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THE MARKETING & RESOURCES COMMITTEE PRESENTS

2015 RESOLUTIONS

A HANDBOOK DEDICATED TO

RECRUITMENT & RETENTION

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I. INTRODUCTION………………………………….……..….…1

I. INTRODUCTION………………………………….……..….…1 II. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS……………………………. .….…. 3

1. SOCIAL MEDIA…….…………….….….…………..….……………….4 a) THE POWER OF BEING CONNECTED

2. FACEBOOK…….…………….….….………………………..…..…….6 a) THE PAGE VS. GROUP DEBATE

3. WEBSITES/EMAILS…….…………….….….…………..…..…..….…….6 a) GOING OLD SCHOOL

III. RECRUITMENT……………….…………………………..…. 5 1. PUBLIC RELATIONS…….…………….……………………..……..……8

a) SIGNS b) MARKETING RESOURCES

2. K-FAMILY………….…………….….….…………..….…….….…….9 a) BRANCHES b) KEY CLUB TO CIRCLE K

3. EVENTS…….…….………..…….….…….…..…..……….……..……10 a) ON CAMPUS

4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES……..…….….…….…..…..………..……..……10 a) MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT

IV. RETENTION……..…………………..….….……….……….11 1. CLUBS…….…….………..…….….…….…..…..….…….……..……12

a) ORGANIZATION & CONSISTENCY b) MONTHLY PLAN

2. MEMBER INVOLVEMENT…….……….……….……,,………..……..……13 a) COMMITTEES b) PROJECT LEADERS

3. MEMBER FELLOWSHIP…….………….……………………..……..……14 a) SOCIAL b) SPIRIT

V. TEMPLATES………………………………………….….…15 1. NEWSLETTERS………….……………………..………………………15 2. PROMO VIDEOS…….………….……………….…..…………..………15 3. POWERPOINTS…….………….…………………….…………………15

VI. CONTACT INFORMATION………….…….……….……….……16

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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INTRODUCTION ear Circle K Member: Happy New Year! I hope you spent t h i s y e a r ’ s f e s t i v i t i e s surrounded by friends and

family, welcoming the new year with excited and optimistic attitudes. As we all know, a new year is not only a time for parties and celebration, but also a chance for us to reflﾟect on the past and make new goals for our future. This handbook is just that: we will reflﾟect on methods we’ve used as a committee for marketing, and we will introduce new ideas we have that can improve the resources we’ve already created. This year, we want to be bold and heard as Circle K members. We want people to know who we are, what we do and why we do it. We want to expand our membership by introducing our organization to new members, but also develop our relationships with

members we already have. As you may have already noticed, the cover of this handbook reads “2015 Resolutions: A handbook dedicated to recruitment and retention.” In the following pages, you will have an opportunity to learn how to achieve recruitment and retention in your club memberships. These two R’s are extremely important in helping our community grow. With that said, I hope that you will utilize this resource to its greatest potential and share what you’ve learned with your clubs, divisions, and even with the entire district. Keep in mind if you have any questions at all, feel free to contact us with the information provided at the end of this handbook. That brings us to the end of this introduction, and the beginning of our resolutions! I wish you the best of luck, and once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

DOS

•･ Keep consistent updates about club meetings and events. Social media is only as good as the users. Keep consistent and formal about all information that you’re sending out so that your members know how and when to look for updates.

•･ Encourage interclub bonding. Showing that the club is larger than just it’s charter on campus will make a lot more people excited to join! Link and share projects that surrounding clubs are doing too.

•･ Monitor posts.

•･ Promote member interaction.

DONTS

•･ Be disorganized. No one wants to join a club that isn’t active or seems disorganized. Having updated social media platforms and websites are crucial in maintaining a good image.

•･ Overshare. Even if a closed group, all this information is easily shared across the internet. Don’t share anything too personal on the behalf of yourself or others.

•･ Overpost. Yeah, it’s good to keep active and busy, but you don’t want to bother people to the point that they will unfollow or stop looking at notifiﾞcations.

