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MARY FRANCES GARNER
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KAPPA DELTA SORORITY
VICE PRESIDENT PUBLIC RELATIONS
Since my freshman year of college, I was involved with and served many positions for Kappa Delta (KD), a national Panhellenic sorority. Serving as VP-PR was a position that required a multifaceted skill set and multi-tasking skills. Working with various media platforms, managing projects and events, creating content and communicating important chapter information to current and alumnae members were a few of my skills that were refined while serving in my position.
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Examples and details of my work and skills are found below.
BRANDING
Most page interactions receive three seconds or less of engagement time. Knowing this, I wanted to develop a strong aesthetic for Auburn KD's Instagram and other leading platforms for visitors and our targeted audiences. One of Auburn KD's targeted audiences is high school seniors since our recruitment events are held for incoming freshman at the beginning of the school year. Our second targeted audience is alumnae since building and maintaining a strong alumnae network creates a stronger chapter. Ensuring the aesthetic was appropriate for 17-year-olds and anyone ranging from 22-80 years-old was difficult to develop. However, I learned that consistency is truly key in accomplishing this task. Consistently using certain filters and posting daily content ensured a strong audience return rate.
My efforts with the Instagram increased weekly page views by 50%. Page views per week the month before recruitment increased by 156% percent.
My changes in the aesthetics can be viewed below. I wanted to focus on the wide variety of activities in which members were involved. I also created a consistent coloring using a certain pre-set filter for the page.
BEFORE
AFTER
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
SHAMROCK 5K FUNDRAISER
For the past 27 years, the Shamrock 5k has raised money for our national philanthropy, Prevent Child Abuse America, and our local philanthropy, Special Deliveries of Lee County. My goal while serving in this position was not only to raise more money than previous years, but also increase awareness of how the money is used to support the programs. Through my efforts, I was able to increase our total by $5,000 compared to the previous year and increase runner participation by 10%.
COMMUNICATION WITH DESIGN
Before assuming my position as VP-PR, I knew I had an interest in design, but I still was learning how to exactly turn my creative ideas into a graphic.
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I communicated my ideas for this graphic with a colleague who had the ability to physically create it. Between her creative skills and my communication skills, the graphic was easily made for the official t-shirt.
ALABAMA PRISON BIRTH PROJECT
National Kappa Delta requires chapters to host an event every September that promotes strong and healthy friendships between women. In years past, events were simple and not as effective as I wanted them to be. While serving as VP-PR, a local organization offered to partner with us and there was no way I could turn down an organization as deserving as Alabama Prison Birth Project.
The Prison Birth Project was established to provide resources for incarcerated pregnant women. Whether it is providing nutritious meals or assisting with finding a job post-release, this organization is devoted to helping mothers and their children live and sustain a better life that they deserve.
We raised money for the organization by setting up a booth on campus for students to learn more about the project and have a chance to donate by venmoing the project's account. We also shared graphics on social media to get engagement from people not on campus. With these efforts, we were able to raise over $1,500 in one day and that number continues to grow and many of our members volunteer with the organization now as well.
To learn more about this incredible organization, click here.
CAMPUS ENGAGEMENT
To help raise money and awareness for the project, the 280+ members of KD worked shifts on the "concourse" which is an centrally-located "involvement hub" on campus where many organizations go to physically promote their platforms.
Being present on campus and engaging with students help us raise over $1,500 for this very deserving project.
ALUMNAE REUNION
Being the first sorority established on Auburn's campus, Kappa Delta prides itself in having a strong and invested alumnae network. To this day, my mother values her relationships and memories with her sorority sisters and some of her sorority sisters' daughters have even become some of my good friends.
Having these experiences, I wanted to take a day to have former members gather and honor or remember their relationships with their sisters. It was the inaugural event, so it took a great deal of planning. The event also required handling a budget of $20,000 which included anything from services, to food, to flowers.
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I learned the value of direct marketing and refined my communication skills while planning the event and inviting alumnae. Details of the event are found below.
EVENT MANAGEMENT
Being the first time hosting this event, getting the word to alumnae was essential in the event's success.
The pictured graphic was posted on all media platforms and included a link to RSVP. It was also printed in our annual alumnae newsletter. Knowing our target audience, I relied heavily on Facebook to reach alumnae about the event.
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In addition to utilizing social media, I used my networking skills to comprise a list of all alumnae chapters and their head-of-contact to directly reach and inform about the event.
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Seeing current members meet over 100 former members and seeing friendships reconnect was something I will always remember.
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
WEBSITE MANAGEMENT
Although platforms like Instagram and Facebook are great for engagement, it is usually only able to show a surface-level of information.
Knowing this, I spent a good part of my year as VP-PR refining KD's website. My goal was to be consistent in branding with all the other platforms. I also wanted visitors to feel informed enough to not have any questions about us but also feel comfortable enough to contact with any further concerns.
Weekly page engagement increased by 20% during my time serving and that number continues to grow after serving from my efforts.
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