Content to post:

• Clean-up events, interesting data, interesting people attending, great photos, media coverage etc.
• Items found during clean ups.
• Positive plastic and recycling policy, news or funding (i.e. CDS or single-use plastic bans, National Plastic Ban).
• Reducing waste (reduce, reuse and recycle).
• Local recycling hubs for different items (i.e., batteries recycling at Officeworks).

Content not to post:

• Negative, abusive or angry content (including community management).
• Using Beach Patrol Australia’s brand to drive personal and political agendas - These will be removed by admins / you will be asked to take down.
• Posts about causes not aligned to our vision, values and strategic objectives.
• Stay focussed - posts about other causes may dilute our own message.

Content Tips

• Posts should be optimised to be more appealing, for each social media type (outlined below.)
• Work to a suitable length of text for optimal engagement (outlined below).
• Always think ‘what’s in it for me’ - go to the heart of Beach Patrol values.
• Keep it positive - people don’t not want to hear negative stories all the time.
• Don’t post people’s full names. First names only.
• Don’t post images of children without parent/carer’s permission.

Facebook is the main medium we use to engage. It is easy and quick to upload photos, videos and text. BP/LOS has over 55 FB pages with 23,500+ followers which gives us a big presence on that medium and attracts many people to follow other BP/LOS pages

FB Page set up

• FB pages can be set up for any group by BP admin. BP admin must given admin privileges on these pages too as from time to time for big announcements, BP admin will spread this across these pages.
• It is important to include some key items in BP/LOS FB pages to maximise the ability for volunteers to engage:
• Use the large Sign Up button and link it to the registration page on the BPA website.

FB Groups

• FB Groups are not preferred for use – they are not as visible and have different functionality to pages. If a FB Group has been set up for a particular reason, there should always be a FB Page set up as well.

FB Posts

• Upload video content directly to Facebook - not copy-and-pasting a link from YouTube video/channel.
• Photos and video content is best on Facebook - the type of images you post make a massive difference in terms of the number of readers.
• Keep your text copy short. The suggested Facebook post length is around 50 characters (or fewer), which tends to get the most engagement.

Instagram is an increasingly popular social media platform. We have over 28 BP/LOS profiles with 4,000+ followers. It is a highly visual platform where video and photo content are most widely used.

Posts

• Again – Instagram does not enable you to include clickable weblinks in posts or comments. Read the section below on Stories to learn about weblinks.
• Focus on people-centric content - it is still first and foremost a place to share experiences.
• The popularity of selfies on Instagram speaks for itself, as do photos and pictures of people in real-world settings. I.e. people filming themselves while doing street cleans.
• Tag locations of cleans where you can.
• Keep your text copy short. The suggested Instagram post length is around 50 characters (or fewer), which tends to get the most engagement.