The power of being connected

The importance: Social media platforms are an important way of spreading information to members. While students may not diligently check and get notifiﾞed of emails, they most often do check in with their social media pages or receive updates on their mobile devices.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Platform Facebook Share everything, connect anytime

Twitter Updates in Realtime

Instagram A picture says a thousand words - this platform is all photos.

Basic Information Facebook is a powerful platform for sharing all kinds of information: text, fiﾞles, photos (i.e. flﾟiers!), links, videos, and more. Plus, Facebook events!

Twitter is fantastic at connecting people with real time updates. Follow your friends and people that interest you!

While text is great in sharing information, images are often the go-to source as they are easy on the eye and often pack a punch really quickly.

Pros Posts show up in semi-real time, meaning your posts come up in the newsfeed now and in the future, especially if there’s a lot of interaction.

Easily connect with local businesses, organizations, and Circle K International. Get messages out quickly and concisely. Members can easily share, communicate, and follow. Don’t need a twitter account to view page. Hashtags.

Simple, clean platform.

Easily get info across without much effort from the user.

Hashtags.

Cons Need Facebook account to access most media, unless a public page.

You’re stuck with only 140 characters per post. It’s good because it’s concise, but bad because you just can’t include all information sometimes.

If following a lot of people, posts can fall into the mists.

Only images + captioned text. Only works if people are consistently looking at it.

Features Utilize Facebook event pages: these help to spread events and get tallies on RSVP.

Tweet to Text: Twitter has the option to receive tweets in text format. This is an easy way to get information out and have it on two different platforms - especially if people don’t have smartphones. Link other websites easily and share photos, videos, and articles relevant to your work or club interests.

Tag organizations, users, etc.

Tips Don’t go too text heavy, but do get your message across with lots of visuals and important information.

Get the point and do it with style: you have 140 characters to a) catch peoples eye and b) get the information out.

Figure out when is a good time to post. The rate of posts being viewed often depends on the hour of the day (are they more active during the day or at night?)

People/Places to Follow/Connect With

NYCKI CKI

Circle K International Circle K Alumni Key Club Key Club Alumni

Check back with your club to see if you have a Circle K Instagram!

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FACEBOOKThe page vs. group debate Clubs have the option of creating pages and groups on Facebook for members. They are both equally powerful in distributing information, but they do it in different ways. It’s important to fiﾞnd the best mechanism for your club and the other resources available.

Page

1. Easy to follow, pops up on newsfeed more frequently

2. Post as “_____Circle K instead of as individual users; multiple people can control/post on page as “_____ Circle K”.

3. Anyone can easily view page. •･ Share photos to a larger

audience. 4. Keep your posts in the forefront,

while others can post and will only show in a separate area.

5. View statistics.

Group

1. Capable of uploading (and automatically archiving) documents (i.e. Microsoft Word, PDFs, photos)

2. Set privacy settings (open, closed, secret).

•･ Monitor who joins and who posts.

3. Good for forums - if you have a website where posts are static, a Facebook group may be the ultimate sidekick!

4. Regular settings automatically updates members for every post.

WEBSITES/EMAILSGoing old school While social media is fantastic, sometimes going a little old school doesn’t hurt. A website is benefiﾞcial in linking all platforms and information together into one neat presentation. It is an awesome way to also hold static information (i.e.: means of contact) that doesn’t necessarily fiﾞt into social media platforms. Email is also a great way to disseminate and organize a large amount of information into one place that is easily accessible to all members. While Facebook can easily update, after time information can get lost so a website is a great way to keep static information in one place that everyone can access from members, community organizations, and sponsors.

Setting up List Servs

•･ Google Groups: easy system with an archive page

- Click here to start •･ Mail Chimp: visually appealing

emails, a little bit more work, but a lot more features!

