Use of Social Marketing and Social Media to Promote Recycling in NC on a Shoestring Budget

Note: The article below was submitted by Kelley Dennings for posting on this blog.

My agency, the North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (DPPEA), utilizes three social marketing campaigns. The Recycle Guys campaign was adopted from South Carolina in 2000. We recommend recycling coordinators use it for Pre-K through 8th grade. In 2005, the Division created RE3.org via an Environmental Protection Agency grant. The audience for RE3.org is high schoolers, college students and 20 something adults. Lastly, we are embarking on a new campaign called Recycle More NC. It will focus on educating 35-55 year olds.

The communication strategies for each campaign vary slightly based on the audience. Recycle Guys are used on children’s cable television channels and through the school system. RE3.org utilizes some cable television ads, social media, athletic events and radio advertisements. The Recycle More NC campaign will involve some cable television, newspaper, radio and truck advertisements.

We have been using social media for the RE3.org campaign for over three years. Our blog, YouTube and MySpace account were all created in 2006. In 2007 we began using Facebook and Flickr. Our newest craze is now Twitter and LinkedIn. Join me at SWANA's Thinking Outside the Blue Box Conference for an overview of these social media components, our lessons learned, tracking performance and a how-to on getting started.

Kelley Dennings

Education and Outreach Project Manager
NC DENR, Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance
1639 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1639
919-355-8102
http://www.RecycleGuys.org, http://www.RE3.org