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Social Media Plan - Part 1Background/History

Camp Fire International is a non-profit organization which emphasizes offering camping

and other outdoor activities for youth. Camp Fire was founded in 1910 by Luther and Charlotte

Gulick in Thetfort, Vermont, for a group of young girls who dreamed of being a member of an

organization that played a major role in the community like the Boy Scouts of America, an all-

male organization. Camp Fire was established by the Gulicks to “guide young people on th eir journey to self-discovery” and proposed these children should have hands-on experiences to

learn to care for themselves, the environment and others around them. In 1975, Camp Fire

shifted to a coeducational organization by bringing boys and girls together. This co-ed group

learns how to appreciate each other’s similarities and differences in positive ways by playing

and working alongside each other.

Camp Fire, originally known as Camp Fire Girls of America and formerly known as

Camp Fire USA, is the very first nonsectarian and multicultural organization for girls. For over

100 years, Camp Fire has been shaping youths lives through their heritage of cultivating

community building, support academic readiness and embracing diversity. Through theprograms provided by Camp Fire, the youth receive small group experiences, after-school

programs, camping and environmental education, child care and service learning, confidence

building and hands-on, youth driven leadership experiences.

Originally established in Vermont and headquarter in New York, Camp Fire’s

headquarters are now stationed in Kansas City, Missouri. Camp Fire has over 750,000

members across the country, with roughly an equal number of boy and girl members to work

and learn together. Camp Fire focuses on three different programs which include: 1.

Environmental and Camp Programs, 2. An Out-of-School-Time Program and 3. Teen Service

and Leadership Programs. Each program has professionally trained, caring mentors who helpthe youth define their “best” selves.

Camp Fire’s promise is “Young people want to shape the world. Camp Fire provides

the opportunity to find their spark, lift their voice, and discover who they are. In Camp Fire, it

begins now . Light the fire within.”

SOCIAL MEDIA FOOTPRINT

Camp Fire has a mild social media footprint thus far. The organization has a presenceon Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and Flickr. Its national Facebook page claims about

2,500 followers, with 115 people mentioning it in posts. Their national Twitter handle,

@CampFireNHQ, follows closely with a little more than 2,000 followers. Camp Fire’s Google+

page claims 88 followers. However, it is important to note that this organization and its likely

social media presence is also utilized in smaller, specific pages more local to its corresponding

audiences. These area-specific pages serve markets such as Seattle, Omaha, Portland, Fort

Worth, Kansas City, etc. Whereas these pages garner a significantly smaller following, an

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effort to localize the social media efforts of the organization has been made by creating

market-specific handles such as these.

The content on Camp Fire’s social media outlets highlights recent member activities

from across the country, including updates on partnered organizations like Gamma Phi Beta

and the New York Life Foundation. Pictures from these events end up on the Flickr page,

likewise videos on their Youtube page, updates and articles are posted to Twitter and

Facebook, and some composed blog posts about anything and everything Camp Fire make itto the Tumblr page. These blog posts focus on the benefits for youths, and the sincere intent to

mentor and guide the children. A particular emphasis is put on Camp Fire alumnus to further

kindle the organization’s span by volunteering to help new youths “find their spark.” 

TARGET AUDIENCE/DEMOGRAPHICS

Camp Fire targets teens, parents, and alumni through their social media channels. They

particularly cater posts to these channels more for parents and organizational alumni. Although

Camp Fire’s primary objective is to allow youths to experience wholesome and beneficial

activities, it is entirely up to the adult volunteers to ensure that the organization expands and

survives in the years to come. Posts to these social media channels are usually details of

upcoming events in the organization, and information that parents need for their children to

participate. Given the organization’s long-standing origins, these posts are meant to evokepast Camp Fire experiences from its alumni that may now be raising children themselves

through their messaging and visuals. Hasselquist mentions the organization’s efforts to post

“things that will take them back to their camp days or their after -school program days…” 

CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA ISSUES

The status of Camp Fire’s social media presence is one that is not seen as being strong

enough for today’s media landscape according to Hasselquist. The most difficult aspect of

establishing the organization’s online social infrastructure now is their appeal to brand

recognition. The expanse of Camp Fire’s online representation at this time does notadequately envelope the expansive amount of youth it serves, or its legacy among other

similar youth organizations. Accordingly, Camp Fire’s utmost goal is to bolster its brand

recognition and give people a satisfying experience when they show up to one of their

programs. Another issue with communication relates to how those that do recognize the brand

may not be up-to-date with its programs. Camp Fire has been co-educational for 40 years, but

is still often reduced to simply being seen as the “Camp Fire Girls” by older audiences.

Hasselquist sees the organization’s interaction with users on their social channels as a

stronger attribute, but also sees room for improvement on the timeliness of the content these

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channels are publishing. In summation, Camp Fire seems to have a strong legacy, but not as

strong of a social footprint.

COMPETITION

Camp Fire is in competition with nearly anything that occupies youths’ time. For the

sake of relativity, our group has researched a few other scout-like youth organizations like the

Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, Royal Rangers and YMCA. Click on the social

media icons to see the footprint of these competitors’ online media channels. 

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is an immensely popular scouting program.

  Basic Info

o  Founded 1910

o  2.7 million members

o  1 million volunteers

o  Restricted to males

  At a Glance

The Girl Scouts of America (GSUSA) is another renowned scouting program.

  Basic Info

o  Founded 1912

o  2.2 million members

o  883k volunteers

o  Restricted to females

  At a Glance

The Royal Rangers (RR) is an inherently church-based scout-like program.

  Basic Info

o  Founded 1962

o  125k members 

o  Restricted to Christian

males

  At a Glance

 Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is perhaps Camp Fire’s largest

competitor. YMCA’s motto is most similar to Camp Fire’s; “Empowering young people.”

  Basic Info

o  Founded 1844 

o  57 million members 

o  No restrictions 

  At a Glance

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GOAL OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN

  Hasselquist mentioned that their main communication issue was brand recognition.

Looking toward Camp Fire’s competitors, the organization may not have as many interactions

on social media platforms as other some organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America,

Girl Scouts of America, Royal Rangers, or the YMCA. Even though Camp Fire has been co-

educational for over 40 years, they are still recognized by many as “Camp Fire Girls”. Camp

Fire adopts an all-inclusive platform that the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Royal Rangers reallycannot claim themselves. The fact that all are welcome in Camp Fire is one that has unique

branding potential for this organization. This social media plan will help Camp Fire portray their

co-educational efforts and help the public realize Camp Fire is so much more today than they

were 40 years ago.

Through our efforts to increase brand recognition, we plan to increase the engagement

of Camp Fire’s current and future clientele. By focusing on two specific social media platforms,

Facebook and Twitter, we plan to increase the “likes” and “follows” for Camp Fire’s official

pages. With a larger audience, we feel that timely responses and interaction with those using

Camp Fire’s services, a greater online presence can be achieved. This engagement  will notonly be directed at parents and alumni of Camp Fire, but also toward teens who are in the

program, or those who have yet to find their spark in the organization.

Social Media Plan - Part 2

Goals and Implemented Strategies

Goal 1: Bolster Brand Recognition

Hasselquist suggests that Camp Fire wants to increase their brand recognition by letting

the pubilc know they are present. Their online presencethrough different social media outlets

is very small for the amount of youth they serve and the alumni foundation they have

established throughout their years. Camp Fire wants to give people the Camp Fire experience

the youth feels when they show up to the program, as well as through social media outlets,

particually Facebook and Twitter.

Strategy: Increase awar eness of Camp Fire’s presence on their social

media channels

Compared to its competitors, Camp Fire’s social media outlets has a small audience.

We must focus on increasing Camp Fire’s social media footprint to go alongside the legacy

they have established throughout their 100+ years of service. In doing so, we have to increase

the likes and followers on Facebook and Twitter. We will start at the roots of Camp Fire with

the Alumni who can share firsthand, opinion leading experiences through visuals and

messages with current and future Camp Fire clients.