- Click here to start

Website Fundamentals

•･ Home Page: - Link social media platforms

•･ Event Calendar •･ Contact

- Emails - Executive Board

•･ Photos/Articles

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RECRUITMENT Signs In order to be known, you have to be seen. That’s where public relations comes in. Marketing a club on a campus can get a little hectic, especially when you don’t have the freedom to post things everywhere and also be the only flﾟyer that’s up on a bulletin board. That’s why it’s so important to make a good, marketable piece that will catch your audience’s attention right away.    Some tips to making a successful sign or poster is to use bright colors, eye catching images, attention grabbing phrases and to place them in high traffiﾞc areas.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Marketing Resources Brand Guide: http://www.circlek.org/Resources/Marketing/brandguide.aspx

Activity Fair/Tabling: http://www.circlek.org/Libraries/Resources_Recruitment_Retention/Tabling_Points_Tabling_Checklist_Resource_doc.sflﾟb.ashx

Networking: Talking to other Circle K clubs and other on campus clubs can always be benefiﾞcial to your club. Plan joint events and build a support team. The more friends you have in other organizations, the more opportunities you have to collaborate with others. Invite them to your events and maybe you’ll be invited to theirs! With this kind of communication, you can promote Circle K and teach more people about what you do.

Public Relations is defiﾞned as the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other organization or a famous person.

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Key Club to Circle K When recruiting new members at the beginning of the year, it’s always a good idea to take a moment and think about your past: your high school days. Think about your teachers, your friends, your ridiculous amount of homework, and of course, think about your commitment to extracurriculars. Remember Key Club? I know, seems like ages ago! But I think all Key Club alumni, now Circle K members, can agree that their decision to join Circle K had to do with the values they hold for service, community and leadership.

Here’s an excellent resource you can use when presenting to high school seniors and graduating Key Club members on their plans for the future - both academic and service related:

Click here for the resource: Key to College (under Key Club Resources)

The Kiwanis Family, often referred to as the K-Family, presents an immense amount of opportunities for our youth to complete acts of service and develop leadership skills. The K-Family consists of several branches:

•･ Aktion Club - Community-service organization for adults who live with a

disability. •･ Kiwanis Kids

- Fastest growing service club for elementary students. •･ Builders Club

- Largest community-service program for junior and middle school students worldwide.

•･ Key Club International - Oldest and largest service program for high school students

worldwide. •･ Circle K International

- Largest university service leadership organization in the world. •･ Kiwanis International

- One of the largest service organizations in the world, primarily focusing on children.

K-FAMILYBranches

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EVENTSOn Campus Get known on campus!

•･ Put up posters, table, and recruit at your activity fair as previously mentioned. •･ Another good way to get known on campus is to hold a “high profiﾞle” event, something

campus wide such as a food or clothing drive or a cooking competition. If you have a small club feel free to reach out and ask another organization to co-host, to make the event more successful and get your name out there.

•･ Do service projects with other organizations, and around campus, to familiarize more people with your club.

Host Events/Projects and invite non members throughout the year!

•･ Have a bring a friend event, even if its just to a meeting where you will take part in a service project, show them what its about, then encourage them to come back, and maybe bring another friend.

•･ If you are having a “high profiﾞle” event and you could use more volunteers reach out to an organization and see if they have a few people that would like to help for a little while during the event.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCESMembership Recruitment If you ever visited the Circle K International website, you’d know that there are multiple resources available that talk about membership recruitment and retention. In order to make your life a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of links that we think will help you and your club tackle things like improving club meetings to increase member involvement.

•･ Conquering your club meeting: - http://circlek.org/Libraries/Resources_Offiﾞcer_Training/

Counquer_Your_Club_Meeting.sflﾟb.ashx

•･ Icebreakers for groups of all sizes: - http://circlek.org/Libraries/Resources_Kiwanis_Family/

Icebreaker_Guide_2013-2014.sflﾟb.ashx

•･ Managing your club’s expectations: - http://circlek.org/Libraries/Resources_Recruitment_Retention/

Managing_Your_Club_s_Expectations.sflﾟb.ashx

•･ Overcoming challenges in member involvement: - http://circlek.org/Libraries/Resources_Recruitment_Retention/

Overcoming_Challenges_in_Member_Involvement.sflﾟb.ashx

RETENTION RETENTION RETENTION

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Organization & Consistency Part of what can help keep members and having consistent projects and a diversity of projects. Here are sample ideas of what great club management can look like.

