Communications Committee
The Communications Committee is a de facto pro bono digital agency. It is a great place to offer your skills in digital marketing, social media, videography, SEO, copywriting, branding, building communities, grassroots outreach, etc.
We work together to help each entity with its communication strategy and support the broader messaging and communication needs of the Angeles Chapter as a whole.
We are evolving into groupings or subcommittees around the following:
Newsletters, Podcasts and Listservs: Most entities (Committees, Groups, Sections and Task Forces) have some type of regular communication to members. Some still use physical newsletters that are mailed to their members. Some use e-newsletters using the Sierra Club Listserv or other tools like Mailchimp. In addition to helping entities with their articles, copywriting and email handling, volunteers also help contribute stories to the chapter newsletters: SoCal Now, which is printed and distributed quarterly, and our monthly e-newsletter, The Southern Sierran. We recently started a new podacst called "Why Should I Care?", and we are exploring new communications projects.
Website Technology: Most entities (Committees, Groups, Sections and Task Forces) have some type of website. Some are within the Drupal instance of the Angeles Chapter (example), some within the Drupal instance of the National Sierra Club website (example), and some have created their own custom websites in WordPress or similar (example). Although our volunteers are not writing html code or Drupal programs – knowledge of Drupal and Wordpress can help us train our entities in the best practices for website layout, with SEO and using the best tools for outreach using intelligent structure and navigation.
Copywriting - Environmental and Grassroots Journalism: Some volunteers are good storytellers and editors. Our websites and social media need stories. The good news is with nearly 50,000 members and thousands of outings, meetings and events, we have many stories to tell. Some environmental journalism stories help encourage members to join us on hikes and camping trips. Some stories explain complex environmental issues and some grassroots journalism stories motivate us to take action to protect the environment.
Social Media Teams: Most entities (Committees, Groups, Sections and Task Forces) have some type of social media presence. Facebook, MeetUp, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms are used as a means to communicate with members and the public. We also have a chapter MeetUp, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Our volunteers help with posting, sharing content and reviewing newsletters for information that can be shared. Social media is a key outreach tool and draws people to content on our website and newsletters, while also helping us to boost event attendance.
Videography, Graphic Arts & Photography Team: We live in a visual world that expects more graphics, artwork, infographics, photos and videos as part of storytelling. We have a GIS Committee and a Camera Committee, but need volunteers to be liaisons between them to locate and develop maps, graphics, photos to complement those our team develops for our needs for Instagram, Facebook and other social media, as well as our website, instructional materials and newsletters. We have a Youtube Channel and podcast, so we need more volunteers involved in creating video content that explains issues, motivates actions and tells our everyday stories among our many members and multiple entities.
Digital Strategies Team: Sophisticated technology can help the chapter achieve its mission, but the skills needed to use the technology requires volunteers with technical knowledge of Salesforce, Google Analytics or similar platforms or a technical aptitude and willingness to learn Salesforce, Google Analytics or other platforms. It is also an opportunity to use your marketing knowledge and skills to help a good cause. Salesforce, which we call CORE III and CAMPFIRE, offers us a great deal of data. How can we use this data to reach out to more members and engage them?
PR and Media Relations Team: Helping the chapter maintain good relationships with the media is facilitated by volunteers with existing positive relationships and who know how to communicate with journalists and editors in a way such as our stories get read by more members and potential members and the public at large.
Grassroots Outreach and Support Team: Sierra Club members sometimes encounter an environmental or social justice issue that motivates them to take action, but how can one navigate the change in relationship with the Sierra Club from being a member to being an activist. Our organization has wonderful assets, technology, tools, and training to help the would-be activist. Our team helps you access training, understand the Sierra Club processes and approvals needed to become "a voice" for your issue and introduce tools, like AddUp, and Listservs that are useful in communicating motivational messages and get respeonses to calls to action during a grassroots campaign that champion a cause. For example a call to action that improves attendance at a government hearing or meeting. Sometimes leaders involved in a cause need ad hoc help in outreach and our volunteers lend a hand.
[Header photo: Santa Monica Mountains Before the Drought Wildfires, ©by Joe Doherty, all rights reserved]
