Third party endorsements are gold for your club’s public image. How do you find them? How do you benefit from them in your marketing?

Article by Roslyn Teirney, Assistant Rotary Public Image Coordinator, Past President Rotary Club of North Hobart

Don’t be afraid to talk up your own club at every opportunity, but it is very refreshing and engaging for your followers to see third party endorsements included in the mix of posts you publish on social media.

Where do you find them? On other people’s Facebook, Instagram and Linked In pages. That means it is well worth going to the effort of liking the pages of every business, school and politician who has anything to do with your club. That enables Facebook to serve up mentions of your club by those third parties.

Also follow the pages of your local newspapers, your local radio stations, organisations that run awards ceremonies and of course your local council.

That’s where you’ll find the thanks, the pats on the back to your club, the win-win acknowledgements of the many partnerships you as a Rotary club have developed over the years.

Invite elected representatives to your events. They are highly likely to add value to your public relations by broadcasting to their followers during your event or very soon afterwards.

Are you inviting school principals to your meetings at which students from their school are reporting back to speak about their experience at a Rotary sponsored event?

You can further nurture the relationship with the schools you serve by running regular events to allow the school to celebrate Father’s Day or Mother’s Day with a barbecue or afternoon tea your club sponsors.

All of these gestures are likely to result in a mention of your club in the school newsletter or on the school Facebook page.

When organising events, collect any feedback you receive, solicited or unsolicited, and seek permission to use selected quotes on your marketing brochures or posters. Endorsements can be very valuable to build trust.

The flip side of third party endorsement type posting is appreciation marketing. Here you post about your generous sponsors to thank them publicly for their support to your club.

Enjoy spotting some third party endorsements and creating some appreciation marketing posts.