AUDIENCE
The Whales Versus Oil Tankers Educational Seminar is an online conference that will benefit citizens of British Columbia over the age of 16, who can take a stand against the environmental injustice that the oil and gas companies are currently proposing. These individuals exhibit both interest and ability to leverage the provincial government to restrict oil exportation regulations to protect the whales safely.
RESEARCH
According to the Policy Approaches Playbook: Considerations for Policy Development, evidence of significant public support is a strong determining in the British Columbia Provincial Government enacting policy changes. Ethical violations and a need for high engagement are required; therefore, a blog campaign will present hard facts and public support figures. A short, confidential survey will be required for each participant to register in the free Zoom seminar, collecting personal and demographic data to later incorporate in analytical spreadsheets. The band will administer the survey on its blog; therefore, the data are owned media elements by the Gitga’at First Nations.
Since youth and older people have additional leisure, these will be the target audiences. Social media posts on Instagram will share previews of the blog posts and swipe-up hyperlinked stories to the blog posts. Engagement and reach statistics will be available for these owned media. Brand advocates and others can re-post the content as shared media. Paid media will reach the elderly target market in the news broadcast appearance.
SPOKESPEOPLE
Social media opinion leaders are highly relevant to young people. Two social media influencers, one native and the other of non-native descent, will thus be selected as youth spokespeople for this campaign—to represent racial diversity and respective inclusion. Each person will share a personal story about coastal BC living impacting their lives positively through a 1 minute Instagram Reel. The post will invite followers to engage and attend the Zoom seminar through the hyperlinked blog post.
In the CTV Morning News, on November 28th, an elder from The Gitga’at First Nation will tell a story about the whales and their relationship connection to the natural world.
CONTENT
The dual-target market blog campaign leverages pathetic and ethical appeals to yield actionable responses from as many BC residents as possible. The use of relatable and diverse spokespeople will encourage bonding and identification between viewers and the campaign for the target market profiles. Instagram promotes content posted using its reels feature with high algorithmic authority; therefore, this owned media is likely to experience high reach. Supported by paid distribution, using Facebook/Instagram ad services, paid media will enable highly accurate audience targeting further target market audience exposure. The social media posts will include a hyperlink to the full blog post in the bio of the Gitga’at First Nation’s Instagram page @gitgaatfirstnation. The hashtag #whalesvsoiltankers will accompany the social conversation. Engagement and high watch-time are encouraged to boost the algorithmic ranking of the media content.
On November 28th, 2021, CTV’s Sunday Morning news anchor will raise the current #whalesvsoiltankers social media discussion. The First Nation’s elder, storytelling in this paid media opportunity, will conclude his/her/their appearance with an invitation for viewers to register online, on the blog, for the free Zoom seminar, scheduled one week after this news broadcast aires.
Ideally, earned media will include recognition from influential local publications like “The Daily Hive” and other similar organizations/influencers.
CALENDAR
The content calendar for this blog campaign includes weekly posts leading up to the online Zoom seminar. The band will announce a follow-up post addressing the results of the policy change requests later.
- November 14th: Influencer Post #1 – From an indigenous influencer in BC
- November 21st: Influencer Post #2 – From a non-indigenous influencer in BC
- November 28th: Appearance of CTV Morning News & Accompanying Reel on Instagram sharing footage from the CTV appearance to the social media audience. This form of re-sharing captures the audience members active on social media who do not watch the Sunday morning news.
- December 5th: Social media post #3 – Reminder that the Zoom seminar is this afternoon!
- Future Post: In 2022, after the regulatory and policy changes have been presented to, and evaluated by, the provincial government.
CONCLUSION
This high-engagement social media campaign will involve BC residents in a way that enables them to protect the beautiful wildlife in their province and prevent the adverse side effects of corporate greed and government policy.