SocialMediaActivism

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This is full of resources for social media account managers and content creators.

Let's aim for utopia, not dystopia. Don't forget our 2073-led decisions on dangerous social media platforms! Social media is a battleground and we are up against fascists, dictators and libertarian corporate billionaires, all of whom have a lot more money and resources to throw into the fight than we do.

This wiki page is always in need of a bit of tidying-up - feel welcome to do some :)

Overview / Important Points

  • Create long form articles and using them as a source for ecotips, socials, as well as creating independent ecotips and socials content
  • Develop and maintain an EcoCounts voice across all outlets described here
  • Fill calendar with ideas for contributors based around EcoCounts Mondays workshops & ???
  • Create and maintain instructions on managing each account (the Trello card) in this folder on the cloud
  • Use EcoCounts photo libraries - currently a lot still on google photos but also this image library on our cloud.
  • Share content creation on Canva.com - there is an EcoCounts team
  • Collaborate with other organisations doing social media campaigns
  • Recruit volunteers for unused socials (see checklist) - see the role description on the cloud - should be promoted in various place
  • Answer sustainability questions on Quora, Sustainable Living Exchange, Reddit. Use ecotips as answers or turn answers into ecotips.

Collaborations

Email regularly with links to social media & click/share/repost/like their stuff:

  1. Space4
  2. Climate Fresk channel
  3. St Luke's office
  4. Islington Climate Centre

Social Media Channels

Newsletters

Isabella’s advice re newsletter - need to send out monthly newsletters to our 2024 volunteers to get them to engage:

Potential improvements to newsletter format

I’d recommend moving from a weekly “noticeboard” style to a fortnightly digest (twice a month) and segmenting the newsketters and content according to audience profiles. This gives breathing room for content, avoids fatigue and allows you to frame updates as engaging stories rather than bare announcements.

Suggested structure (fortnightly):

Opening Hook / Story (100–150 words)

Human-centred anecdote, progress update, or one volunteer’s story.

Connects EcoCounts’ mission to lived experience (ties back to Adam’s purpose: turning climate anxiety into practical action).

What’s On (short, clear listing)

Upcoming film night, Monday meet-up, zoom calls.

Use a consistent layout (date | event link/CTA).

Carbon Footprint Challenge / Tip

A recurring feature where participants measure something small but tangible (see below).

Builds engagement and makes the newsletter useful, not just informational.

Spotlight / Impact

A snapshot of community impact (“This month, EcoCounters saved X kg CO2 by…”) or a partner story.

Get Involved

Trustee vacancy, volunteer ask, fundraising push. Always framed around impact (“Help us grow the movement”).

Closing Note / Adam’s Voice

A short personal line from Adam or another volunteer, reminding why EcoCounts exists and reinforcing community tone.


  • Good Newsletter Features to consider (and which audience for / what frequency is doable)

EcoCounts’ core model is around personal carbon budgets and community-level “trading”, and the newsletter is the perfect place to normalise this. You want small, low-barrier “measuring steps” that feel achievable:

One-number challenges: “Track your energy bill emissions for a week (we’ll show you how)”.

Lifestyle spot-checks: “What’s your meat-free meal count this week? Each one saves about 2 kg CO2.”

Travel tally: “Log your transport this week—car, bike, bus, train. Which was the biggest footprint?”

Mini calculators: Link to a simple EcoCounts-branded Google Sheet or online tool where members can plug in quick numbers.

Community averages: Next issue could share “Collectively, 12 members tracked their food footprints: avg 4.2 kg CO2 per day.”

“Swap of the Fortnight”: Encourage measuring the impact of one change (e.g. swapping a short car trip for cycling saves ~2 kg CO2).

This turns the newsletter into more than a noticeboard and makes it mnore of a tool for action and accountability, reinforcing EcoCounts’ distinct approach.

EcoCounts Sixth Form Instagram Workshop Series

Lots of PDFs: https://cloud.ecocounts.community/f/33015

Learning and Training for Volunteers

See more course providers on Training

General

Loads of great PDF books on the subject: https://cloud.ecocounts.community/f/29861

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzzZw6buzCo - Andrew Davis whole day recording of social media training

Instagram

Instagram fundraising: https://mediatrust.org/resource-hub/instagram-fundraising-toolkit/

Youtube

Youtube: https://mediatrust.org/resource-hub/create-videos-with-youtube/

Linkedin

See infographic https://cloud.ecocounts.community/f/6434 - possibly already out-of-date

https://www.linkedintraining.net/wp-content/uploads/LinkedIn-Profile-Setup-and-Optimisation-2020-1.pdf

Creating content

Creating a Post - Basics

Components of a new post:

  • Get an image (see below)
  • Create topic / content / caption
  • Use a fact – interesting / surprising / shocking
  • Brand consistency - font, colours, logo
  • Voice – consistency again
  • Audience – make it relevant
  • Call to action
  • How often are you going to post
  • What hooks to people's lives does it have - calendar dates, events, current issues, memes

Finding Images

Before using any image that you're not sure about, do a copyright check: https://tineye.com/ or https://images.google.com/

Free image libraries

If you are really stuck, you can grab a screenshot from a good video to provide a low res image.

Creating Video

Steps for writing a 'killer' video script:

  • know your audience, profile them - someone who understands economics, is prepared to consider 'transformative' action over incrementalism
  • know your message (not good - it's on a level of complexity with satnav or Ode to Joy - so at least I know what the challenge is, following your 'reduce msg to one sentence' methodology you mentioned on Sunday)
  • know your call-to-action
  • keep the script short - 2 mins max - use
  • put the message in the first 30 secs
  • speak directly to the audience
  • find the right tone
  • tell a story - hook, engage, CTA
  • use humour wisely
  • pace yourself
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