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Procedure:

URGE ALUMNI AND PARENTS TO SHARE

By asking Camp Fire alumni and parents to share Camp Fire’s different social media

platforms with other family and friends will help spread the word of Camp Fire and boost the

social media presence.

USE NOSTALGIA TO TURN ALUMNI INTO RECRUITMENT TOOLS

By getting the older Alumni to remember Camp Fire fondly in a socially engaged way,

we aim to make old Camp Fire photos a trendy post for all of their friends to see and to get

people talking about Camp Fire again.

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The people with fond enough memories of Camp Fire to respond to the abovecampaign are probably the kind of passionate opinion leaders the organization needs

representing its new social media presence.This can be branded as a friendly scavenger hunt

type competition, with top responses being shared by the Camp Fire official social media

channels, or with other prize incentives.

INCREASE AMOUNT OF CONTENT ON MEDIA CHANNELS

Camp Fire will continue to post content regarding upcoming events, spotlight articles,

and different features for the public to see what Camp Fire is really doing. In addition to this,

we aim to release several simple photo posts to show quickly what Camp Fire is up tocurrently, to juxtapose the coinciding blasts from the past. With these simple visual

representations, online audiences will absorb targeted messages much quicker than simply

reading text-only posts or otherwise context-heavy content.

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In expanding Camp Fire to the younger generations, it is necessary for its customs and

beliefs to also continue with the brand. Timeless associations like the organization’s emphasis

on “WoHeLo,” (work, health, and love) have potential to carry tremendous meaning for young

people. How incredible would it be to get #wohelo trending?

Official Camp Fire Twitter handles can request followers to favorite and retweet posts

like these above, and to reply to them with how they demonstrate WoHeLo in their every day

lives. This could open opportunities to engage with the audience and reinforce the

organization’s efforts toward transparency, truth, and trust with their online presence.  

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Goal 2: Stimulate Brand Interaction

Hasselquist discerned a desired effort for the organization’s media channels to interact

with its audience in a more timely and applied fashion. This can be achieved in the following

ways. 

Strategy: Increase the scope of Camp Fire’s relevance in online

discussions & increase rate of response

INCREASE THE SPAN OF KEYWORDS CAMP FIRE IS TRACKING ITS MENTIONS WITH 

Existing methods of tracking brand mentions can be expanded to include keywords

regarding the likely online presences of Camp Fire’s many partners and sponsors, such as: 

  KC Parks

  Camps for Kids

  United Way

  American Camp Association

  New York Life

  Thrive Foundation for Youth

  Gamma Phi Beta

Listen to the conversations that are taking place with the above partners and see how

Camp Fire could produce timely interactions with relevant businesses and organizations.

ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

To further increase the span at which Camp Fire can listen to its online audience, it can

also closely track mentions about its specific programs in its specific markets, and perhaps

borrow content from the media channels of other market-specific Camp Fire chapters.

Examples of these program mentions to interact with are programs such as:

  Teens in Action Program   The Youth Advisory Council 

  Nature Tikes 

  Afterschool Alliance 

  Absolutely Incredible Kids 

  Camp Counselor in Training

Programs

CONGRATULATE CONTRIBUTORS IN A FUN AND SOCIAL WAY

Camp Fire can congratulate new Camp Fire camp counselors on their achievements in

the organization with a post or tweet to their profile. If privacy issues prohibit something like

this, permission can be sought to congratulate individuals in a shared post by the official

Facebook or Twitter channel, and or tag them to commend their efforts. This should get youth,and all of their friends/followers to know that members are appreciated, and that Camp Fire is

an interactive and welcoming brand. 

Camp Fire can create posts to encourage adults/alumni to participate in writing letters

of encouragement to the incredible kids in their lives. This event is a longstanding part of

Camp Fire, and can be an opportunity to show that the organization wouldn’t be possible

without the youths involved. The social media channels can also encourage the writers to take

a picture or video of their absolutely incredible kid reading or being given their letter with a

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smile on their face to be shared on Camp Fire’s media channels. 

