Saanich Pioneer Society

The Client

     The Saanich Pioneer Society is non-profit charitable society dedicated to preserving historical records relating to the Saanich Peninsula. The society is mostly made up of volunteer workers who work with the archives and in the Log Cabin Museum. With COVID-19, the museum has shut down to undergo maintenance and restoration which provided the opportunity for small exhibits around the Saanich Peninsula. It is also open to people who would like to research the history of the area - whether it be to learn about past family or the ways of life in the late 19th and early 20th century. 

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The Project

     I approached the Saanich Pioneer Society in search of a practicum position to showcase and practice the skills that I have learned in my program. I met with the lead archivist who was managing the social media account at the time and devised a plan for a six-month social media project. The main premise was a "Then & Now" series that showcased archived photographs and compared them to present day photographs. I was to post every Monday on their Facebook and Twitter and was asked to include four videos. In August I started an Instagram account for the society to help broaden the audience's demographic. 

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The Result

     I began this project with a needs assessment and Social media plan to create goals for the pages and posts. I managed to meet all my goals within a 10% margin. 

      For Facebook, I managed to increase the number of page likes to 233 each post reached an average of 1725 people with a 7% engagement rate. For Twitter, the follower count grew to 368 people and each post reached and average of 1032 people with a 1.6% engagement rate. Saanich Pioneer Society's new instagram page had 174 followers by the time I left and reached an average of 81 people with a 22% engagement rate. 

     By adding an instagram I was able to broaden the age range of the audience. Prior to my practicum, the age range of the demographic was between 40-64 years old. By adding an instagram, I was able to target the 25-44 age and even reach some of the 18-24 year old range. 

     These posts and more can be found in the links below for Saanich Pioneer Society's Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.