Monthly Agenda: make each meeting/month jam-packed •･ Big meeting to relay a big picture of the month’s plans •･ 2 service projects (off-site) •･ 1 in-meeting project or on-site project •･ 1 social event (for ideas see Member Bonding on page #)

Ideas for in-meeting projects: •･ PB&J •･ Team up with another campus club •･ Check out DoSomething.org projects for more.

CLUBS

Month/Theme Event SocialJanuary: Local Service 1 event for students on campus;

encourage whole club to volunteer at a local soup kitchen. Photos or it didn’t happen!

New Years outing for students on campus!

February: Share the Love Fundraiser: candy grams and/or Valentine’s Day party

Valentines day party/outing

March: You snooze, you lose

Plan a no-sleepathon! Get dressed up or cozy in your pajamas and stay up all night in the name of awareness and fundraising.

Beat the long middle month blues with a popcorn and movie screening on site.

April: Think Global Work on issues and projects outside of the local community. Fundraise for causes like water.org, thirstproject.org, etc. Let’s start thinking about the long term maintenance goals for those living in harsh environments, starting with access to clean and safe water.

Plan an alternative spring break! Take members on a trip outside of the college area to help build a house or plant some trees. It’s a great way to bond, have some fun, and get some work done!

Tip: Try volunteering at a festival! Often, many festivals have free passes for the entertainment as long as volunteers spend a few hours helping out at the event.

May: Celebrate Graduation (and Education)

Volunteer with a local school. Goodbye party for all graduating seniors - hand out awards for their service commitments!

Host at least one special project/event each month to keep things interesting at your club meetings.

Monthly Plan

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Month/Theme Event SocialJune: Summertime! You’d be surprised as to how many

volunteer opportunities there are during the summer. Ex: Volunteer at a walk for a charity!

For those still on campus, serve together, take a trip to the beach or picnic!

July: Fundraise Fiesta Think: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Create a funny challenge and choose your cause. Even being a part, you can do something awesome for a charity!

It's never too early to start fundraising for your club. So what if school isn’t in session... our service year is! Plan a car wash or barbecue fundraiser with your club!

August: Welcome Back Service fun party! Make your welcome back party mean something more by combining food and music with easy in-meeting project crafts and fundraisers.

Welcome back party!!! Reunite with old friends and prepare to meet and make new ones!

September: Settling in Join the local community in a walk or plan your large-scale event!

Last hurrah of summer: beach outing!

October: Halloween Safe treats Halloween party for community kids.

Head out for the Halloween parade! A plus: dress up with matching themed costumes! (pride, yes!)

November: Thankful and families

Soup kitchen + meals on heels/wheels Big-sib lil-sib cooking competition/potluck

December: Holiday fun and care

Macy’s Letter to Santa: One letter donates a dollar. Also check out HandsToHearts.org - during the holidays, we can donate gifts to children in need.

It’s fiﾞnals time! Stress levels often run high so schedule times to meet up and study together or take a breather and go out ice skating!

MEMBER INVOLVEMENTCommittees Sometimes the best way to improve member retention in clubs is by encouraging the members to take up a bigger role in the club. A perfect stepping stone between a member and the board is a committee. Although not an offiﾞcial board member, committee chairs and members have a lot of inflﾟuence on the success of fundraisers, service projects and events in the club. It also gives members an opportunity to get a feel for what leadership roles are like in Circle K.

