YWCA
ROLE | Marketing Specialist
Overview
YWCA Metro Vancouver has a mission to advance gender equity alongside women, families, Two-Spirit and gender diverse people through advocacy and integrated services that help support personal, collective and economic wellbeing. I’m responsible for promoting services and programs offered by YWCA as well as the WorkBC Centres that are operated by YWCA.
Contributions
Digital Ads
- Created diverse digital ads that targeted difference audiences to increase awareness and registrations for employment programs and services offered by WorkBC and YWCA.
Event kit Creation
- Assembled an event kit for each WorkBC centre, including a how-to video tutorial and a checklist. These event kits helped staff prepare for and attend community events across Metro Vancouver more effectively.
Digital Ads
As a major part of my role, I manage both organic and paid social media content for 15 channels to promote our center and generate client leads. This involves running various types of campaigns on platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), aimed at different goals such as promoting our main centers, supporting specific programs, and advertising events.
The primary objectives are to promote the YWCA Employment Services centers across North Vancouver, Vancouver South, and Tri-Cities, support specific service and program campaigns as directed by the ministry, recruit participants for the YWCA Employment Program, and promote the WorkBC podcast.
Campaign Types and Strategies
Quarterly Meta Network Campaigns: These campaigns focus on promoting our three main centers. The creative content varies, including client success stories, positive Google reviews, and thematic cartoons. Each quarter, we brainstorm new themes and ideas with the team to keep the content fresh and engaging. Targeting is meticulously planned to reach users within the geographical catchment areas of each center, ensuring relevance and maximizing impact.
Event Promotion Campaigns: These are launched on a case-by-case basis to promote specific events. For each event, we tailor the campaign strategy to highlight unique aspects and benefits, using eye-catching visuals and compelling messaging to drive attendance. The logistics involve creating a detailed content calendar, scheduling posts, and monitoring engagement metrics to adjust the strategy in real-time.
Service/Program Campaigns: Occasionally, we receive directives from the ministry to focus on specific services. For these campaigns, we align our messaging with the ministry’s goals and ensure that the content addresses the needs and interests of our target audience. The strategy involves close collaboration with the ministry to understand their objectives and deliver content that resonates with the intended audience.
YWCA Employment Program Recruitment Support: These campaigns are crucial for recruiting participants for various employment programs. We use targeted ads on Meta to reach potential candidates, emphasizing the benefits of the programs and the success stories of past participants. The logistics include developing detailed personas to guide targeting, creating engaging ad copy, and continuously optimizing the campaigns based on performance data.
WorkBC Podcast Promotion: Dedicated campaigns are designed to increase awareness and listenership of the WorkBC podcast. We create engaging visuals and audio snippets to capture attention and drive traffic to the podcast. The strategy includes leveraging cross-promotion opportunities with other YWCA channels and collaborating with influencers to amplify the reach.
Paid social media is prioritized over organic due to its broader reach and higher effectiveness. Campaigns are typically created using Ads Manager rather than boosting posts, which results in a more impactful ad experience. Boosting is reserved for low-priority events like recurring library workshops. Our approach involves detailed planning, execution, and continuous optimization to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Creating content that caters to a diverse audience, from youth to mature workers, while adhering to inclusive, diversity, and equity protocols, is a significant challenge. Additionally, the employment nature of our content often leads to posts being rejected by Facebook. Navigating these rejections involves either declaring the ad as an “Employment category” upfront or submitting for review after an initial rejection, which sometimes results in eventual approval.
The strategic use of paid campaigns on Meta has significantly enhanced our reach and engagement compared to organic posts. By focusing on targeted ads, we have effectively recruited participants for the YWCA Employment Programs, ensuring a steady influx of client leads. Regular campaigns have maintained continuous visibility and promotion of our centers and services, contributing to increased awareness and participation. The digital ads have not only driven higher traffic to our website but also improved the overall effectiveness of our outreach efforts, as evidenced by the measurable increase in engagement metrics and positive feedback from the community.
Results & Takeaways
Managing digital advertising requires a balance of creativity, strategic targeting, and adaptability to platform restrictions. Prioritizing paid media has proven crucial for achieving our promotional and recruitment goals, while navigating challenges like content approval necessitates a thorough understanding of platform policies and guidelines. This project underscored the importance of detailed planning and continuous optimization in running effective digital ad campaigns.
Event Kit Creation
To increase our presence at community events and recruit new, eligible clients, I proposed and developed an event kit that allowed staff to independently attend events without the need for the marketing team. This initiative aimed to maximize our participation in events and optimize our team’s time and resources.
Process
The primary objectives were to enable more staff members to represent our organization at various community events, streamline the client intake process to improve efficiency and follow-up procedures, and ensure a consistent and professional presence at events.
The concept of an event kit was proposed to address the challenge of limited marketing team availability. I ensured the kit contained everything needed for events, fitting into a single bag for convenience.
To digitalize the client intake process, I suggested purchasing tablets. I developed digital forms to replace printed intake forms, which expedited data collection and follow-up processes. Additionally, I transformed existing standup banner artwork into smaller, portable table banners and ordered mini banners that could easily fit into the event kit bag.
I created a comprehensive checklist detailing all materials required for the event kit and developed step-by-step instructions to guide staff before, during, and after events, ensuring smooth setup and operation. An instructional video was produced to demonstrate table setup and provide additional event information.
One of the main challenges was ensuring all necessary materials fit into one bag without compromising on quality or functionality. Another challenge was making sure all staff were comfortable with the new digital intake process and the overall event setup.
The digital intake process reduced manual data entry errors and sped up follow-up actions. Staff could attend more events independently, increasing our organization’s outreach and client recruitment. The event kit ensured a consistent and professional presence at all events, regardless of which staff members were attending.
Table at Canadian Immigrant Fair
Table at North Shore Job Fair
Results & Takeaways
This project highlighted the importance of innovation and efficiency in event management. By digitalizing processes and creating comprehensive, easy-to-use kits, we were able to expand our event participation and streamline operations. The initiative underscored the value of providing clear instructions and resources to empower staff.
