Fahe is a nonprofit CDFI in Berea, Kentucky. I was a member of the CHEF Program Pilot, which was the first round of what they hoped to be a long-running partnership between them and Rural LISC. This program matched its Members, nonprofit and quasi-governmental entities within Appalachia, with young professionals seeking work. The goal of this campaign was to strategically promote the program and its mission, encourage more applications from young professionals and Members, and show its effectiveness to secure funding.
The best method to make and show progress to stakeholders was through social media efforts because social media gives the opportunity to utilize social analytics to show KPIs. Efforts were mainly focused on Facebook, Fahe’s blog, and Twitter.
I created a blog series featuring the current interns of the pilot program, focusing on how they are a valuable asset to Appalachia as young professionals while showcasing their diverse mountain backgrounds and aspirations. I did this by interviewing interns and supervisors, asking them personalized questions, and crafting captivating stories from those interviews.
Research and experience gave me insight into marketing to young Appalachians. I knew that what I needed to do was put them into each intern’s stories; if they identified with something in the article, then they would share it.
Making the CHEF Program an integral artifact in the message of achievement and Appalachian pride gained a lot of praise, as interns shared their stories on their social media, and then people identified with the message and kept sharing. Fahe staff and Board Members also found the series exceptional, and they shared them on their social media as well.
The community was, and still is, a majority Republican-voting area, meaning Wooten’s beliefs and sexual orientation were different than the average voter. Since Wooten was also a Berea College employee (professor), he was also seen as a form of opposition to the city’s financial and political independence from the college, which was seen as an encroaching and powerful entity in the city.
The community, mimicking the country, was highly divided on recent and past issues, with one of the hottest topics being fairness and Civil Rights for minorities within the community.
The community was, and still is, a majority Republican-voting area. Only a few other candidates were running on a Centrist-to-Liberal platform, so it was imperative to differentiate the candidate from them. Since Wooten was also a Berea College employee, he was also seen as a form of opposition to the city’s financial and political independence from the college, which was seen as an encroaching and powerful entity in the city.
After examining voter issues, it was clear where the campaign’s efforts would get the best foothold: fairness. Dedicating the campaign to fairness and promoting liberal policy beliefs on the College’s campus capitalized on crucial votes from the community as well as the local student body. Mobilizing and empowering student voters pushed Wooten over the edge to beat reigning incumbents.
Wooten faced direct opposition online, with people attacking his support of certain liberal policies as well as his occupation.
Part of the work to promote him also became crisis management, because a Facebook group worked to promote Republican candidates and to create and spread rumors about those that they opposed. They were a fake news mill meant to damage candidates’ political and personal values. Nearly 24-hour online surveillance was required to find fires and to put them out with facts and information, such as the efficacy of certain policies and the true power of community entities.
The National Comedy Center was still in its infancy, with construction on its second rescheduled completion date and new features being pitched all the time. The line between its identity and that of its sister institution, The Lucille Ball Comedy Museum, was still blurred. Thi problem was emphasized by the annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, because it’s an event meant to publicize both entities and also bring in revenue for them.The biggest obstacle to its impending success, though, was lack of community buy-in. This was especially important due to the need for the community to attend events and become regular patrons of the Center when it is finished. The need was to build patronage.
Promoting the recent acquisition of the Carlin archives, the unveiling of the Lucille Ball statue, and the upcoming events and headliners of the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival were large parts of building regional pride in the Jamestown area. Social promotions were also important to reach this goal.
Press
The New York Times New York Upstate Niagara Gazette WBFO WRFA Jamestown
Strategic efforts to reach local audiences included sending representatives to regional comedy events, print media placement and disbursement, and promotional events and offers available only to locals.
There was also a grant that required buy-in conformation from a certain number of local businesses, an affair handled personally by me. This involved conversations and interviews, plus paperwork and conformation letters that I also created.
Trust for Life of Kentucky had hit a plateau. They were getting very few sign-ups for organ donation as well as financial donations. Given their line of work, they were not equipped to create media materials to gain the attention of consumers, nor did they know how to reel them in, so to speak.
Research showed that the community was uninformed about organ donation, and that a majority of them also believed false information about the process. They also felt very far removed from the situation unless they had been directly impacted by organ donation.
The plan was to enact a campaign called Generations of Hope, meant to bring organ donation “Down Home”.
To combat misinformation, a local event was organized for the immediate community, a spaghetti dinner at the most sophisticated building in town. We hired a local band, wrangled a celebrity spokesperson (Muse Watson), and enlisted local gatekeepers (a priest, lawyer, and doctor) to dispense truths about organ donation to guests. To bring locals closer to the situation, the guests’ dining area was decorated with photos of those who had benefited from organ donation within the community, and some of those people were invited to speak and implore guests to “just check yes” at the DMV.
The organization is regional, meaning community relations would only go so far. To get the message to a broader audience, a PSA was created and distributed to regional news stations, radio stations, and television providers. The PSA featured real people, not actors, portraying a scene between a young girl and her grandfather talking about organ donation.
Press about the campaign was targeted and concentrated in Central and Eastern Kentucky.