The three-step social media plan

Step 1: Set goals

Decide what you want your club to achieve through social media and set targets so you can track your progress. Keep your goals specific and measurable, such as increasing the number of followers by a certain percentage from the previous year. You may want to consider budgeting funds to help you achieve these goals. Some examples of goals:

• Increase engagements with posts by 10%.
• Increase attendance at events and meetings by 10% by creating Facebook events for meetings or activities that are open to the public and inviting prospective members.
• Increase the number of followers your page has by 10% by inviting contacts from your email and Facebook to like your club page and by promoting it in your newsletter and on your website.

Step 2: Choose your platform

Your club doesn’t need an account on every social media platform. Choose one platform to focus your efforts on and grow from there. To decide which platform is best:

• Research what social media platforms are used most widely in your community.
• Think about who you want to reach and what social media platforms they use most.
• Consider the time that will be needed to manage the club’s presence on each platform, who can help and how much time they can dedicate to it.

Step 3: Decide what to communicate

Think about the story you want your social media to tell. You can post a mix of original content focused on your area and your club as well as stories from the Rotary International and Rotary Down Under social media accounts.

Remember that much of what you post will be seen by people who aren’t currently involved in Rotary! So avoid abbreviations like PETS or RYLA that people won’t know and that might make them keep scrolling past your posts. Keep content about club meetings to a minimum, too. The best approach is to show your members in action – helping people in the community, networking and having fun socialising. For example:

• Post a video to Instagram or TikTok that shows members actively engaged in a project.
• Write a blog post about a guest speaker and share the post on LinkedIn.
• Post on X (previously Twitter) about your next service project. Remember to include a web address with the call to action so people can find out more.
• Post photos on Facebook of members taking part in a project and add quotes from them about what the club and the project mean to them.