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.