MCF. mcf.org.uk /vote. mcf.org.uk/vote. awards. MCF Community Awards Tercentenary Fund Promote the Vote!

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1 MCF Community Awards Tercentenary Fund Promote the Vote! Top tips for encouraging members of your Province and local community to vote TV MCF awards mcf.org.uk /vote mcf.org.uk/vote

2 Welcome to your guide to promoting the MCF Community Awards Tercentenary Fund! We need your help to encourage those living within your Province to vote to decide which charities receive the largest grant through the MCF Community Awards. This booklet includes some of our top tips for engaging Freemasons in your Province and members of your community through tools already at your disposal, including social media and local press. We have also created a page on our website () where you can download some useful resources including shareable images, template social media posts and s. If you need any further guidance, we are here to help! your questions to communications@mcf.org.uk and one of us will get back to you as soon as possible. Have fun and start promoting! MCF Communications Team Remember: Voting begins on 12 June until 31 July 1

3 Engage on Social Media Social media is a brilliant and easy way to tell your members, friends and families about the MCF Community Awards and encourage them to vote. Voting is quick, simple and open to absolutely everyone, so rally your Brethren! Don t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and tag us in all of your posts! Harriet Conner, MCF Digital Communications Executive We ve provided some suggested social media posts below. Twitter We ve nominated XX charities to receive a share of 3million. Find out more about the #MCFawards [Province] charities need your is giving away 3million choose who you want to win up to 25K We need your votes to help charities in [Province] receive a share of 3million! Vote now in the #MCFawards Have your say, vote now and help your favourite [Province] charity win up to 25,000 #MCFawards #MCFawards now open, vote for your favourite charity to receive a share of 3 million donated by #Freemasons Only XX days until the #MCFawards vote closes! Don t miss the chance to help your favourite [Province] charity win up to 25K Facebook To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the United Grand Lodge of England, #Freemasons in [XXX] have nominated [XXX] local charities to receive a grant Every nominated charity has a chance of being awarded a grant of up to 25,000 and we need your vote to help us decide how much they get! Find out more about the MCF Community Awards Tercentenary Fund #MCFawards years of Freemasonry. 300 charities. 3 million. Find out more about the MCF Community Awards and how to help your favourite charity to win up to 25,000 #MCFawards Don t forget to include a link to the vote page in every post: Show don t tell Images are a quick and effective way of getting your message across. For serial-scrollers, images are a simple way of making them pause and take in what you have to say. We have provided some visual resources to help catch the eye of your followers: Branded images and GIFs Share the MCF Community Awards social media images and GIFs that can be downloaded from If a photo is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million! Why not record a short clip telling your followers about the MCF Community Awards and encouraging them to vote? Make life easy A call-to-action is vital if you want someone to engage with your post. Make things easy for your followers add in clickable links to so that they can go straight to the right page. Shake it up People don t want to see exactly the same post on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram it s repetitive and could undermine the impact of your posts. Instead, change and adapt each post to the platform whilst keeping the core message consistent. Build momentum Ideally, your audience needs to know about the MCF Community Awards before voting opens. Reinforce the start date of the vote and download the countdown social media images at Once voting opens, we recommend maintaining momentum with around three Tweets and one Facebook post per day. Sharing is caring The aim of social media is to be social and this applies to your followers too! Encourage your audience to retweet your Tweets, share your Facebook posts, and talk about the fact they have voted to their own followers. 2 3

