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.
Quarterly Meta Campaigns
These campaigns promote our three main centers while also supporting ministry-directed services. Content includes client success stories, positive Google reviews, and thematic cartoons, with new themes brainstormed each quarter to keep messaging fresh and engaging. Targeting is planned to reach users within specific catchment areas, ensuring relevance and impact. For ministry-driven initiatives, I align messaging with ministry goals, tailoring content to address audience needs while collaborating closely with stakeholders to meet campaign objectives.
YWCA Employment Program Recruitment Support
These campaigns recruit participants for employment programs through targeted Meta ads. I emphasize program benefits and success stories, develop detailed personas to guide targeting, and optimize campaigns continuously based on performance data.
Event Promotion Campaigns
Launched on a case-by-case basis to highlight specific events, these campaigns use eye-catching visuals and compelling messaging to drive attendance. I develop detailed content calendars, schedule posts, and monitor engagement metrics to optimize strategy in real time.
WorkBC Podcast Promotion
Designed to boost awareness and listenership of the WorkBC podcast, these campaigns feature engaging visuals and audio snippets. Strategies include cross-promotion with other YWCA channels and collaborations with influencers to expand reach.
Paid Social Media Strategy
We prioritize paid social media over organic due to its broader reach and effectiveness, creating campaigns in Ads Manager rather than boosting posts (except for low-priority events). Our process involves careful planning, execution, and continuous optimization. A key challenge is producing content for diverse audiences—youth to mature workers—while adhering to equity and inclusion standards. Employment-focused content is often flagged by Facebook, which I navigate by declaring ads in the “Employment” category or appealing rejections for approval.
This strategic use of paid campaigns has significantly increased reach, engagement, and program recruitment. Targeted ads have driven traffic to the website, generated a steady influx of client leads, and elevated awareness of YWCA Employment Programs. Regular campaigns ensure ongoing visibility of our centers and services, supported by measurable increases in engagement metrics and positive community feedback.
Results & Takeaways
Managing digital ads requires creativity, strategic targeting, and adaptability to platform restrictions. Prioritizing paid media has been crucial for meeting recruitment goals, while navigating approval challenges highlights the need for careful planning and continuous optimization.
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
Event Kit & Digital Intake Optimization
The goal was to enable more staff to represent the organization at events, streamline client intake, and maintain a consistent, professional presence. I developed a portable event kit containing all necessary materials, including mini banners, and created a digital intake system using tablets and online forms to replace paper-based processes. I also produced a checklist, step-by-step instructions, and an instructional video to guide staff.
Key challenges included fitting all materials into one bag and ensuring staff were comfortable with the digital process. The results: reduced data entry errors, faster follow-up, increased staff participation at events, and a consistently professional presence across all community engagements.
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.
