The topic of our Annual Alum Lunch this year is "marketing yourself through social media", so I decided to begin with an example of the power of "grassroots" social media campaigning. Over the next couple months I hope to delve into a variety of social media marketing topics to help professionals like you and me promote ourselves successfully.
My name is Simon Abbott and I had a very successful film career until the BC government compromised the tax credit program which helps the industry attract business, leaving me unemployed. Because I loved writing and was fascinated by the internet, I decided to become a technical writer; but I always kept one foot in film. The recent Save BC Film campaign caught my attention for obvious personal reasons but also because it was a remarkable example of the power of social media – something I want to know more about.
Save BC Film is a grassroots organization that began when BC Premier Christy Clark received over 800 Facebook posts from film workers asking why the Liberal Government’s latest Job Plan contained no support for the BC film industry? All the posts were deleted and there was no response. Naturally people were upset. Film worker Sandra Montgomery who had minimal knowledge of the power of social media started a Save BC Film Facebook page on January 11th, 2013. Its growth was astounding.
Within 2 weeks it had 5000 “likes” and was getting 50 thousand hits a week! Twitter was soon added and the hashtag #savebcfilm was a trending topic in BC for about a week after the account was established. In late February the Save BC Film website went live. Both the Facebook page and the Twitter account were linked to it using the ‘Tint’ app.
Sandra was getting calls from BC politicians both Liberal and NDP as well as news media. Unable to handle it all, she called in fellow film worker Wayne Bennett who became the movement spokesperson. He has met with politicians and fielded questions from the media (both domestic and international). From nothing, this became a big news story and is a prime example of the power of social media.
To date this grassroots organization, using mainly social media, has accomplished the following:
• Raised public awareness that led to a 30 thousand signature petition
• Garnered the support of the NDP party who promised to raise incentives if they win
• Raised thousands in donations and raised awareness amongst all the creative industries
• Received promises of aid from the City of Vancouver.
Not bad for a grassroots organization that started with one Facebook page!
