Communications and Social Media

InternshipThe Office of Campus

Sustainability

Overview: Research communication strategies to increase awareness

of sustainability programs, engage community, and to encourage sustainable practices

Develop campus sustainability sings to increase awareness of campus sustainability features, and programs Create and display 10-12 Informative and Motivational signs

Create Social Media Guidelines

Update Office of Campus Sustainability social media accounts Expand social media presence

Come up with 24 tips on how to make you life more sustainable and submit to ‘Berg Bulletin every week

Communication Strategies What have other schools done in the past? What are they doing now?

Differences between those schools and Muhlenberg? Most schools I follow on Twitter and Instagram are larger universities

with a highly influential sustainability program already in place i.e. https://twitter.com/GreenHarvard

https://twitter.com/SustainableUofT https://twitter.com/SustainUCSD https://twitter.com/Sierra_Magazine https://twitter.com/NCStateSustain https://twitter.com/HuffPostGreen https://twitter.com/grist https://twitter.com/sustainUCLA https://twitter.com/SustainableUIC https://twitter.com/UTCEC http://instagram.com/utcec

Developing Signage Research:

STARS report Multiple meetings with David Rabold and Tim Korn

for more substantive information More information I have, the easier it will be to

create an Informative Sign that can easily be understood by the average college student If I don’t understand it, how do I expect others to

understand it?

Here’s an example of a few of the Informative Signs I was able to create with information from David, Tim and the STARS report:

Motivational Signs While the Informative Signs were created to

inform and create awareness, Motivational Signs are created to change behavior.

The targeted audience of the Motivational Signs are only students unlike the broader audience the Informative Signs can reach (i.e. professors, students, campus visitors).

Here are a few examples:

Motivational Signs

Motivational Signs

Social Media Before I created any accounts I drafted some

Social Media Guidelines:

Social Media (continued)

Social Media (continued)

Twitter and Instagram accounts:

Instagram: @bergsustainability Twitter: @BergSustainable

Trying to promote the hashtag #MuhlenbergCares for community engagement

Attempting to create interoffice communication and awareness as well…

Social Media (continued)

Instagram @BergSustainability

Instagram @BergSustainability

Instagram @BergSustainability

Instagram @BergSustainability

Instagram @BergSustainability

Twitter @BergSustainable

Twitter @BergSustainable

‘Berg Bulletin Every Tuesday there was a “Green Tip from the Office of Campus Sustainability”

Examples: September 24th: Instead of throwing out your old clothes and unwanted items, you can donate

them. There’s a Goodwill Drop Off Center 4 minutes away from Muhlenberg College located at 4636 Broadway, Allentown. You can go there on the weekend by taking the shuttle provided by the college. Drop off your clothes and then go to the movies, YoFresh or Red Robin!

October 2nd: Headed home for Fall Break? Carpool with a friend instead of driving alone, you'll save on gas and save the environment.

October 9th: Instead of going out and buying Halloween decorations for your dorm room, why don you try to use what you already have? Here are some amazing ideas, from DIY spider webs, hanging bats, to window décor: http://www.listotic.com/16-awesome-homemade-halloween-decorations.

October 14th:Ask your professors if it's OK to submit papers and reports via E-mail, and set your computer to default to double-sided printing. Don’t print out anything you don’t need to. To find out how to change the settings on your MAC click here: https://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/wf7510/wf7510ug/source/printers/source/printing_software/printing_mac_business/reference/double_sided_options_mac_bus.html

November 25th:Purchase earth-friendly toiletries. Toiletries can be full of harmful chemicals, so reduce your exposure by purchasing those that are better for your body and the earth. Download the GoodGuide app to find products that are better for your health and the environment

Difficulties with Internship Developing a base

How do you get a base when there are not that many students interested in the environment or going green? The ones involved are not the ones who will be online on social media to follow,

retweet, etc…

Strategy: At first I targeted the entire student body and sent an email through Lara Kuhns

(Didn’t work– 3 followers out of approximately 2,400 students) Since that was not the best approach, I contacted the professors of current

Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies course and asked them to send an email out to their students Since they are taking the class, they have to have at least some sort of interest in the

topic Every month I write on the Facebook walls of the Class of 2016, 2017, and 2018

informing them about the accounts Hopefully the next intern will do this as well, in addition to contacting the professors…

Getting people interested where there’s already lack of interest Different offices on campus who have Twitter accounts do not like tweeting

with each other From 3 offices I tweeted at, I only got a response from Alumni Relations and

SGA, and I only got a response from SGA because I know the people in charge of the account