Coastal Connections - SCCG Community Engagement Strategy (Social Media)

Introduction

In 2010 the SCCG was successful in obtaining a small grant from the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA) to deliver the SCCG Coastal Connections Project. The funding is from the ‘Engaging NSW Communities in Coastline Conservation’ cross regional project involving the five coastal CMA regions in NSW and part of the Commonwealth Government’s ‘Caring For Our Country’ program.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of the SCCG Coastal Connections Project was to engage the next generation of conservation volunteers and to increase awareness and participation in coastal management and conservation activities. In addition to conducting ‘on-ground’ works the SCCG thought it would be interesting to investigate how to engage the community using new and modern mediums such as cutting-edge social marketing and social media channels.

The SCCG Coastal Connections Project was made up of four main components:

To create and trial a Community Engagement Strategy that focuses on using social media to target the next generation to become involved in coastal conservation.
To deliver capacity building tools and workshops that inform SCCG Member Councils and other stakeholders about new ways to engage the community, focusing on social media.
To trial using a social media strategy to conduct a social media campaign to increase the awareness and participation of the SCCG Summerama: Summer Activities Program activities.
To deliver in partnership with project partners three bush regeneration / conservation events held in the iconic locations of Kurnell, Narrabeen Lagoon catchment and North Head during January 2011, as part of Summerama: Summer Activities Program.

Outcomes / Outputs

The outcomes of the project are defined as:

Raising awareness of community conservation activities, with the anticipation of increasing participation and diversifying the community members that take part in coastal conservation.
Building the capacity of the SCCG Member Councils and other stakeholders to consider different / modern approaches to engaging their communities.

SCCG Community Engagement Strategy (Social Media)

The production of the SCCG Community Engagement Strategy (Social Media) was to provide a capacity building tool that Member Councils and other stakeholders could use either as a step by step guide or as an inspirational tool to help think about ideas and consider trying when using social media to engage the community.

The Strategy includes background information on the SCCG Coastal Connections Project; information about the SCCG Summer Activities Program (SAP) that was used as a case study to trial the social media strategy; the project phases of developing a new brand and image for SAP – becoming Summerama: Summer Activities Program; the Social Media Strategy used for Summerama; a “Quick Guide to Social Media” (that was developed for the social media workshop provided as part of the Coastal Connections Project); the Social Media campaign results; and finishing with comments from the Project Manager about lessons learnt and the success of the project.

The SCCG Coastal Connections Project is considered unique because it has explored access to other networks not commonly associated with natural resource management by using social media.

SCCG Community Engagement Strategy (Social Media)

Funding Project Partner / Consultant