Seven Key Social Media Takeaways from the Save Prentice Hospital Campaign

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The Save Prentice Coalition was established to advocate for the preservation and reuse of the Chicago’s Prentice Women’s Hospital, designed by noted Chicago architect Bertrand Goldberg. The coalition hired ASGK Public Strategies for help with an ambitious advocacy campaign that recast traditional preservation messages, strategies and tactics to generate media attention, grassroots support and political recognition from Chicago decision makers. As part of its final report to the coalition, ASGK Public Strategies recommended seven key takeaways for social media outreach by preservation organizations. Some participants at the Save Prentice! rally were born in the now largely-vacant hospital.

1. Social Media Matters Offline: Updates to the Save Prentice Facebook and Twitter pages were useful in attracting new fans, raising awareness and showing public support for Prentice. However, the campaign also worked to convert online engagement into offline results. For example, the campaign developed a custom Facebook tab that allowed users to easily send an email message to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks urging commissioners to vote in favor of Prentice. The campaign also aggressively promoted each Landmarks Commission hearing prior to the hearing dates and encouraged supporters to attend. More than 200 supporters turned out at the hearings. PHOTO: SAVE PRENTICE, PICTURED LANDMARK ILLINOIS STAFFER AND FELLOW PROTESTERS

2. Campaigns Can’t Be Everywhere At Once: Save Prentice social media advocacy was primarily focused on two platforms, Facebook and Twitter, which were the dominant social media channels between 2010 and 2013. While other social media channels like LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+ presented engagement opportunities, the campaign focused its resources on the two channels that offered the broadest reach with online audiences and the deepest reach with influential audiences. As of December 2012, 67 percent of U.S. Internet users are on Facebook, which not coincidentally is the exact same percentage of U.S. Internet users who are on at least one social media network. The second most popular social media site is Twitter, which comprises 16 percent of U.S. Internet users. Notably, Twitter is a gathering place for “influencers” like journalists, politicians and brands, making it a particularly important engagement tool for advocacy campaigns. It is also worth noting that in 2013, Pinterest, a social photo-sharing network, will surpass Twitter among U.S. Internet users. For future preservation campaigns, this is particularly relevant as Pinterest would be an ideal network for showcasing place-based visual content, in addition to Facebook and Twitter.

PHOTO: PEW RESEARCH CENTER

3. Multimedia Spurs Engagement: Photo and video posts generate more “viral” activity online, which means they are more likely to spread faster and reach more people than text-only status updates and links. Photos posted to the Save Prentice Facebook page reached, on average, 30 percent more Facebook users than other forms of content. Visual content can be particularly compelling for tangible, place-based preservation campaigns and should be a centerpiece of online advocacy. However, visual content should be varied and vibrant. As the campaign evolved, the Save Prentice page featured more diverse, colorful content like infographics and crisp photos of contemporary architectural works by Prentice supporters—and less black-and-white imagery of Prentice and other lost Chicago buildings.

PHOTO: “PRENTICE + CHICAGO = LOVE" BY, K. BAIR

4. Fans Follow Live Updates: Live-tweeting and live-posting both Landmarks Commission hearings during the Save Prentice campaign were beneficial in attracting and engaging supporters. During the November 1, 2012, Landmarks Commission hearing, the @SavePrentice Twitter account added 42 followers and was re-tweeted 122 times. Facebook updates posted throughout the hearing totaled 2,960 Likes, 353 comments and 277 shares. The most popular post, which announced the unanimous preliminary landmark designation for Prentice, generated 546 Likes and 10,970 impressions. The November 1 hearing happened to coincide with the 2012 National Preservation Conference, and the live updates were closely followed by preservation supporters gathered in Spokane, Washington.

PHOTO: TOM HARRIS © HEDRICH BLESSING 2013

5. Positive Is Popular: While it may seem obvious, favorable news is more likely to drive social media engagement. Content that makes a positive case for preservation and focuses on successes is more likely to engage than content that dwells on preservation challenges or losses. Positive posts and favorable campaign updates generated higher response levels on both Facebook and Twitter throughout the campaign. The most popular post/tweet during the entire effort? “The Landmarks Commission finds in favor of Prentice and designates it a preliminary Chicago landmark by a vote of 9-0!”

6. Facebook Ads Attract and Retain Supporters: Facebook advertising is the most cost-effective avenue for reaching audiences with high degrees of precision. The Save Prentice campaign used Facebook ads to quickly increased its awareness and reach within Chicago. Taking advantage of Facebook’s sophisticated advertising targeting tools, the Save Prentice strategy aimed to engage Facebook users living in Chicago who fell into one of three categories: 1) Northwestern students, faculty, staff and alumni; 2) preservation- and culturally-minded individuals; and 3) politically-minded individuals. The coalition was able to display Facebook ads to any Facebook user living in Chicago who had Liked Facebook pages associated with these categories. A sample list of the pages that were used to target these individuals follows: • Northwestern Wildcats Basketball • Feinberg School of Medicine • The Daily Northwestern • Architecture of Chicago • Pritzker Architecture Prize • Urban Planning • John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation • Rahm Emanuel • City Aldermen • Crain’s Chicago Business Facebook ads generated an additional 1,200 page supporters. While this required an upfront use of financial resources, the approach increased the supporter count at a drastically quicker rate than it would have taken to organically grow the page, and supporters remained with the page after the ads had been discontinued.

7. An Audience Is Forever: Building an online audience is time-consuming and difficult, but a cadre of supporters can outlast a single advocacy effort. Even after Save Prentice advocacy on behalf of the building ended, online engagement continued. Facebook and Twitter supporters were encouraged to visit a “Share Your Prentice Stories” website set up by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Supporters were invited to upload photos and videos and write about their personal experience and memories of the building as part of a documentary project. This helped the National Trust grow its email list and reach new audiences with membership and fundraising appeals.

PHOTO: DAVE SCHALLIOL

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