Fall 2020 Social Media Intern: Sierra Club and *The ENC Elections Initiative
We are looking for an intern to apply what they have learned about social media, public engagement, and audience building for two important Greenville-area nonprofit community initiatives. One, the Sierra Club, is the nation’s oldest and largest grass-roots environmental organization. You would work for the Cypress Group, which is the local branch of the national Sierra Club organization. The second is a new venture called The ENC Elections Initiative, which we hope to launch in August. This initiative will provide information about all candidates for positions in Pitt County up for election in November 2020 on a new website. Both organizations desperately need social media marketing, audience engagement, and a significant audience reach. For the Cypress Group, the potential audience includes Sierra Club members and potential members in 19 eastern North Carolina counties, as well as local and regional officials in those counties. For the ENC Elections Initiative, the desired social media audience includes voters and potential voters of all ages in Pitt County. This internship will be overseen by Dr. Cindy Elmore, who is a member of the executive board for the Cypress Group, and who, along with Dr. Brian Massey, is launching the ENC Elections Initiative this fall.
The internship includes the following requirements:
- Write and post regular, consistent social media on the Cypress Group’s Twitter and Instagram pages about upcoming Cypress Group virtual events, and any developments related to environmental threats and successes (particularly in our eastern North Carolina counties but also statewide and nationally). This includes monitoring reputable news outlets for environmental news (not just television), monitoring other reputable environmental organizations for information you can post or link to, publicizing Sierra-endorsed political candidates, and monitoring the state Sierra Club chapter social media accounts. (Dr. Elmore can provide a list, though you can add to it.)
- Seek out and significantly expand the Cypress Group’s social media followers, particularly among young adult audiences, but also others. (We would like for you to have a plan for how to do this, and not just for local college students.)
- Respond to and engage with social media followers, directing them to additional resources or actions they can take.
- It is imperative that all social media posts apply correct grammar, spelling and punctuation, and above all, accuracy, as social media is a “public face” for how our organization is viewed by members and followers. We also require all posts to be acceptable in “taste” to a wide and varied audience and to take care not to risk problems with libel.
- Attend three Cypress Group “virtual” monthly programs. Take a screenshot of the speaker in action and take enough notes on what he/she says for a compelling social media blurb. The dates for these programs are:
- 14
- 12
- 9
- Programs begin at 7 p.m. and for this year are virtual.
- Attend four virtual Cypress Group Executive Committee meetings. These begin at 6 p.m. on the fourth Monday of every month
- We would also love to have the ideas and input of a student intern during these meetings.
- The dates are: 24, Sept. 28, Oct. 26, and Nov. 23. (the fourth Monday of every month). They generally last about 90 minutes.
- Work with the ECU Eco-Pirates to see if there are things they and the Cypress Group can work on together, particularly with the upcoming election. (The Sierra Club is officially nonpartisan)
- Monitor social media analytics and keep track of trends and social media reach and effectiveness.
The ENC Elections Initiative:
We are looking for our social media intern to start from scratch developing social media for this new venture.This venture will provide a vitally needed public service in supplying information about ALL candidates for locally elected positions in Pitt County in the November 2020 election. This information is currently not being provided, which means that voters in the 2020 presidential election will either skip voting for these positions altogether because they lack knowledge about candidates and their positions, or they will vote on the basis of yard signs, rather than on candidates’ true backgrounds and priorities. This does not help with voter engagement or democracy. It also has social justice implications because low income voters are especially unlikely to vote in local elections without more information. This often leaves elected local officials making decisions that most cater to their more affluent constituency.
However, if no one knows about our proposed website, they will not know what information we’re providing. A solid campaign of social media would help us to market this venture, so we are seeking as wide a social media campaign as possible. It should reach not only ordinary voters of all ages in Pitt County, but also those leaders most likely to also promote our venture. We want this venture to have “staying power” as THE reliable source of nonpartisan candidate information in Pitt County, so we are looking for a sustained social media campaign up through election day.
- We are seeking a student who can come up with an effective social media plan that reaches the largest possible local audience.
- It is important that the student who seeks to do this internship is reliable, a self-starter, and works well independently yet will report to Dr. Elmore regularly with a description of his or her sustained social media efforts.
Learning Goals: Social Media Intern, Sierra Club-Cypress Group and ENC Elections Initiative:
- Learn how to apply and test knowledge gained in the classroom regarding the promotion and outreach activities of nonprofit community organizations.
- Apply and test knowledge gained in the classroom regarding social media analytics and how to best apply what is learned there to improve the reach and effectiveness of social media.
- Gain an understanding of the knowledge and duties required of a social media representative for local nonprofit ventures.
- Explore interest and personal development in the fields of environmental activism and voter engagement
- Develop decision making and critical thinking skills, increased confidence and self-esteem in a civic organizational setting.
- Gain experience in researching information from news media, from legislative/administrative bodies at the local and state level, and from regional and state-level environmental organizations in order to keep Sierra Club Cypress Group members aware of new environmental threats and successes.
- Develop communication skills suitable for the promotion of a local nonprofit environmental group and a voter engagement website.
- Develop interpersonal skills in a nonprofit organizational setting that promotes the organization’s goals and spreads its message.
- Gain an understanding of one’s role as a potential agent of change to have a positive impact on the goals of a nonprofit environmental organization, voter engagement service, or any other community organization.