PROMOTION GUIDELINES
KEY INFORMHER AUDIENCES 1) People associated with the actual research a) Original researchers b) Their educational institutions 2) JMU community a) Students b) Professors c) Town of Harrisonburg and community 3) Extended networks of interest d) Family, friends, and colleagues of Gender and Work Research Collective 4) Mid-career professional women a) Those especially who have experienced sexism at work, or are curious about the current political climate and how it impacts women 5) Traditional media a) Publications that focus on politics, business, or youth b) The Breeze 6) Allies a) Young men in particular b) Male employers
PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES According to social media strategist Ian Greenleigh, over 81% of US consumers say they are influenced by the content their friends post on social media. Further, people directly connected
to you are the most likely to want to read the content you produce, and for this reason, sharing your work on your social media pages is strongly encouraged. Consider all of the people who would be interested in what you have to say: friends, family members, professional connections, network connections that happen to be interested in gender/professional development, and even high school lurkers that want to see what you’re up to. What we do is incredibly useful, and by sharing the important information that we do, we are advancing women in the workplace and bringing issues to light that otherwise may not get proper airtime.
Facebook: Posting on Facebook is most effective on weekday evenings (5-8 pm) and Sunday evenings (3-10 pm). Below is an example post of text that got over 75 reads in two hours. Notice how Bronwyn reiterates the message of the blog and the image featured is very catchy and relevant to her friends. Several of her friends even reshared the post themselves explaining how cool they thought it was. This expanded the potential readership to as many hundreds of friends these people had.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an excellent way to show off the work you’re doing in school and at internships, and keeping it updated with fresh content shows employers that you are aware of what skills the current job market is looking for and how to market yourself. By sharing articles, your personal LinkedIn page will receive more views, enhancing your ability to network and potentially land important connections or jobs. Consequently, your personal LinkedIn should be as up-to-date as possible, and should feature your experience as a “staff writer” for the InformHer. Because we do so many different projects for the Gender and Work Research Collective, it is perfectly acceptable to separate the two experiences on a resume or LinkedIn page; for example, you can list yourself as an “undergraduate researcher” for one position and list all of the quantitative/qualitative methods we use and what we do to conduct research, while also listing yourself as “staff writer” or “contributing writer” to The InformHer. “Job” activities you can list include writing for digital media, writing for a specific audience, interacting with researchers, and using research experience to digest and repurpose information originally produced for academic journals. Weekdays from 9 to 5 are best for posting on LinkedIn, as this is when people are at work. Lunchtime is especially useful as people may be eating at their desks. To the right is an example post that works well because it’s relevant to a professional audience, uses key
professional development terms, and is short but does not feature an inappropriate image:
Twitter: Twitter is great for business, and our posts can be shared using our personal and professional profiles. While article sharing is not as popular on Twitter for professionals as it is for LinkedIn, it is a good way to send your article to someone you may not know. For example, if you follow someone who is of importance to the topic featured, or they recently were in the news speaking about gender, they might be a good tag. If you paste the link before writing text, Twitter will not count the link as characters, freeing you up some room. Example: “@IvankaTrump says women in STEM is the key to the future. Let’s talk about the challenges they face and what we can do to help them. *insert link*”
Instagram, Snapchat, Other: While these platforms are primarily visual and not typically used for professional purposes, if you have a large following on either platform, feel free to post it. For example, you can screencap your article and post it on your Instagram story, then use the second half of the story to say “New post! Check theinformher.com”.
MARKETING TO GROUPS Via social media or in person, articles can be posted in different groups you may be apart of. For example, your sorority Facebook group or a Groupme chat for a JMU organization. You can also consider posting articles in different professional groups, such as ones you have joined on LinkedIn or Facebook (ex. PRSSA). Be sure to mention what school you attend to reiterate your undergraduate status and briefly describe the purpose of the blog to establish credibility.
Ex. “Hi! I’m an undergraduate and Beyonce enthusiast at James Madison University in Virginia and I’m part of an organization on campus called the Gender and Work Research Collective. We run a blog on women in the workplace and we discuss academic research-based professional development tips and tricks for success. Check out my latest post on how girls run the world!”
IN PERSON PROMOTION Professional Networking Mentioning the InformHer not only benefits the blog, but you as an individual. As discussed in the section on LinkedIn promotion, discussing our blogging efforts shows a potential employer that you are current with the trends, flexible with digital media, and you have writing experience. It is best to have an elevator speech prepared for encounters where you might want to discuss the blog, or at events we attend that we are expected to. Always mention the link, then when you follow up with the individual, attach it as a hyperlink in your email to reiterate if they seemed interested. For events we attend as a team, or when we are conducting research, stickers should be available, as well as brochures if possible. Class/University Speeches For research, PR, or organizational communication classes in particular, consider speaking to your class about the blog. This “speech” can be as short as one minute and provides the class the information about where to access the blog and what events we may be hosting soon. You can additionally reach out to professors, who are likely excited by the concept and might promote it themselves, especially if you ask.
FACEBOOK PAGE As inspired by Shout Out!, The InformHer will establish a Facebook page where new posts are shared, as well as upcoming events. Shout Out! has over 1.5k followers on their current Facebook page, and while they have more writers, their content is often not as shareable because it is more taboo in nature. Our content may fare better in this department as it is professional and applicable to everyone. The page will be interactive, encouraging viewers to share, and will feature other relatable content/graphics that will boost overall page engagement that ultimately drives traffic to the blog. Posts will be short, written in AP style, and snackable. The Editor will be in charge of managing the page and responding to comments and messages. All InformHer members should ask their friends and family to like the page, resulting in upwards of hundreds initial likes. InformHer members should also like and comment on posts made.
BLOG-TO-BLOG The InformHer will drive traffic to the blog by being interactive with other similar blogs, which will be identified by keyword/tag searches. Comments will be made and follows will occur at the same time so the authors will check out our page and stay engaged. Being interactive and responding to comments are the most important habit we can do to maintain active interest.
BLOG LAYOUT Writer Bios Bios on the blog should be updated to reflect an individual page for each writer, starting from a landing page. This landing page will additionally link to a section identified as “past writers� where we will highlight alumni. Pictures should be appropriate but fun to reflect the Dr. Vodka Aunt tone of the blog, and bios should include both professional information such as major, hometown, and areas of academic interest as well as fun information (for example, hobbies, or quirky facts like a certification in Italian pizza making).
TRADITIONAL MEDIA To target non-immediate audiences, the InformHer will inform local traditional media outlets (i.e. The Breeze and The Daily Record) about our research findings. This is to further our mission of making academic research easily digestible, as well as to benefit the general public with our useful information on gender, promotion, and networking. This will be accomplished in the form of phone calls and press releases to selected journalists. If our work is highlighted, it will likely end up being promoted by James Madison University as an institution and possibly by other outlets. We could potentially get more funding and credibility from these efforts.
METRICS The fall semester goals for the InformHer are to double total views by the end of the semester (current: 2592 views), increase email/Wordpress follower count to 75, and to increase average likes and comments to at least 10 Wordpress likes per post and 2 comments per post. The InformHer also seeks to establish general campus recognition as well as be featured in at least one traditional media outlet by the end of December.