them on intertwined history of the 2SLGBTQIA+ within the archives. Similarly, reaching an older demographic who may have lived during this archival history will also be an objective.
Sprout Social, a social media management company, released in their Sprout Social Q4 Pulse Survey 2024, that generational marketing is a strategic approach to segmenting audiences by age groups and targeting them based on their values. Therefore, the media kit and blog content will focus on Generation Z (18-24) and Millennials (25-40). A secondary audience of Baby Boomers (57-74) who, identified within Sprout’s report, are potential audience because they could have been alive to see the history take place, making them a favourable contributor to the archives.
Lastly, Media Culture, a digital campaign management company, analyzed that although Baby Boomers engage with social media, television and articles are still their preferred medium. For this reason, blog posts will be the largest part of the owned and shared media to reach all three generations throughout the campaign.
SPOKESPEOPLE
The spokespeople of this campaign will be Magnus Berg and Ron Dutton. Magnus Berg is an Archivist and member of the trans community. Magnus will lend a personal perspective to the initiative and has a passion for its significance, and the younger generation can connect with them. Ron Dutton can help manage the incoming additions to the archives, as well as provide history and information on the importance of the archival collecting. Ron is part of the older demographic and will resonate with an older generation, providing the space for them to contribute to the collection. Both these spokespeople will be integral for the audience diversity and bringing the partnership between the Transgender Archives and the BC Gay and Lesbian Archives fruition.
CONTENT
The campaigns content should align with the messaging in the press release. A blog post series will be released, highlighting the values, inclusion, and community aspects of 2SLGBTQIA+ archives. Taken from the blogs should be smaller content pieces like, quotes, and stories for on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Narratives from archives will be included emphasizing and showing authenticity within the blogs. On Facebook, links should navigate back to the blog.
At the Pride event social media will highlight notable contributions made to the archives, showcasing the collection. The showcase will be featured on live video updates on TikTok and Instagram, paired with content showing people who are attending the event, then complied into a blog post re-cap. Here is a breakdown of the content:
Social Media: Up to date information and communication should take place on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. These platforms will amplify the messaging with sharable content, encourage and engage participation, and send updates in real-time. The type of content will be visual content, infographics, personal stories, shorts, and reels video content, as well as hyperlinked information back to the blog.
Blog Posts: By leveraging the blog, it will become the central location for initial information and background on the initiative. Information will be delivered through regular posts, which will cover topics related to 2SLGBTQIA+ history, showcase archives, and emphasize the significance of the narratives.
CALENDAR
Pre-Campaign (April-June 2024): Generate a following and hype through bi-weekly blog posts about upcoming event. Followed by social media announcements on all platforms.
Call to Action (July 2024): Launch of the press release and blog posts continued. Social posts three times a week, story post five times week, with a focus on encouraging the community to participate and come out to the event, always linking back to blog.
Countdown to Pride (August 2024): Focus on earned and shared media with news websites instigated by the press release. Begin a countdown series on social medias.
Live Coverage During Pride Parade (August 2024): Real-time social media updates, live streaming, and a blog posts to go live about the future of pride and plans to keep this initiative alive.
Post-Event (September 2024): Two blog posts on the success of the event and social media posts weekly. TikTok and YouTube Short videos released on event re-cap. Measure and analyze the success of the campaign across all platforms quantitatively and qualitatively, with reporting on the blogs analytics and comments feedback.
CONCLUSION
This communication plan seeks to engage our audience through a strategic and compelling campaign, celebrating diversity and community connections. Through research, we’ve identified that our audience values inclusivity, diversity, and can be reached on almost all social media platforms. By providing a platform for blog posts, the voices and materials of histories convey authenticity to our audience. Through strategic spokespeople, and a well-crafted press release, this media kit should reach traditional media and board audience.