Can I pick your brains for how to impliment this bit of #RCS?

[UnderRugSwept]

I'm looking to do a bit of #RCS so I thought we would sponsor an animal from the Woodstock Farm and Animal Sanctuary, which is less than a mile down the road from our business. Here's the sponsorship page. http://woodstocksanctuary.org/join/sponsor-an-animal/

I figure we can post pictures of the animal, blog about it's story and what it's up to that month, and people will find it interesting.

The real meat of this will be getting more 'likes' perhaps, or more social shares, maybe? I'm not exactly sure what to do here. Should we do something like: the person who shares/tweets our story the most will get an animal sponsorship in his /her name? Or for every new 250 likes we'll sponsor one additional animal? If we can get to 1000 Facebook likes we'll do "The Sanctuary Seven" where we'll sponsor one of each animal? (you can see that info on the page as well). I just don't feel inspired in the area of how to best implement this.

Any ideas?

We do already have 516 Facebook likes: https://www.facebook.com/StadriEmblems
Our Website: http://www.stadriemblems.com/

I'm excited to hear from all the marketing geniuses I know are members here!

[josh-riley]

My first question would be what is the objective of what you are doing/why are you doing it? There has to be a reason to do RCS, like anything, because you want something for your effort.

Measuring via likes and shares is pretty passive, so aside from visibility, what's the value for you? I'm not seeing an obvious connection between your company and animals, unless it's only a matter of proximity (sanctuary near your office).  It's great that animals will be helped and supported, that's certainly a bright spot, so unless there's a bigger "pet" project (ha!) for the company (the owner has a long history of working with animals), how do the two tie together to seem like a natural fit?

It'd be helpful to know a bit more about what you want out of this in order to help with implementation.

[UnderRugSwept]

Thanks for your response. The general manager is very involved with animals and rescues and adopts them or finds them homes very frequently. If local people find baby kittens in a sewer, she's the one they call. That is a good added bonus, but my main objective is to add a human element to the company. I would dare to say we're the most popular embroidered patch company in our industry and are one of the only ones putting out loads of quality content and helpful information about patches. But it's always about patches and i think it's getting a little old. There's only so much you can say about them, and it seems as though people don't care anymore. A lot of times our social counts and shares on these types of posts are in the single digits. I don't think we've acquired any links in months. Sure, patches are what we do, but whenever I do a blog post about a charity or a company we've worked with, they are always more popular. I just want to try something different, put a different spin on things, and add a human element to our business.

[josh-riley]

Makes total sense and I've found the same thing - people like a human element. And, animal stories are always a great route to go - few things showcase a better side of humanity than helping animals, and it's even better when you have a strong community tie to it.

For any project to be effective, things have to tie together, right? It needs to make sense to the audience. Human interest angles (an interview with the GM/profile of the GM) is a great starting point to bring in her love of animals and tie to the company, without the company or product being the focal point. And, to your point, it's can be used for FB content/social. The campaign can stem from that with the CTA of her helping to drive and encourage others to help animals (like the points you made about # of likes = sponsorship).

That can be the foundation, then shift towards the outcomes: what animals are sponsored, what their needs are, etc. You can do it in waves: establishing the connection between your company and animals, profiling your GM, shifting the focus to how the sponsorship of the animal is making a difference, how to drive the audience to get involved.

While slightly self-serving, is there a way to maybe leverage a patch into your project? I realize this could be asking a lot, but to tie it close with the company and what you do, I'm throwing it out there: a special patch that's part of the relationship with the Animal Sanctuary? Maybe with their logo? It could start as maybe a graphic design logo to use in any postings and such, then if there's a way, it could be manufactured with proceeds going to the sanctuary.

You can also do votes/polls = what animals to sponsor? Animal/sanctuary fun facts - easy sound bites for social media dissemination.

Again, it goes back to trying to make it less passive - how can people be part of something vs just reading about it or clicking a button.

[DavidKonigsberg]

I would find a blog that has a nice following you want to get in front of and team up with them to sponsor an animal from the Woodstock Farm and Animal Sanctuary in the blogs name and do something like what you said for every _____ you will sponsor another work with what the blogger wants- This way you get infront of the correct audience and are guaranteed success

[CMC-SD]

It sounds like this initiative is primarily about branding and strengthening relationships with existing customers. I'm not sure that a bunch of re-tweets is going to accomplish that. How about something that encourages them to meaningfully engage with you? For example, they could submit their own animal-loving stories or vote on which animal you sponsor. Are your clients/followers from one particular industry or field? Is there a way you can offer them a chance to use their expertise? If you work with a lot of graphic designers and artists, you could invite them to submit designs for a commemorative patch about the animal.

[UnderRugSwept]

These are good ideas. I was thinking too small. I'm talking #RCS but still thinking about the number of Facebook likes. What you've suggested really is #RCS. Getting customers involved definitely seems like the way to go. Thank you.