calgary reads social media case study

Calgary Reads Adopts Social Media

A case study of social media philanthropy

Doug Lacombe, MBAwww.DougLacombe.com

Andrew McIntyre, BAwww.AndrewMcIntyre.ca



About Calgary Reads

• Calgary Reads is an early literacy initiative that changes the lives of struggling grade two readers and their families in Calgary and area schools.

Objectives

Build traffic for the CBC/Calgary Reads book sale May 1-3, 2009

Leave Calgary Reads with a social media “publishing platform”

Background

2009 book sale 7th annual

Prior year promotions consisted of: CBC on air mentions

Overpass banners

Neighborhood signage

E-mail blasts

Posters

PSAs

The Platform



Dialogue vs. Broadcast



The Schedule



Success Metrics

# of FB fans/page views # Twitter followers

Tweets/Retweets Wordpress audience stats (views/visits) SMR stats (views) Media mentions Book sale attendees (surveys) Book sale revenue CR staff adoption



Facebook results by June 15/09



Twitter results by June 15/09



Wordpress results by June 15/09



SMR results by June 15/09



Media mentions at June 15/09

• U of C Gauntlet

• Numerous community newsletters

• CBC on-air mentions



Book sale results



Areas for improvement

• Twitter stats, more RTs

• Facebook sharing

• Media mentions

• More dialog/sharing, less broadcast

• Continue to build fan/follower base

• SEO



Next Steps

Transition to ongoing advocacy publishing Train volunteer(s) & delegate Add e-commerce “donate now” Track key metrics monthly



Questions?

Search “Calgary Reads” on Facebook, or go to calgaryreads.wordpress.com



Appendix A – Survey Results

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calgary reads social media case study

Business

book sale results

twitter results

facebook results

wordpress results

smr results

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