People recognize “Scouts” even if they don’t know much about “Scouting.” But just recognizing a Scout in uniform will not necessarily convince a family to join.
In a world of so many opportunities and choices for families and their children, it’s up to all of us to provide information about how those families can join Scouting and why those families should join Scouting.
So how do you do that?
Unit website
It may not seem revolutionary, but a simple, up-to-date website can go a long way to helping families find your unit and decide whether it’s a good fit. A search for “best free website builder” and the current year will provide you with a good starting point. No matter which platform you choose, you really ought to do the following:
Include a calendar – Modern parents plan their calendars months in advance. By including meetings and outings on a detailed online calendar, you’re giving parents and Scouts fewer excuses for missing activities down the road. But if you’re going to prominently display a calendar, be sure it’s up to date.
Keep it updated – If the most recent activity on your unit’s online calendar is from 2015, that sends one of two messages to potential recruits: (1) this unit has stopped operating or (2) this unit is unorganized. There’s some work involved in keeping a website up to date, but it’s one outward-facing sign of a vibrant, active pack, troop, crew, or ship.
Add your website URL to BeAScout.org – BeAScout is Scouting America’s platform for people to search for Scouting programs near their home. Along with your unit leader’s contact information, your website URL will help these families find all of the information you want them to know. Learn how to update your unit’s information on BeAScout.org by visiting this page.
Find at least two people to update the site – Many hands working on a website can make everyone’s job easier. So giving admin powers to multiple users makes sense, especially if someone goes on vacation or gets swamped at work. For troop, crew, or ship websites, at least one of the admins should be a youth to keep their needs and interests in mind. After all, “youth-led” applies to the online realm, too.
Avoid personal info – Visitors to the site should be able to see the time of your weekly meeting, a way to contact the Scoutmaster, a summary of your unit’s recent successes, a few photos and other key information. Don’t keep information like Scouts’ last names, trip itineraries, members’ contact info, or anything else that could be used maliciously, on the unit’s website (unless it’s in a password-protected section of the site).
Using Google to help people find your unit
This 5 minute video from Scouting America’s national communications team can help you improve your chances of parents finding your unit when they search online:
Social media
The social media world can change quickly, but for now, nothing matches Facebook’s ability to support a unit’s needs. You can schedule events, share photos from recent adventures, post a poll to vote on the next trip destination, stream live videos of courts of honor, answer parents’ questions, and much more. You can also use Facebook posts to direct people to information you want them to find on your unit website.
One important note: be sure to consult Scouting America’s Social Media Playbook before you proceed. You’ll learn, for example, that Scouting America recommends that units use Facebook for public information and marketing but does not recommend the use of closed or private Facebook groups. Scoutbook is a better option for that.
What about TikTok? If you have a LOT of time to devote to creating videos/content, then creating a unit TikTok account might make sense. It is a powerful platform that skews to a much younger audience than Facebook.
With that in mind, if you’re going to be active on TikTok, you need to feature your youth members in your content. Here are some tips for making TikTok videos.
What about Instagram? The majority of its users are ages 18-34. If that’s an audience that best suits your needs, give it a try. Here are some best practices for Instagram.
What about other platforms? No matter which you choose, it’s better to do one platform well instead of five or six that you update irregularly.
Scouting needs families to read/watch stories about all of the great things Scouts and Scout units are doing, whether it’s something fun or something that’s helping the community. People will join groups with which they feel comfortable – groups that they feel they know. One way many of these people can learn about Scouting is by all of us telling them about it through the local media in your community.
Believe it or not, “the media” loves positive stories. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to find negative news. But if we provide easily accessible, positive stories… the press will grab them.
We’ve prepared this Unit Media Guide to help walk you through the strategy for and process of reaching out to your community newspaper or other local media
