Here are a couple ways you can incorporate social media into your campaign:
Hashtag campaigns are when people support or start a campaign on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and other online networking sites to spread the word and connect comments and ideas about a particular topic, issue or cause.
Why It Works: Hashtags are an easy, fast and free way to engage lots of people and spread your campaign beyond your own community or circle of supporters while also creating a digital archive of responses to your campaign.
How To Do It: Invent a catchy hashtag for twitter & instagram (do your research! Make sure this hashtag isn’t being used already for something opposite of your goals OR use an existing hashtag that serves your cause). Design an interactive action that folks can take (sharing a short & quick story or quote, a photo or an image, linking to an article or blog related to the campaign, etc…)
Examples:
The #iCommit tweetathon, led by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, Young Activism Community, campaigned to raise global awareness of how people of all ages work together to support gender equality work and activism.
BAWSO runs The Price Tag campaign to #EndHumanTrafficking and a #blog2block human trafficking campaign.
#Proud2bMe was a hashtag the National Eating Disorders Association started where young folks shared inspirational quotes and stories promoting positive body image.
The following are popular hashtags that ignited hundreds of thousands of impressions on Twitter and Instagram. Check them out and consider the ways they inspired folks to share stories and advocate for change:
FACEBOOK profiles
Why It Works: Changing your facebook profile photo can quickly show the spread of support for a campaign and foster a community online of folks who are passionate about the same cause.
How to Do It: Design a meme, filter or a quote-in-a-box that folks can use as their Facebook profile picture throughout the campaign. This can change each week or according to new developments in the campaigns.
Examples:
YoungMindsVs campaigns for change that they hope will improve the mental health of children and young people. Topics include bullying, sexualisation, unemployment, school stress and counselling. Find out how to become a YoungMinds activist or follow #gettingthroughit.
SPARKteam activists Alice and YingYing designed a Tumblr Seventeen/Teen Vogue Challenge: for a month, each would live their lives according to the magazines’ advice. They posted about everything from the funny to the incredibly awkward to the downright scary. Do yourself a favor and read through the whole archive.
For how everyday sexism shapes children and young people’s lives, read the stories and quotes from the Girls and Boys Speak Out project and the downloadable postcards on everyday sexism, sexual harassment, and change.
Heads above the waves (@HATW_uk) is a non-profit organization that raises awareness of depression and self-harm in young people. Their website includes young people’s blogs, over 15 different support sites and helplines, and creative ways of coping with self-harm and depression.
Listen to how teen girls are flipping the negatives of social media. Some are creating sites that encourage tagged comments that empower not shame young women. Others fight back against sexist uniform dress codes.
Read more about young people who blog and vlog on issues of gender and sexual diversity.
What is Slut Shaming?
Sarah is a vlogger from Vancouver, Canada. When she was 13 she made a vlog about why slut-shaming is wrong.