4 Company number As well as social media, there are a number of other ways you can make sure as many people as possible are aware of the MCF Community Awards and know how to vote! Freya Wallace, MCF Marketing Executive Send an or e-communication to all of your contacts urging them to vote for one of the charities in your Province. If everyone in your Province does the same, you could reach a huge number of people! Consider asking the people below to reach out to their contacts: Freemasons in your Province Provincial staff Friends and family The local community To make it easy, a suggested is available to download at Other ways to reach your Province Publications Include an article about the MCF Community Awards in your internal and external newsletters and your Provincial magazine. The template press release we have provided in this pack and at is a good place to start. Website Upload an article or notice about the MCF Community Awards to your Provincial website and add a link to to ensure your team can download and use the resources available. Posters We have provided A4 and A3 posters in this pack for you to display in your Masonic centres. If you require further copies, the posters are also available to download at. They could also be printed and handed out as flyers. Events and meetings Remember to speak about the MCF Community Awards when you attend events and meetings. Votes can be placed on smartphones or tablets so you can encourage those in attendance to vote right away! VOTE NOW! MCF Community Awards Tercentenary Fund Freemasons and the wider community will decide which local charity receives a 25,000 grant Vote at mcf.org.uk/vote 12 June 31 July 2017 Start voting and promoting today! 300 charities 3 million 300 years We need Charity number Company number YOUR vote! Help us receive a grant of up to 25,000 from the MCF Community Awards Tercentenary Fund Vote at mcf.org.uk/vote 12 June 31 July charities 3 million 300 years Charity number

5 NEWS Personalise your press release This pack contains a template press release with standard copy that you are encouraged to use, together with elements that need to be personalised to your Province. The press release presents the story in a clear and concise way and can be personalised to fit your needs. I ve put together a template press release which can be personalised to fit your needs and sent to local media. Download the press release at. Guy Roberts, MCF Press Officer Getting in the local paper Send your press release Send your personalised press release by to your contacts at local newspapers. If you don t have any personal media contacts, you can send the press release to the main newsdesk address which can usually be found on the newspaper s website. Send the press release in the main body of the rather than as an attachment. You should also include your telephone and contact details and offer to provide any further information. Don t forget to attach your photographs! Follow up You can follow up your by calling journalists at newspapers to find out if they would like any further information and remind them that you can help to set up an interview. If you gain coverage, we would love to see a link or a press clipping! Photo Opportunities It is preferable to accompany a press release with relevant photographs. You can use existing images or arrange a photo opportunity with the charities in your Province. The charities are likely to be in touch, but feel free to reach out to them too. The best photos are high resolution and portray the charity s work in action. If possible, hire a photographer or use a good camera. You could also speak to the newspaper directly and see if they would like to send one of their photographers. When choosing the right image, remember: The most emotive images will feature the beneficiaries of the charity Natural action shots work better than static poses You will need permission from everybody in the photograph to use the image for publicity 6 7

6 TV Getting on radio and TV Promote the Vote Checklist Send your press release to local radio and television broadcasters. Most broadcast journalists are likely to want to do a simple interview, either in the studio or on the phone. If possible, try to visit the studio as you re likely to get more air time. If you re lucky, the journalist may be interested in producing a package which is a 2-3 minute report where the journalist will visit one or more of the charities to meet staff, beneficiaries and their families. Remember, young or vulnerable people will need permission from a parent or guardian. In either case, a Provincial spokesperson needs to be ready to speak. For those Remember who have never been interviewed by a journalist before, the best advice is to decide in advance what message you want to deliver and make sure you do so! For example: We urge all our friends and Brethren to visit mcf.org.uk/vote so they can vote for our local charities to receive grants of up to of 25,000 from the Masonic Charitable Foundation. You can follow this up with all the reasons why the charities need this money to continue with their valuable and important work, describing who will benefit from the grants. Radio stations often put stories on their websites so don t forget to send images to them too. Promote the vote across your social media platforms: Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Upload a short video to YouTube asking your followers to vote everyone you know! Write an article for your Provincial magazine or newsletter Upload information on your Provincial website Print and display posters in your Masonic centres Talk about the vote when speaking at meetings and events Arrange a photo opportunity with your local charities Send out a personalised press release to local newspapers, radio and television stations 8 9

7 Get promoting! 300 charities 3 million 300 years For Freemasons, for families, for everyone