Scout units always need to be looking to grow. Recruiting is a long, arduous process, and it can be expensive and time consuming. You want to try every way you can to add kids to your unit. You should keep doing all of those things, passing out flyers, doing press releases, school talks, putting up posters and yard signs, and handing out bring-a-buddy cards. But one massive opportunity to publicize your scout recruiting event is one that many units all too often overlook.
Facebook Groups!
Facebook groups are a great way to reach a lot of people. Owing to the way Facebook’s algorithms decide what people will actually see when they log on to, just putting something on your Pack’s page means that it will only be seen by a small group of people, and most of them will be people who already like your page.
But those aren’t the people you’re looking to recruit. You want new people, and specifically, you want people who know potential new members.
You’re going to find these people in Facebook groups. Not your unit’s Facebook group, which your unit should most definitely have – but the community Facebook groups in your area. There are likely tons of them. In my little town alone there’s a “Plainfield Residents”, “Plainfield News and Events”, “The Real Plainfield Residents Page”, “Positive Plainfield” and the one that I think every town has, “You Know You Grew Up in Plainfield if.” And obviously, there are close to a billion “Buy, Sell, Trade” groups. You’re looking for groups in your town where the parents of your potential members will be.
Make a list of the groups in town. You don’t want to share the same stuff in the same groups over and over again. So creating a little spreadsheet of what you’ve shared in which group can be very useful.
Join these groups. Introduce yourself. Let people know that you’re part of the community, and comment on other people’s posts. Obviously, you’re looking to be friendly, so I wouldn’t go in with all of your complaints about the trash pickup in town, for example. This is a great way for you to connect with potential new members, and to put a real person with the abstract idea of scouting.
Read and understand the rules of the group, and make sure that the Scouting posts you share are posted within the rules of the group. Some groups don’t let you share events, for example.
If you can coordinate to get multiple people from your unit in these groups, supporting one another, you’ll be even more effective.
Be careful not to share too often. The key is to be organic.
An Example of using Facebook Groups Publicize Your Scout Recruiting Event
Josh is the Cubmaster of my son’s pack. He does a great job. He’s helped grow our pack quite a bit over the past year plus. And one of the things that he’s great at it is publicizing pack recruiting events. Here’s the post he did in the “Plainfield Residents” Group, which has nearly 5,000 members! That’s 5,000 people who could be parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or whatever of potential new scouts.
The only thing I would suggest that our pack will do is to create the post as the Pack’s Facebook Page, and then share it in the group. If you can use this to get a few more likes on your page, this will pay dividends later.
I’d also suggest setting your Pack’s joining night up as an event and sharing the event in the same groups. You can do this in addition to a post like the one above. I’d say no more than three posts in any one group about your event, and make sure you’re separating them out by a few days.
Social Media Loves Videos!
Video, video, video. People love videos. Facebook loves videos. Get your scouts doing scout things. Or make a video with your scout. Be creative. But make something that tells the story of what your unit does. Just make sure you upload your video directly to Facebook, rather than linking from Youtube, as I’ve done below. It’s better if people don’t have to leave Facebook to watch your video.
Other things you can do to increase your Facebook reach
- Consider a paid advertisement for your Pack’s Joining Night a couple of days before your event. Even $5 can make a big difference.
- Spend some time tagging Scout parents and volunteers in your pictures. Put places in. Tag organizations you’ve done events at (if you went to the zoo, tag the zoo page.) All of these will increase the reach of your posts, even if they’re several years old.
- Coordinate with your parents to like and share your recruiting posts.
- Ask your parents to create their own posts
- Take advantage of any district, council or national resources you can find. Share those too, but don’t forget that scouting is local. You want people to think of Scouting as a thing in your town. If they see people they know, in settings they’re comfortable with, they’re going to be much more comfortable bringing their child to a meeting
Lastly, make sure you’re familiar with the BSA Social Media Guidelines.