One year of FB ads for members - 3 new senior members and one new cadet. Over 40 prospective members gathered in as well.
Cost - zero.
How are you getting free ads? Or are you just talking about regular posts on your page?
Quote from: etodd on November 05, 2018, 03:10:24 AM
How are you getting free ads? Or are you just talking about regular posts on your page?
Facebook jobs listings.
Quote from: OldGuy on November 05, 2018, 03:42:02 AM
Quote from: etodd on November 05, 2018, 03:10:24 AM
How are you getting free ads? Or are you just talking about regular posts on your page?
Facebook jobs listings.
Ahhh. Perfect. :)
We had a $20 (around that) credit given to us by Facebook for recruiting. Lots of hits from that.
Our Group CC was also kind enough earlier this year to put forth his own recruiting campaign by boosting our posts.
You have to hit the community on social media. It's a must.
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
Well, to be fair, those 4 members DID replace 15 who left....
I've been newly assigned to Recruitment and Retention, and would love to see a sample of the ad you're running. I think this is a fascinating possibility!
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
I'll take 4 motivated members any day. Seriously, 4 good officers would be all I needed at any given time.
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
It's a lot better than 0 members. The average squadron has 24 members (according to TLC), making that a 16% increase; not bad if you ask me.
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
Dwindle?
Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk
4 members over the course of a year neither validates nor invalidates the idea.
It's literally the same, and probably actually less on the cadet side, then typical happenstance
random people that connect to a squadron via word of mouth or similar connections.
I continue to assert that placing fake job ads to try and recruit people isn't pointing the
message at the right place. People looking for jobs aren't generally looking for volunteer
opportunities, and vice versa, not to mention the "seriously?" factor when they
click all the way through.
If it works, whatever, but if you're going to get dirty in commercial media anyway, might as
well drop a few shekels and actually place real ads to a proper demo.
$30 in advertising, lots of word of mouth, flyers, local media... 90-ish butts in seats, 23 new cadets & 6 seniors.
Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk
Quote from: NIN on November 06, 2018, 12:35:25 AM
$30 in advertising, lots of word of mouth, flyers, local media... 90-ish butts in seats, 23 new cadets & 6 seniors.
This. Spend some money and make some real gains.
Quote from: Eclipse on November 06, 2018, 12:07:48 AM
4 members over the course of a year neither validates nor invalidates the idea.
It's literally the same, and probably actually less on the cadet side, then typical happenstance
random people that connect to a squadron via word of mouth or similar connections.
I continue to assert that placing fake job ads to try and recruit people isn't pointing the
message at the right place. People looking for jobs aren't generally looking for volunteer
opportunities, and vice versa, not to mention the "seriously?" factor when they
click all the way through.
If it works, whatever, but if you're going to get dirty in commercial media anyway, might as
well drop a few shekels and actually place real ads to a proper demo.
Just got an email from #5. And we do the other things as well - this requires NO extra money, NO extra effort beyond the keyboard. As for your slander regards FAKE we do nothing that is FAKE. We advertise for VOLUNTEERS and we get them.
Quote from: THRAWN on November 05, 2018, 04:34:03 PM
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
Well, to be fair, those 4 members DID replace 15 who left....
Nope. We are growing. But thanks for joining in the negativity.
Quote from: OldGuy on November 06, 2018, 01:54:07 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on November 06, 2018, 12:07:48 AM
4 members over the course of a year neither validates nor invalidates the idea.
It's literally the same, and probably actually less on the cadet side, then typical happenstance
random people that connect to a squadron via word of mouth or similar connections.
I continue to assert that placing fake job ads to try and recruit people isn't pointing the
message at the right place. People looking for jobs aren't generally looking for volunteer
opportunities, and vice versa, not to mention the "seriously?" factor when they
click all the way through.
If it works, whatever, but if you're going to get dirty in commercial media anyway, might as
well drop a few shekels and actually place real ads to a proper demo.
Just got an email from #5. And we do the other things as well - this requires NO extra money, NO extra effort beyond the keyboard. As for your slander regards FAKE we do nothing that is FAKE. We advertise for VOLUNTEERS and we get them.
OldGuy, I think it's great. And I may just do the same myself. As to the negativity: some people just *have* to c**p all over the success of others.
eServices historical unit statistics for your unit say otherwise.
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 06, 2018, 02:39:49 AM
eServices historical unit statistics for your unit say otherwise.
Short term swings happen, but overall we are growing - more pilots, and more seniors. We had a number of cadets age out, the next open house will reverse that short term trend.
Quote from: SCoonts on November 06, 2018, 02:35:39 AM
Quote from: OldGuy on November 06, 2018, 01:54:07 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on November 06, 2018, 12:07:48 AM
4 members over the course of a year neither validates nor invalidates the idea.
It's literally the same, and probably actually less on the cadet side, then typical happenstance
random people that connect to a squadron via word of mouth or similar connections.
I continue to assert that placing fake job ads to try and recruit people isn't pointing the
message at the right place. People looking for jobs aren't generally looking for volunteer
opportunities, and vice versa, not to mention the "seriously?" factor when they
click all the way through.
If it works, whatever, but if you're going to get dirty in commercial media anyway, might as
well drop a few shekels and actually place real ads to a proper demo.
Just got an email from #5. And we do the other things as well - this requires NO extra money, NO extra effort beyond the keyboard. As for your slander regards FAKE we do nothing that is FAKE. We advertise for VOLUNTEERS and we get them.
OldGuy, I think it's great. And I may just do the same myself. As to the negativity: some people just *have* to c**p all over the success of others.
Yep. Part of the beauty of the site.
