“Give your car a break! Bike, Walk, Rollerblade!” Presenting lessons learned from the Let Your Green Show social media marketing campaign Liliana da Silva Region of Peel, December 1, 2014 Peel Climate Change Partnership

1257 Sq. Kilometres 3 Municipalities City of Mississauga City of Brampton Town of Caledon Located in GTA At 1.3 million Peel Region has second largest population in Ontario REGION OF PEEL

Context Peel Climate Change Strategy was adopted by Regional Council on June 23, Partners have been attempting to achieve six goals by implementing 38 actions outlined in the Strategy Aiming to: 1.Reduce Community Vulnerability 2.Reduce Community Greenhouse Gases 3.Strengthen the Partnership

Let Your Green Show Phase 1 Grow local/eat local 2012 Coupon-based Greenest Ward Award Phase 2 Use less water 2013 Coupon-based Greenest Ward Award Phase 3 Give your car a break 2014 Monthly prize Greenest Resident Award Note the following variances: Phase 1 is a Mississauga-wide campaign only. Phases 1 and 2 reached out to users via the website ONLY. Phase 1 and 2 ran a different campaign format than phase 3.

Actions Phase 1 Grow local/eat local 3 Actions 1. Visit a local farm 2. Visit a farmers’ market 3. plant a tree/shrub Phase 2 Use less water 5 Actions 1. grow a plant that requires little water, 2/3 install a high efficiency showerhead/toilet. 4. use rain barrel 5. Check home for a leak. Phase 3 Give your car a break 3-5 actions per month over 4 month period, based on following themes: 1. Bike, rollerblade, walk 2. Use local trails 3. Try out transit 4. Green your commute Note the following variance: Phases 1 and 2 ran a different contest format than phase 3. The volume of actions are also significantly higher in 3 than in 1.

Greenbacks Phase 1 Grow local/eat local 2012 Coupon-based Greenest Ward Award Phase 2 Use less water 2013 Coupon-based 4 monthly prizes Greenest Ward Award Phase 3 Give your car a break monthly prizes Greenest Resident Award Note the following : Phases 1 and 2 ran a different contest format than phase 3. Participants who signed up to complete an action in Phases 1 and 2 automatically receives 1 greenback.

Engagement Community Based Social Marketing Incentive- based campaigns; Tapping into Social networks (social media) Engaging the Public Using Social Media

Degree of Participation/Reach – Phase 3 Facebook Analytics Potential Reach – 448,000+ through Facebook ads and promoted posts (GEO target – Caledon, Caledon East, Mississauga, Inglewood, Bolton, Toronto, Brampton) people liked the LYGS page. Of those: – 296 comments, 3020 likes, 405 shares (of posts on their page). Like CommentShare

Degree of Participation/Reach – Phase 3 Twitter Analytics Potential Reach – 228,000+ through Twitter ads people followed LYGS page. Of those: – 228 mentions (i.e. tag us in posts), 448 retweets, 64 clicks on links, 5 tweets. retweet #LYGS2014 Mention

All Actions – Phase 3

Degree of Participation/Reach – Phase 3 Google and Twitter Growth

What did you like about our posts and tweets? Short and to the point positive suggestions Posts are informative and easy to adapt. In spite of not registering, could easily follow them in day to day life. Thoughtful, funny, informative and sometimes a challenge! They kept us wanting to come back and learn more! Great ideas! And yes, we usually know about the ideas, but forget to actually do them!

Cost Phase 1 Grow local/eat local $51,575 Phase 2 Use less water $ 32,136 Phase 3 Give your car a break $74,286 Note: Cost excludes staff time for all three phases. As a ballpark, staff spend approximately 6 months planning for a 3-4 month campaign. Staff time is also dedicated to manage and close-out the campaign. In total, staff spend approximately 1 year running a campaign.

Lessons Learned - Successes 1.Improved ability to measure program performance. 2.Improved ability to confirm actions have been completed. 3.Degree of participation measurably improved via social media analytics.

Lessons Learned – Words of Wisdom 1.Public Engagement should attempt to align with Program or Policy Goals and Objectives. 2.Public awareness campaigns that tackle core values (e.g. preserve nature for future generations) 3.Identify performance indicators before you run a campaign, monitor performance while you run, measure success afterwards.

Thank you! Liliana DaSilva ext Peel Climate Change Partnership