Congratulations! You are the proud Vice President Public Relations for that new club on campus…

Now what?

Once the adrenaline fades, you’ll realize pretty quickly that marketing is not as easy as it looks, especially with the $10 budget of most new student clubs! Thankfully there are plenty of resources to help you out along the way – but with an overwhelming amount of information, where do you begin?

#1  Define Yourself
Talk with your organization about your branding. What does your organization stand for? What words, images, and concepts are important to it? Create a document summarizing these ideas into a consistent message scheme.

#2  Exist
Thankfully social media gives organizations a chance to get their names out even with a low marketing budget! Start by simply creating the online profiles you’ll require. The basics are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – but consider what other sites might be useful. There are many “niche” social media sites online that your group might have greater success with!

#3  Write Stuff
Now that you’ve defined yourself and started existence, you need content to fill that space! Start writing, tweeting, re-tweeting, photo-taking, and/or selfie-ing anything that fits into that document you created back in Step #1. Upload it, share it with the world. Announce that existence that you so nicely started back in Step #2.

#4  Sharing Is Caring
The next step needs your whole team to be sitting in meeting with their phones out. Ready? No, it’s not selfie time. It’s sharing time! The team needs to get behind your efforts to build your online brand, and that means sharing, liking, and cover-photoing (is that a legitimate verb yet?) everything. Annoying, yes. Effective, absolutely. Now is the time to build awareness about that announcement about your well-defined existence. Use the networks you do have access to and grow your image.

#5  Build a Home
If you felt the need to create a club around the topic, chances are there’s a group of people at your university who are just as passionate as you are and are looking for a home. Provide these poor lost puppies students with a place where they can talk and engage with your community. Post questions that spark discussions among your followers to build engagement. Actively answer information requests, and encourage followers to start their own conversations. Using the main admin account, create a space online where people feel like their opinions are welcome and valued.

#6  Call To Arms
Chances are that if you’re a leader of a student organization you have some sort of goal in mind. Whatever that goal is – increasing membership, having more people out to your events, or increased donations to that charity you support – you now have a community of followers who are loyal towards you, your organization, and your ideas. Give them a call to action, a call to arms, and they will respond.