Let's keep it civil, folks.
Sent using Tapatalk
Quote from: OldGuy on November 06, 2018, 01:56:16 AM
Quote from: THRAWN on November 05, 2018, 04:34:03 PM
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
Well, to be fair, those 4 members DID replace 15 who left....
Nope. We are growing. But thanks for joining in the negativity.
Let's bookmark this and see where your "growth" is in a year.
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on November 05, 2018, 02:02:17 PM
We had a $20 (around that) credit given to us by Facebook for recruiting. Lots of hits from that.
Our Group CC was also kind enough earlier this year to put forth his own recruiting campaign by boosting our posts.
You have to hit the community on social media. It's a must.
What a nice guy, that group commander. ;-)
Seriously, though, my promoting my units via a campaign that lists their FB pages and their locations, has helped to drive traffic to their pages.
Shoot! Wanna promote my Group as well?? I don't think that's in our budget! Haha!
Quote from: kcebnaes on November 06, 2018, 05:39:40 PM
Shoot! Wanna promote my Group as well?? I don't think that's in our budget! Haha!
I am running an ad that costs about $1 per day to run; not a huge audience but any is better than none. Perhaps some internal fundraising to run the ad?
Regardless of the growth or contraction of any given unit, I'd be happy to hear more about it. How do you set that up, both technologically speaking, and without stepping on any delicate Wing PAO toes?
My senior squadron is really hurting for members, and I'd love to get four more people in the door. At the moment, it could be the difference between our continued existence and our absorption or disbandment. Anything someone has had success with, I would be receptive to considering.
Quote from: hfriday on November 06, 2018, 07:05:52 PM
Regardless of the growth or contraction of any given unit, I'd be happy to hear more about it. How do you set that up, both technologically speaking, and without stepping on any delicate Wing PAO toes?
My senior squadron is really hurting for members, and I'd love to get four more people in the door. At the moment, it could be the difference between our continued existence and our absorption or disbandment. Anything someone has had success with, I would be receptive to considering.
Create a Facebook post and boost it with whatever budget you have available. Loop your Wing PAO in (which they would have access to the page anyway so it won't be a surprise to them) and it should be easy to pull off.
Quote from: THRAWN on November 06, 2018, 01:41:47 PM
Quote from: OldGuy on November 06, 2018, 01:56:16 AM
Quote from: THRAWN on November 05, 2018, 04:34:03 PM
Quote from: Gunsotsu on November 05, 2018, 03:54:34 PM
And that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
And people wonder why membership continues to dwindle.
Well, to be fair, those 4 members DID replace 15 who left....
Nope. We are growing. But thanks for joining in the negativity.
Let's bookmark this and see where your "growth" is in a year.
Indeed. Let's.
Quote from: Eclipse on November 06, 2018, 12:07:48 AM
I continue to assert that placing fake job ads to try and recruit people isn't pointing the
message at the right place. People looking for jobs aren't generally looking for volunteer
opportunities, and vice versa, not to mention the "seriously?" factor when they
click all the way through.
They are specifically identified as volunteer opportunities. And you can specifically search for volunteer opportunities if you so choose.
I will say that when I first started using it was fairly common for people to think they were paying jobs, but in the last quarter or so that has diminished rapidly as people have learned more about the platform and how it works.
QuoteAnd that's something to be proud of? 4 members for 365 days of work.
Try 4 members for probably 30-60 minutes worth of work. Thats about how long it would take to create the ad and then renew it over the course of a year, converse with potential applicants and pass info on to the recruiting folks.
----
In my Auxiliary flotilla we have had 21 people express interest via Facebook (after excluding accidental job seekers) and 2 people have joined. Obviously, this is not a flood of people, but for the amount of time spent on it (about an hour) is by far the most efficient recruiting program we have. I'd say that the percentage that end up joining is significantly less than for potential recruits that have come to us after expressing an interest through the national web site, but that is what you would expect since those folks already learned more about the Aux at that site before asking for more info.
So, this obviously shouldn't replace other recruiting means, but is something that you don't want to miss out on either. Most CAP squadrons don't need more than a handful of new members in any given year to maintain their strength and this is a good way to do that. Other more active measures are going to need to be taken if a major recruiting drive is needed.
I got picked up on LinkedIn.
I switched jobs---working 2am to Noon Thursday through Sunday---to working 9-5 M-F. I finally had time.
Ended up browsing LinkedIn to see what was out there. It popped up: "Looking for volunteers." Okay, I'll check it out. I messaged the unit on Facebook. I had a reply back in an hour. I was down there a few days later visiting.
Public exposure is exposure. It's PR and recruiting.
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on November 08, 2018, 04:37:17 PM
I got picked up on LinkedIn.
I switched jobs---working 2am to Noon Thursday through Sunday---to working 9-5 M-F. I finally had time.
Ended up browsing LinkedIn to see what was out there. It popped up: "Looking for volunteers." Okay, I'll check it out. I messaged the unit on Facebook. I had a reply back in an hour. I was down there a few days later visiting.
Public exposure is exposure. It's PR and recruiting.
Bingo!
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on November 08, 2018, 04:37:17 PM
Public exposure is exposure. It's PR and recruiting.
Very much this.
In December, recruiting will be doing a webinar on a technique very similar to this.. :)
Quote from: NIN on November 09, 2018, 04:25:04 PM
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on November 08, 2018, 04:37:17 PM
Public exposure is exposure. It's PR and recruiting.
Very much this.
In December, recruiting will be doing a webinar on a technique very similar to this.. :)
Two potential recruits coming Monday - a pilot and a cadet, both from FB. :)