Case Study: Social Media Campaign for Women of Colors

Problem

IN 2019, Evelyn McGovern, who has served for decades as president and cofounder of Women of Colors, began exploring a social media campaign to expand the nonprofit’s outreach throughout the Saginaw community. “When you’re responsible for an organization and you have the passion I have, you do whatever you can to make it thrive,” she says.

Over the 28 years that Women of Colors has provided uninterrupted service to the community, the organization has sponsored youth mentorship programs, marches against crime, community forums, STEM-based initiatives, and yoga classes for women who cannot afford fitness centers. They also distribute hundreds of coats to children in need each year and operate a substance abuse prevention program in local schools and the juvenile center.

By partnering with Cardinal Solutions and collaborating with Saginaw Valley State University students, Women of Colors rebranded its Facebook presence and expanded to additional social media platforms. “We chose Cardinal Solutions to help us do a better job of reaching out to other communities,” McGovern says. “I want to target a diverse group of people. I want to attract the younger generation.”

Team

When McGovern met with Professor Blake Johnson, the director of Cardinal Solutions, she remembers feeling heard. “He really listened and tried to figure out what we needed,” McGovern says. “He gave us a detailed report about these suggested services that could be provided, then gave us time to review and analyze what we needed and wanted.”

Joanna Nauman, a Graphic Design major, and Allison Stein, a Professional and Technical Writing major, worked with WOC to put the plan into action. Nauman and Stein were well-supported by their faculty advisors, Professor Blake Johnson and Dr. Bradley Herzog. Stein celebrates the happy medium between learning in a classroom and working independently: “Joanna and I had the opportunity to take the lead on a project, but we also had access to really supportive faculty advisors so that we could get feedback on our work. We weren’t immediately pushed into a work setting even though we had more control than we would in a classroom. The Cardinal Solutions program is a good fit for someone in my position who is transitioning from college to a post-graduation environment. It’s a good middle ground.”

Solution

McGovern says she is very satisfied with her experience as a client for Cardinal Solutions. She likes the fact that the team kept her informed and engaged in the process. “I could tell that Allison and Joanna really took it to heart what they were doing because of the questions they were asking,” she says. “I appreciated the students’ attentiveness to what we needed. It wasn’t just like a project. They wanted to make sure that we were represented properly.”

Nauman believes she became so personally and professionally invested in the project in part because her work took on a value beyond the classroom. “As a student, I know the qualifications to earn a particular grade, and I feel satisfied with my work when I meet those qualifications,” Nauman says. “But Cardinal Solutions is a different type of experience. I want to give the client something that they’re happy with and that I’m also proud of, instead of just something that I’m turning in so that I can get a grade. I put a lot more thought and effort into this than I would in just a simple class project.”

Result

By the end of the term, the Cardinal Solutions team completed nine social media campaigns. Each campaign included approximately five social media posts per platform. Cardinal Solutions highlighted three programs, four forums, and two initiatives sponsored by Women of Colors.

Cardinal Solutions loaded a year of content into the social media scheduling platform Hootsuite, which will save Women of Colors from allocating as much staff time for manual posting. McGovern says that she noticed an increase in social media likes and activity from week one and that she has been tracking her social media engagement in her Hootsuite dashboard for more detailed analytics. “Since January, we have had over 3,000 views,” she says. “That’s awesome. Our engagement is over 500, so it’s improved. And the campaigns have only been running for a little over a month. I’m very pleased.”

Nauman and Stein have reaped the benefits of participating in an experiential learning program and say they enjoy seeing the posts they created appear on their own social media feeds. In addition to a great resume builder and career preparation tool, both students found the experience a lot of fun. “Cardinal Solutions is good for work experience, a really cool interdisciplinary experience, and friendship,” Nauman says. Both students have remained involved with Cardinal Solutions, where they continue to build social media projects as a team. ■