The "Choose St. Mike's" video series unrolled on Instagram as prospective students received their admissions letters in the mail. The videos feature current St. Mike's students inviting incoming U of T Arts and Science students to choose St. Mike's for their college were shared on YouTube and Instagram at a pivotal time when a prospective student is deciding on their college. View the full series.
To help the Basilian Vocations Office efforts to connect with young men who are considering joining the priesthood, I started an Instagram (@basilianvocations) and Facebook page (@basilianvocations). The aim was to reach a different audience from the main Basilian social media channels, which are of interest to the general public who are familiar with the Basilians including students, staff, alumni and parishioners of Basilian institutions.
I generated content to be geared towards someone discerning their vocation to join the priesthood. The target audience for the new social media pages was male, attending high school or university and deeply involved in his parish or school's campus ministry.
The goal of the content was to increase brand recognition for the small Congregation, promote its vocation program, and curate articles and reflections that would be of interest to someone thinking of joining the priesthood.
The style of posts continued to evolve as I experimented with what made a post successful. Posts that featured a well known priest performed well. Tagging high school, university and parish communities where the Basilians serve also increased a post's reach.
Whenever possible, posts included a link to the Basilian website where a visitor was prompted to fill out a form to contact the vocation director. The organization also frequently received messages through these social media pages from those interested in joining the Congregation. Inquiries were responded to in a timely manner.