A social media story generally consists of multiple posts, over one or more media platforms, aimed at getting a specific idea across. For my story, I chose to use Facebook and Instagram to inform people about the student organization, Pitt Dance Marathon. Every post and picture and text is working to tell viewers about PDM and the children this organization helps. This story paints the picture of young kids in need and how simple actions can help them.
Story
For my story, I wanted to use an organization that I'm very passionate about. Therefore, I chose Pitt Dance Marathon (PDM). Like I say in one of my story posts, PDM is an entirely student-run philanthropy on Pitt's campus. Participants work year-round to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. These funds then go towards buying equipment for the hospital, research, and covering any uninsured programs that the patients need.
As a board member, I am well acquainted with the goal of this organization. With this, I knew that I had to focus my posts on a very specific audience: Pitt students and Pittsburgh residents. I picked this audience because PDM raises money for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The hospital is Pittsburgh specific and PDM is Pitt specific, making the audience extremely important. In order to reach such a wide audience, however, I knew I needed to span multiple platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.
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Through every social media, however, the idea I was trying to sell is one of hope through philanthropy. Because this is such an emotional topic, I really wanted to focus my persuasion technique on ethos. Every picture and every personal story about a specific child was working to target my audience's emotions. A large majority of my target audience--Pittsburgh residents--have children of their own and every one of them was a child at some point. Seeing and hearing stories about sick children will really evoke an emotional responses from parents, therefore drawing them in and proving to them why our cause is worthy. I tried to do this while also presenting the positives that PDM has accomplished in the past. For example, I mentioned our past fundraising total and I talked about success stories that we contributed to. Basically, I wanted to show that contributions would not go to waste.
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But, for the part of my audience that couldn't relate to having a child, I tried to draw on common experiences and likes. For example, many of the fundraisers I included in my story had to do with everyday, likable things like Pizza and socks. But regardless, the language of each post was designed to sound conversational and inviting. And I always tried to include some call to action. Overall, my story's main focus was to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh: i.e. the main goal of PDM. However, I also included secondary calls to action like activity registration and participant involvement. And, to keep continuity, I used the same people and the same fundraisers throughout multiple posts over multiple platforms.
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All in all, my story was one focused on fundraising. Everything, from my audiences to the personal stories I included to even the links I shared was aimed at reaching as many people as possible and getting as many donations as possible. The posts were meant to stir emotions and generate hope while also promoting Pitt Dance Marathon.
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To view my story, click here: