Ocean Conservancy is a Nonprofit Organization that Advocates for the Ocean

Ocean Conservancy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that advocates for the ocean and its wildlife. It was founded in 1972 after marketing expert Bill Kardash and singer John Denver shared with each other their concerns for whales. The organization, which has gone by several other names began their mission by protecting sea animals then began to protect oceans, as a whole. Ocean Conservancy’s programs include confronting ocean acidification, government policies, reducing overfishing and trash free seas. The organization works with volunteers to educate the community and take action to best solve issues faced in the ocean. The idea of this campaign is to use spring break vacationers to clean the beach areas before, during and after partying in those areas. We also want to encourage college students to use reusable and recyclable materials when going to the beach to reduce the amount of trash that is left on the beach Marine life and their ecosystems have been dying because of the pollution that is brought to the ocean. In order to help protect these habitats, we started the #SpringCleaning campaign to encourage those on spring break to clean up the areas in which they would be using to party on the beach.

Finding the perfect spot for the best Instagram selfies and Twitter posts can be hard when trash lingers through the sand, this campaign encourages teens to clean up their surrounding areas. The main focus for this campaign is to raise awareness of the increasing pollution of the ocean that endangers marine life and their habitats. We not only want people to start picking up their own trash but also to use alternative eco-friendly supplies when going to the beach. By bringing reusable materials to the beach it helps lessen trash in surrounding areas. By posting pictures it can cause a chain reaction with others and they too can help clean the beach once they are done for the day. Cleaning the area they want to use and posting to their social media gains awareness of how the beach should stay clean. The total amount of posts will be 15 for the entire campaign. Twitter will have a total of ten posts, Instagram will have three, and Pinterest will have two. We will post four tweets on Twitter and two Pinterest boards three days before Spring Break starts; these posts will consist of tips and suggested materials to prepare for Spring Break. During Spring Break we will post one tweet on Twitter every day and three Instagram posts for the week. On Instagram we will post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday only so we don’t overload our follower's timelines. After Spring Break one tweet will be posted to say “thank you” to all those that shared their posts with us and used our hashtags. The objective of our Spring Cleaning campaign is to encourage college students, specifically those vacationing to beaches for spring break, to keep our oceans clean.

In order to reach our objective, we will use three different social media platforms to spread our message to our target audience. We will use Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest because they are the most commonly used outlets for college spring breakers. We will include hashtags in all posts to connect the conversations about our campaign. We will also include posts that allow viewers to interact with our campaign by sharing their own images/posts, which will, in turn, encourage others to participate as well. Because we have decided to create a social media campaign targeting college students, it will utilize the three platforms this demographic is most active. Fitting within this demographic ourselves, we understand that Twitter and Instagram are the most popular among our peers. Pinterest is the third platform utilized in this campaign. Each platform serves a unique purpose for this campaign, all of which urge spring breakers to be mindful of their environment. One tactic of this campaign is to encourage vacationers to leave the beach in better condition than when they arrived. Twitter will be used the most frequently throughout this campaign, as information will be shared nearly every day of spring break. These tweets will be a reminder of the conditions of spring break destinations in previous years, as well as information about the harmful effects of litter on marine life.

Leading up to the week of spring break, Tweets will be posted sharing tips to educate students on how to make environmentally conscious decisions on vacation. Photos will be shared on Instagram three times during the week of spring break. The content of these posts will include photographs of litter left on beaches by spring breakers, and the marine life that inhabits these areas. Instagram can be a powerful tool in reaching audiences to spread a message so it is important that the photographs are chosen strategically. At least one of the photos posted on Instagram will be an infographic that highlights what happens to the cans, bottles, and cigarettes left on the shore. Prior to the week of spring week, Pinterest will be used to create two boards with information regarding what to bring, things to do, and ways to positively impact the environment. Many users turn to Pinterest for advice on packing lists, fashion choices, and DIY crafts. Though the Ocean Conservancy may not be directly related to any of these topics, by posting this type of information they are able to reach audiences in a unique way. A list of what to bring made by this organization may include items such as reef safe biodegradable sunscreen or a reusable water bottle.

On all platforms, the hashtags #springcleaning and #seastheday will be included with each post. These tags will be used to encourage spring breakers to clean up the litter around them and to share their own posts of a beautiful, clean beach. The overall objective of the campaign is to encourage college students, and spring breakers to keep the beaches clean while on vacation. The expected outcomes of this campaign are to bring awareness to the issue of plastic pollution, increase brand awareness, and gain more sponsors. We will be using social media to reach a younger audience because this generation is more influenced by digital media rather than traditional. The primary expected outcome of this campaign is to bring attention to the rapidly growing problem we have with the pollution of the ocean and its effects on marine life. We intend for this campaign to increase the awareness of the harmful effects of beach litter for college students that will soon be partying on these same beaches.

We also expect this campaign to use social media to highlight the fact that spring breakers can cause considerable damage to these fragile ecosystems in just a few days of their vacation. By posting on social media a few days before the week of spring break, we hope to spark the initial buzz about ocean pollution to make this relevant and create concern for college students. The purpose of this specific campaign is to place an emphasis on spring breakers, but our overarching goal is for all people to have concern for our oceans year round. To measure the success of this campaign we will use the analytics tool built within each social media platform. For business accounts on Instagram, there is an Insight feature that allows you to view detailed information about the impressions of the post and demographic information. Twitter has an option to view your tweet's activity and the total number of engagements. We can also monitor the success of the campaign by the number of likes, comments, and interactions each post receives. Ultimately, it will be obvious whether the goal of the campaign was achieved by examining the condition of the beaches during and after spring break.

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