Reel Grrls
Website:
http://reelgrrls.org Location:
Seattle, WA
Reel Grrls is an award-winning after-school media arts and technology training program that empowers girls ages 9-19 in the Puget Sound area to realize their talent, power and influence through media production. Since 2001, we have provided engaging afterschool and summer digital media training to more than 650 teenage girls in our region.
Project Description:
In our recent strategic planning process, we determined that our use of online outreach tools (our website, blog, YouTube channel and multiple social networking sites) were not yet in alignment with our mission of being a fresh, vibrant youth media organization that uses the latest technology to empower our constituency. We envision that a CTC VISTA volunteer will 1) evaluate our current online outreach strategy and tools, 2) implement a new strategy to update our current website and use of other online tools as well as expand into other social networking platforms (e.g., Twitter, text messaging) and 3) develop a plan for the organization to sustain these practices in the future.
The technical and design limitations of our current website impede our outreach to participants and supporters. The coding structure in place is outdated and does not take advantage of new, more flexible developments in website architecture. As a result, we are very limited in our ability to feature the media produced by our girls which should be the heart of our website. The outdated coding makes it very difficult for us to produce interactive forms – limiting our ability to communicate with supporters and participants. In addition, our website is only partially templated and we have no ability to make site-wide changes at once. Our site is also not currently optimized for search engines. Because we are a technology-centered organization, our website is often the first way that people come in contact with the work that we do. By upgrading our site, we will specifically be able to stream youth films, increase interactivity, accept online applications, improve merchandise sales and web donations and expand our links to social networking sites.
In addition to updating our website, we have also identified increasing need for assistance with online marketing and outreach (Constant Contact enews, etc) and online fundraising opportunities (Causes, Network for Good, Guidestar) We see this CTC VISTA volunteer working closely with staff to best leverage these tools to significantly increase our audience and fundraising goals. Increased audience for the outstanding work created by our youth via our website and other online outreach will also increase DVD downloads and sales and ideally add new revenue streams to our organization.
Reel Grrls’ piecemeal approach to website management and social networking has not served our organization or our mission. We need a point person – a “web guru” – to take ownership of our various online presences and train others in maximizing them. Now is a perfect time for such a person to join the Reel Grrls team: in the fall of 2009 we will launch a new website as part of an in-kind Taproot Service Grant. The Taproot Foundation is providing Reel Grrls with a team of professional volunteers to design and build our new website. The CTC VISTA volunteer will be a key point person for this project, and Reel Grrls will benefit greatly from the fresh perspectives on our site that the volunteer will bring. The new website will necessitate a plan for frequent updates and data management, and the volunteer will develop that plan and train the Reel Grrls staff in its implementation.
Project Tangibles:
Our Executive Director and other staff members have established close working relationships with other youth media organizations and media arts centers nationally. We regularly participate in conferences and other opportunities to share best practices. Our CTC VISTA volunteer will create a management plan for our website and social media – an internal document that will become part of our staff handbook and training materials for all staff. The management plan will detail tips and tricks for keeping our various online presences current, accurate, fresh, and informative. This document could be shared with our national and international colleagues as a model for their own online initiatives.
Supported Projects
Social Media Development
Nickey Robare
7/2009 — 7/2010
In our recent strategic planning process, we determined that our use of online outreach tools (our website, blog, YouTube channel and multiple social networking sites) were not yet in alignment with our mission of being a fresh, vibrant youth media organization that uses the latest technology to empower our constituency. We envision that a CTC VISTA volunteer will 1) evaluate our current online outreach strategy and tools, 2) implement a new strategy to update our current website and use of other online tools as well as expand into other social networking platforms (e.g., Twitter, text messaging) and 3) develop a plan for the organization to sustain these practices in the future.
Our CTC VISTA volunteer will have two primary roles during his or her period of service with Reel Grrls: 1) to support the expansion and relaunch of our website 2) to take the lead in conceiving, launching and managing social networking/marketing opportunities and building a meaningful online presence for our organization.
Specific tasks will include:
-Develop evaluation criteria and goals for website relaunch and conduct interviews w/stakeholders for input
-Write online outreach strategic plan recommendations and present to staff and board
-Prepare & upload media for streaming/online applications
-Update and design quarterly enews format, as well as regular blog, facebook, text and twitter posts
-Track and evaluate website traffic for increase in participant/sales/fundraising goals
-Incorporate new online strategy into organizations overall technology plan
-Train staff in sustaining website and online outreach tools at completion of project
This individual will have the responsibility of evaluating online ventures, assessing the efficacy of different strategies, educating staff, and making these new activities sustainable. As part of the social networking and fundraising activities, this individual will also help build online partnerships and visibility for the media created by our participants.
Nickey has totally revamped our social marketing presence and strategy, increasing our Facebook network to over 1200 fans and bringing our Twitter followers to over 1700. She also revived our long-dormant blog - helping develop a schedule and model for posts from staff and participants, redesigned our YouTube channel, participated in our website redesign project with the Taproot foundation, and redesigned our templates for program outreach and registration. Nickey has done a great job of developing new ideas and really showing leadership in terms of growing our online community - and understanding how to be an active contributing participant in networks like Twitter and Facebook. Where many organizations will simply Tweet or post about their own successes, Nickey has helped us learn to offer interesting articles, videos, analysis and funding opportunities to our networks. That way, when it does come time to promote our own programming or events, our network doesn’t feel bombarded by asks. She and I have worked closely together in developing strategies and making decisions, and she has shown great initiative and leadership skills in being able to take projects from idea to execution.
Thanks to Nickey’s efforts at developing our online presence, Reel Grrls has become a significant contributor to online discussions of women and media within the Twitter community. Many of our outreach materials - in print and online - have had major facelifts. And we’ve finally launched the “GAB (Grrls Advisory Board)” - a youth-led advisory group that was in the works for a long time before Nickey’s energy was able to bring it to life. We are currently working to reframe our intern job descriptions to include some of the work that Nickey has been doing on an ongoing basis. Additionally, Nickey is developing a social marketing handbook that will help us integrate ongoing social marketing tasks into permanent staff members’ duties.
Nickey has a great eye for graphic design, so she has pitched in to help redesign program outreach materials, event programs, enewsletters and DVD covers - which has been a huge asset in presenting a vibrant image of Reel Grrls to the outside world. Nickey has also jumpstarted our Grrls Advisory Board, led a couple of Reel Grrls Productions projects for clients, and started a plan to create a sales catalogue of our DVD library.