Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Girl Scouts: An Inspirational Use of Social Media
Girl Scouts of the USA is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1912 that seeks to empower girls by helping them “build character and skills for success in the real world.” While the group has dedicated itself to maintaining the same core values in place when I was a young Girl Scout, the organization has also kept up with the Internet age by maintaining an impressive online presence in today’s world of social media. From the main website, you can get to several of their other related websites including the GS Cookie site dedicated solely to their yearly cookie sales. This organization makes excellent use of various social media tools that are linked to from the website, including: Twitter with over 5,000 followers; Facebook with over 36,000 fans; YouTube (the Girl Scout Videos channel has over 550 subscribers), and Blogger (the Girl Scout Blog is consistently updated daily M-F). Even Girl Scout Cookies, besides having its own website, also has its own Facebook page with over 72,000 fans, as well as a GirlScoutCookieSale’s channel on YouTube.
But what I find most impressive and even inspirational about the Girl Scouts’ use of social media is the way in which the organization is also using it to teach business skills and values to scouts themselves. Girl Scouts teaches girls how to use social media effectively and safely for marketing and business purposes. The Girl Scouts’ online marketing guidelines indicate that scouts (13 and older) may use social media “to market product, as long as they have a parent/guardian’s permission, are under adult supervision, and follow Safety Checkpoints and Volunteer Packet guidelines.” With Girl Scout Cookie sales quickly approaching, the Girl Scouts and their smart use of social media have been featured often in the news lately. Through the direct experience of using social media to support their cookie sales, scouts themselves will have the opportunity to learn about social media use in business first hand.
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What a great find! They already have such an excellent reputation and marketing skills offline, that it’s great to see them continuing to move forward into the digital realm in true Girl Scout form. Among other things, honesty seems to be a key component to successful online identities, and I think this is exactly the reason The Girl Scouts are successful in their online social media pursuits. Their online presence is basically an extension of their mission and values, and a sincere depiction of who they really are, and what they stand for.
ReplyDeleteOh, btw, favorite Girl Scout cookie: “Lemonades” (I’m quite serious, and not trying to be vain or anything either. Cookies and lemons are not a joking matter.) :)
Thanks.
It seems like the Girl Scouts have started to do great things with social media! I didn't know how far they'd come since I was a little scout :) However, did you hear about the Girl Scout who got in trouble for her YouTube video and online site for cookie sales?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/us/19scout.html?_r=1
Never fully understood why this girl got into trouble. While she did technically break the rules in some respects, she was innovative and I think really working in the true spirit of Girl Scouts. She wasn't taking orders from anywhere but areas where she could deliver in person and her father was helping her to avoid those online predators. It seems like she took advantage of those skills learned from the Girl Scouts and then was penalized for it. Think it might be time for the Girl Scouts to start updating some more of their policies to meet this day and age.
Wow...Girl Scouts have sure come a long way since I was part of the organization almost a decade ago! It is so wonderful to see how much they have evolved with all of the technology today. The GS Website is quite impressive and engaging with multiple social media tools being highlighted upfront and center on the main information bar! (Curiously, I just had to take a peek at the Boy Scouts Website, and couldn't help but compare that their social tools are featured at the bottom of the page?!)
ReplyDeleteAs a former Cookie Manager, I can only imagine how useful it is now to have access to social media tools such as the GS Blog, facebook, twitter, flikr and youtube for marketing to a much wider audience and customer base! What a perfect opportunity for our girls to get such positive hands-on experience to learn and use their skills with these social media resources.