Land for Tomorrow
09.09.2010
In:
Public Affairs,
Social Media
Land for Tomorrow is a coalition of groups working together to increase state funding for land and water conservation. Leading up to the 2010 short session of the N.C. General Assembly – one of the toughest budget years in decades – it was necessary to extend Land for Tomorrow’s grassroots network and motivate new supporters to take action. To do this, Capstrat had to engage a new audience by tapping into people’s passion for the places they love.
In April 2010, Capstrat launched Land for Tomorrow’s “North Carolina Ten Natural Wonders” contest through its Facebook platform. The goal of the contest was to recruit a new generation of conservation supporters.
Land for Tomorrow’s contest was a viral success. Land for Tomorrow hosted an open discussion, nomination and voting process that allowed Facebook participants to determine North Carolina’s Ten Natural Wonders. The participants put their passion on full display, with thousands of nominations and votes.
Through the contest, Land for Tomorrow gathered more than 4,000 new names and e-mail addresses and grew its Facebook fan base by more than 1,000 fans. All these participants represent potential grassroots activists. Since the launch of the contest, Capstrat has distributed three “Action Alerts” to its current members, including new and reengaged activists, who spoke up and demonstrated to legislators the importance of investing in conservation.
The contest has also garnered local, regional and national media coverage through more than 150 unique newspaper articles, editorials, blog entries and TV stories. Major dailies, weeklies and community papers followed the contest and ran stories, editorials and letters to the editor throughout and following the life of the contest, including three Associated Press stories and a spotlight interview on ABC’s Heart of Carolina Perspectives. USA Today highlighted the contest in its “News from Across the USA” section. Lumberton Mayor Raymond Pennington even issued a proclamation declaring July 17 the official "Lumber River Day” as a way to celebrate their local “wonder” each year.
Through the contest, Capstrat helped Land for Tomorrow successfully tap into the social media sphere to engage a new generation of supporters and strengthen the commitment of current supporters. Success came in the General Assembly, which included funding for each of the state’s four trust funds in the state budget. In tough economic times during which funding for conservation could be an easy target for budget cuts, Land for Tomorrow built support and momentum for the short legislative session, and gained additional legislative and media support with the help of its advocates.
