HCMGA

Hamilton County Master Gardeners Association - Helping Others Grow

Public Relations Committee

For more information, contact the Public Relations Committee: PublicRelations@hcmga.org

Purpose

To help committees publicize their activities through newspapers, newsletters, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or other social media.

History of Committee

Past Chairs:

Alice Overton 2004-2013

Dina Whisman 2013-2014

Alice Overton 2014-2018

Karyn Wayman 2018-

In the early years the responsibilities of the Publicity Chair were to promote the plant sale, Barney Hobbs Scholarship, and the 4-H Fair via fax and phone calls.

The Publicity Committee was made up of one until 2011 when Dina Whitman volunteered to assist and then took over Publicity in 2013.  When Dina moved out of state Alice accepted the responsibility of the committee once again.

2014: The Publicity Committee set up a table at the plant sale to encourage guests to register with their contact information.  A drawing of the guest information slips for a potted container followed the sale.

Linda Scherzinger, Terry Chandler, and Alison Jones volunteered to work on the committee and it was Linda who set up the Facebook site once the HCMGA Board approved. Alison Jones monitored the Facebook site.  Linda then set up the Twitter account in 2015 and managed it.

2015: Each team member has an area of expertise and assigned as follows:

  • Social Media:
  1. Twitter Account designed and monitored by Linda Scherzinger. The committee will send Linda items for posting.
  2. Facebook Account monitored by Alison Jones. The MG must be current with dues and hours to participate on the HCMGA FB account.
  • Print Media
  1. Print media marketing is the responsibility of Terry Chandler. We will provide Terry with leads, some contact suggestions were offered.
  2. Terry will also work with TV & Radio marketing opportunities.
  3. Beth Billheimer will send Terry a press release for the annual sale.
  • Publicity took on the plant sale signs, updating, tracking when the signs were assigned and returned. (In 2016 a “sign team” took this task.)
  • The Publicity Team decided to hand out “HCMGA Business size cards with plant sale info” for members to share with friends.

2016: Teresa Downham joined the Publicity Committee

  • Facebook Guidelines set by the Board of Directors: Publicity Chair reminded members to visit the HCMGA Facebook site for information regarding upcoming meetings, tips about plants and gardening. She explained that the site is intended to provide unbiased information to the members and is not to be used for personal messages. See Purdue Master Gardener Program Policy Guide.

2017: Publicity Committee (now Publicity Team)

  • Karyn Wayman, Julie McKinney joined the team, Linda Scherzinger moving out of state, Terry Chandler, Alison Jones, and Alice Overton now form the Publicity Team.
  • Currently Julie & Karyn oversee the Facebook site, and Karyn manages the Twitter account.
  • The Committee added NextDoor as another avenue of advertising, each committee member shares the plant sale flyer on their NextDoor site along with their personal social media sites.

Annually:

  • The Publicity Team is most active January through May each year.
  • The Publicity Team has a table at the January meeting to invite new members join the team.
  • If needed the committee advises media of the Barney Hobbs scholarship opportunity with deadline.
  • The responsibilities of the Publicity Team begin each year when a “Save the Date” email is sent to previous Plant Sale attendees at the end of February. A “Don’t Forget” reminder email is sent again 2-3 weeks before the sale.
  • A member of the Publicity Team encourages HCMGA members to promote the plant sale at each monthly membership meeting.
  • The Publicity Team now designs and produces the plant sale flyer.
  • A team meeting is scheduled in late February or early March to start planning for the annual plant sale discussing new opportunities in sharing the information.
  • A Plant Sale Guest database is updated each year after the plant sale from the guest information slips collected.
  • Publicity Chair (or a committee member) greets guests at the plant sale each year and gives away plants to guests for various reasons: first in line, birthdays, farthest distance, etc.  Throughout the Plant Sale, Publicity Chair (or a designated member) activities as MC include promoting the activities of the plant sale, interviewing guests, announcing mark-downs, and reminding guests how the proceeds of the sale are kept in Hamilton County.

2018:

Chair – Karyn Wayman

  • After 20+ years as Chair, Alice Overton moved into other areas of leadership and handed the team over to Karyn Wayman.  The 2018 team consists of: Alice Overton, Terry Chandler, Julie McKinney, and Cheri Smith.
  • MailChimp is now being used for bulk mailing within and outside of the organization.  Julie McKinney and Karyn Wayman handle the Facebook page, and Terry Chandler is handling printed publicity releases.  In addition to Twitter, Instagram has now been added to our resources.

2020-2021:

Chair – Karyn Wayman

  • The team now consists of Alice Overton, Terry Chandler, and Becca Dixon.
  • In September of 2021, the board approved the name change to Public Relations. 
  • Due to changes brought on by Covid, the Contact Forms used at the plant sale were replaced by a MailChimp sign-up link on the home page of the website.

2022:

Chair – Karyn Wayman

  • The team now consists of Alice Overton, Becca Dixon, Felica Bryant, and Kay Johnson.
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