Two Ways to Collect Content from Members
By: Laura Thompson, Assistant Communication Director at Pi Kappa Phi
Collecting content from members, whether it’s students or alumni, can be tricky. Here are a few suggestions on how to get some user generated content from your membership.
The first way is to create a form on your website that allows submissions of photos and all necessary information that also includes a media release. This can help your team track a few different things: what chapters are submitting most frequently, what your members doing in the community or student and alumni achievements for your publication. Having all this information in one place like a spreadsheet or linked to Asana or another project management platform is a great way to track all the information you receive.
There are always photos we see during our daily scrolls on our social media feeds from members or chapters that we want to share (Inter)nationally. Having a content submission form live on your website also allows you to have a direct link to send to your members when you see content that you want. Send the account a direct message that posted the picture/content and ask them to fill out the form. Simple enough! Students especially are more likely to submit content when you directly send them a link.
The second way is for more specific content such as, holidays, DEI and organizational-related events like conventions or trainings. Try putting an “all call” for content on your social media platforms. This can also be a way to gather photos, testimonials, and other content. Using specific hashtags to track posts can also assist you in gathering user generated content.
If you have a project management platform that you use, investigate building a form that automatically creates a new project for you every time a submission is received. There are also other online form builder websites you can utilize:
