Summary: Through Mindvolt, my former employer, I had the absolute pleasure of managing the social media, both organic and paid, for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ Annual Thanksgiving Pow Wow. I started with just paid ads back in 2016, but went on to manage their organic social media presence on Facebook as well as Instagram for two more events. One year, the event was so well-advertised through social media and outdoor boards that there was a traffic issue!
Problem: While the Poarch Creek Annual Thanksgiving Pow Wow was already a popular event, the tribe needed some assistance in reaching out to potential attendees through social media. As any social media manager worth her salt knows, social media can be a time-consuming task, especially when organic engagement gets thrown into the mix. Over the years, my role grew from social media ad campaign manager to overall social media manager for the event’s Facebook and Instagram (during the months surrounding the event).
Process: It turns out that it’s much easier to promote an event when aided by the beautiful photography of High 5 Productions and well-designed billboards by the agency you work at! During the first year, 2016, I solely ran ad campaigns, but in the years since, I took more and more of a role with posting organic content. In 2018, my posting schedule became even more demanding, with posts still going out far after the event’s close. This content, however, has performed extremely well, and helped keep memories of the event fresh in attendees’ minds. Responding to questions turned out to be one of the most important parts of my role, especially in regards to the location, time, and cost of the event. While this may seem like drudge work to some, it’s paramount to respond to these seemingly repetitive questions. Those people are asking for a reason, after all!
The pow wow’s Instagram presence was a more recent feature, built from scratch in 2017 to reach out to a different, younger demographic. This platform was a great way to tap into those who post using the pow wow’s location, creating a treasure trove of user-generated content.
Results: As mentioned before, traffic issues from so many people trying to attend is proof in itself! Aside from this, the pow wow’s Facebook page’s follower count increased by 56% since December of 2016, hitting the 10,000 mark in November 2018. Year over year, Facebook event responses went from 4.6K in 2016 to 12.8K in 2017 to finally 15K in 2018.
Elizabeth Hyska 