•･ Eliminate Project Chair •･ District Projects Chair •･ Governor’s Project Chair •･ International Projects Chair •･ Service Projects Chair

•･ Fundraising Chair •･ Bake Sale Chair •･ Public Relations Chair •･ Historian Chair •･ Fellowship Chair

Possible Committee Chair/Member Roles:

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MEMBER FELLOWSHIPSocial Creating the family: A big part of Circle K that isn’t written directly in the mission is the familial aspect that draws in members. Circle K members are nice, caring, and awesome people. Strategizing ways to keep the bond between members is important in not only keeping members, but assuring that members will have a good time and work well when volunteering.

Social Initiatives: When to have them: when project/events are low and near holidays and the beginning/end of classes

Good Social Events: •･ have a common idea/interest among members •･ advertise concisely, informatively, and intriguingly

Ideas: •･ Bowling •･ Picnic/cook-outs/restaurant outings •･ Baseball games •･ Festivals (i.e. music, etc.)

Project Leaders Think that being committee chair is too big of a commitment? Or does your club not have committees? That’s completely OK! We get it. Not every club is run the same way. But here’s a simple solution to the absence of committees: have project leaders! Pick a volunteer to be a project leader for a specifiﾞc service project or event. Their job entitles keeping track of everyone who attends the event and recording their hours. After the event, have the project leaders write up a short paragraph and share a couple photos from the event. Ultimately, the project leader would be making a short-term commitment to get more involved and get a taste for some leadership experience.

Spirit Pride goes a long way with keeping members active, excited, and interested. They also are a great way to keep members connected with other members.

•･ T-shirts (also a way to fundraise!) •･ K-Spirit Week •･ Stickers/decals for doors, laptops, cars •･ Rubber bracelets

Incentives Sometimes a little reward helps to get the retention going.

•･ Member Awards Ceremony •･ Cupcake Awards •･ End of the Year Rewards •･ Rafflﾟes at events: t-shirts (helps with pride!), campus gear, Circle K gear, candy/treats

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If anyone wants to learn more about Circle K, sometimes the best way is to show them what we do. Check out some of the videos we have uploaded on our channel, NYCKITv, and share videos on your club’s social media. Here’s a link to our promo video for the 2014-2015 service year entitled “Flap Your Wings.” Click here to see the video

TEMPLATES NEWSLETTERS

PROMO VIDEOS

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kn3f0jz8wjn1cyo/Ppt%20Template%201.pptx http://nycirclek.org/resources/document-templates/ http://circlek.org/Resources/Marketing/brandguide/NewTools.aspx

POWERPOINTS

Governor Renee’s Newsletters: http://nycirclek.org/resources/newsletters/governors/

Lieutenant Governors’ Newsletters: http://nycirclek.org/resources/newsletters/lieutenant-governors/

Newsletter Templates: https://www.dropbox.com/s/av8xx1qxkd4hfy1/Newsletter%20Template%201.docx https://www.dropbox.com/s/3iiaoezgsntv68v/Newsletter%20Template%202.docx

Interested in making your own promotional videos? Not sure where to begin? Feel free to contact Tina Lee at tina.lee@nycirclek.org for any detailed information on how to create a promotional video for your club! Here are a couple tips to get you started:

1. Open up a YouTube account for your club. Make sure the username for the channel includes your school name and “Circle K”.

2. Find a software you feel comfortable working with. Mac users - iMovie is the perfect place to edit and produce fiﾞlms! Other options include Windows Movie Maker and for advanced users Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro.

3. Come up with a plan on what you want to fiﾞlm and the message you want to send. Once you have that down, fiﾞlm away!

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Contact Us Have any questions about this handbook? Feel free to contact the Marketing and Resources committee:

Chair: Tina Lee - tina.lee@nycirclek.org Member: Sara Louie - sara.louie@macaulay.cuny.edu Member: Elizabeth McGuoirk - elizabeth.mcguoirk@nycirclek.org

Have more questions about Circle K? Check out our website at http://nycirclek.org.

CONTACT INFORMATION

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HANDBOOK WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY TINA LEE, SARA LOUIE & ELIZABETH MCGUOIRK