USE COMPANY ASSETS TO MAINTAIN LEGITIMACY

Camp Fire has a history that is just as old as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of

 America. It maintains a recognizable logo and legacy. There are also many famous and

successful alumni, but not so many to be diluted by chance. By holding fast to what the

organization has already achieved in the past, it can ready itself for what it aims to achieve in

the future amongst competitors with the same vision for youths.

ASSETS

NUMBERS

  102 years old 

  Serving 1 million+ youths annually 

  Serving 70 councils in 29 states 

  Offering 30 million program hours

annually 

  Recipient of numerous grants,

including a $1 million grant from the

New York Life Foundation 

LIVING PROOF (AND SOME DECEASED PROOF TOO)

  Shirley Temple 

  Christie Brinkley 

  Madonna 

  Marian Anderson 

  Johnny Rutherford 

  Gladys Knight 

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In addition, keeping up-to-date with Camp Fire’s extraordinary alumni and leaders and

engaging in their conversations when relevant can be a means of free exposure. For instance,

in memoriam of Shirley Temple Black’s passing on February 10th, CF channels could borrow

interest from an already trending conversation and tie it to its core values and beliefs based on

the actor’s involvement with the Camp Fire Program if it can be done respectfully.

Utilizing Camp Fire’s assets can be a much-needed push in the social direction. Keeping

the organization’s social eyes peeled for whenever an opportunity comes to promote its

message through assets of business sponsors and partners can be of great utility. Requesting

permission for exclusive conversation involvement or exposure in its sponsors’ online content

can help increase the scope of Camp Fire’s online relevance and efforts toward timely

interactions with its audience.

Social Media Plan - Part 3

Measurement

Once the social media plan has been implemented alongside Camp Fire’s existing

methods, the next step is to measure the effectiveness of the newer methods. For this

process, we can devise metrics by which to measure our results by. We must compare thesepost-plan metrics to the values associated with the point of departure, before the plan was

implemented. From there we can determine their effectiveness based on these comparisons.

Organization is important once we start measuring effectiveness. A helpful tool for this

can be to create an order of events to better connect results with the sequence of content.

From these events, we can then compile and graph data such as Facebook likes, Twitter

follows, unique website visits, or online mentions over the same timeframes.

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  It is extremely important for us to constantly measure the effectiveness of our plan on a

month to month basis. Through this we will know what is working, not working and where we

can make some adjustments. Our main goal is to increase “likes” and “followers”. In doing so,

we will keep track month to month. Below is a chart that will help us measure how much

Camp Fire is growing on each social media platform. This chart will be also be able to

measure which months are the most popular with engagement.

Platform

June Monthly Change July

Monthly

Change August

FACEBOOK

Total Page Likes 2,548

New Page Likes 34

People Talking

About 190

TWITTER

Followers 2,020

Following 753Total Tweets 1,703

CRISIS PLAN

These online tools can be incredibly useful, but it is always wise to be prepared in the

often brazen world of the internet. Having an assessment plan arranged ahead of time can

benefit in later scares. Employees with access to the official headquarters’ media channels

should be on-call for possible emergency situations. Make sure to establish amongst all

departments what would be considered a crisis for your organization. Staying on top of what

people are saying about the organization with analytics services is also a powerful proactive

approach to crisis management. In the case of an actual crisis, make sure everyone is aware

of their individual responsibilities. Unpleasant situations can be handled much more smoothly if

everyone responsible is on the same page from the start.

SCENARIO:

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Let’s say this post actually went live. In this case, the post itself may not be

unacceptable, but it asks for user created content. If commenters posted irrelevant or

otherwise inappropriate content while a moderator was away, consequences could arise that

may make the whole effort in vain. Any time a specific post requests input from an online

audience, its poster should keep an even closer eye on what kind of attention it is gathering.

Establish what constitutes unacceptable content for commenters on your media platforms and

only moderate them accordingly.