statusdraft
The Wikipedia Social Media Campaign
This project aims to run a month-long social media campaign on Social Media, which would capitalize on word-of-mouth to create awareness about Wikipedia. This Wikipedia Social Media Campaign will be Wikipedia's version of a very popular type of social media marketing strategy in Nigeria. Almost every other popular subject in Nigeria, have at one point flagged this type of campaign on social media; from tech giants, to film production houses, to musicians, and so on. The attractive thing about this campaign is, it works all the time, and it costs so little. Although, every other web company is doing or has done this, Wikipedia is sadly yet to get with the program.
targetEnglish Wikipedia, Chichewa Wikipedia
start dateOctober 3
end dateNovember 2
budget (USD)2000 USD
grant typeIndividual
non-profit statusNo
granteeIcem4k
contact(s)• Icem4k(_AT_)gmail.com
created on12:20, 13 September 2019 (UTC)


Audience edit

Who are the people you want to introduce Wikipedia to? edit

Try to be as specific as possible about this group.
The Millennials and Generation-Z, which makeup over 90% of Zambian population, as at last Census.

In what languages do they search for information, online or otherwise? edit

English; online

In what ways does this group communicate with each other? edit

This can include services and apps in social media, mailing lists, physical spaces like conferences or lectures, or at specific institutions like at a library.

  • Social media; notably Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
  • Chatting Apps; notably WhatsApp, BBM.

What are some reasons this group would use Wikipedia? How would they benefit from it, or what would they find useful? edit

Think about what they would be interested in reading and learning about; does Wikipedia provide better access to information this group cares about?
Many of them already read Wikipedia for their academic works, and to read on entertainment/Pop Culture topics, but they are not conscious of the platform they are reading from or how it works. This is the point where awareness comes in. Several others don't read Wikipedia at all. This campaign is aiming to improve on these problems.

Project idea edit

What language Wikipedia projects will you promote to new readers? edit

Majorly English, but we will welcome videos promoting Wikipedia in the local languages, such as Chichewa and Chitumbuka.

How will you communicate with new readers? Will you be communicating with them online, in-person, or both? edit

Since this is an online campaign, new readers will be constantly engaged online. Although, we can eventually direct them to in-person meetups where possible.

Describe your idea to engage new readers. How might it be implemented? What will you tell people about Wikipedia? edit

Think about the steps that might involved to make this idea happen, and what you might teach people about your experience or others' experiences using Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia Social Media campaign will be in form of a contest, which would allow for public engagement on social media. We'll first of all make a promoted ad, asking people to make a 1 minute video telling us what they love about Wikipedia / what Wikipedia has taught them / one great thing that happened because they used Wikipedia / etc. They'll do this using an agreed upon catchphrase hashtag (eg: #ILoveWikipedia, #MyWikipedia, #ChewaWikipedia #WikipediaInZambia etc). These videos will be re-shared on a local centralized Wikimedia Social Media page and the highest number of likes will be winning a prize (either a gadget that can be used to access Wikipedia; like a smartphone. A Wikipedia T-Shirt or a Flash Drive).

The good thing thing about a contest like this is that, it creates a strong pull of audience through word-of-mouth, as participants usually tag alot people to their shared videos in a voracious manner in order to win. This leads to a high number of views, and also generates a massive following for the concerned central page, which can still be used to subsequently promote Wikipedia and its sister projects after the contest is completed. Word-of-mouth has always been one of the fastest and most efficient way to get information out in Nigeria; this contest will capitalize on this strength.

How will you know if this project is successful? What are some outcomes that you can share after the project is completed? edit

If you’re not certain about how to respond to this question when starting your idea, you do not need to answer it right now. Campaign participants and Wikimedia Foundation staff can help you consider some options.

  • If we get atleast 100 people to make and share their videos.
  • If we achieved a total video view of a million.
  • If we get a social media following of 10,000.

Do you think you can implement this idea? What support do you need? edit

Do you need people with specific skills or resources to complete this idea? Are there any financial needs for this project? Do you need advising from Wikimedia Foundation staff?
Yes, I can implement this idea. It'll be great to also have one or two people with relevant skills such as video production skills and social media management. There will also be a need for financial resources to run the contest.

Get Involved edit

About the idea creator edit

I am Wikimedian from Zambia and i have been editing Wikipedia for over 8 years now.

Participants edit

Expand your idea edit

Would a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation help make your idea happen? You can expand this idea into a grant proposal.

Expand into a Rapid Grant

No funding needed? edit

Does your idea not require funding, but you're not sure about what to do next? Not sure how to start a proposal on your local project that needs consensus? Contact Chris Schilling on-wiki at I JethroBT (WMF) (talk · contribs) or via e-mail at cschilling wikimedia.org for help!

Project plan edit

Activities edit

Possible programme

  • Social media Wikipedia contest/engagement
  • Wikipedia Awareness Promotion

1. What content will the contest focus on?

The contest will be a public engagement contest, which will focus on the brand awareness of Wikipedia. Like stated above, the public will be called to submit one-minute videos explaining why they love Wikipedia. These videos will be shared on a central Social Media page and users will be asked to invite their friends to like their videos, which will cause a ripple effect. The contest will span a period of one month and winners will be announced weekly, and a grand prize winner will emerge on the fourth week.

2. How will you let people know about the contest?

We'll building awareness for the contest mainly through Social Media (Facebook and Instagram) ads.

3. How will you judge the contest and award prizes?

Based on a quick survey; if we won't be giving out a cash prize of around a million, high end gadget is the next appealing prize for the demographic that the campaign is targeting. Therefore; highest views and likes for each week (for 3 weeks) will be rewarded with standard Samsung mobile phones. The overall highest views and likes, will be rewarded with Samsung Galaxy S8+, on the fourth week.

Impact edit

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals?

  1. Number of Participants: atleast 100 people to make and share their videos.
  2. Video views: A total of atleast a million views.
  3. Following: social media following of 5,000.
  4. Increased awareness of Wikipedia in Zambia.

Resources edit

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

Human resources:


What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

Funding of the budget ($2000)

Budget edit

S/N Item Quantity Unit Cost (NGN) Total cost (NGN) Total cost (USD) Notes
1 Video production - 50,000 180,000 50,000 180,000 165 591 A reserve budget, just in case there's the need to produce anything after what has been planned, or if one or two things don't go as planned.
2 Instagram Ad promotion - 100,000 100,000 329 To promote the contest call and other posts on the central Instagram page.
3 Weekly Prizes 3 50,000 150,000 494 3 Samsung phones which will cost not more than 50,000 will be given out to weekly winners, until the final week.
4 Grand Prize 1 300,000 150,000 300,000 150,000 987 494 Samsung Galaxy S8+ will be given to the grand prize winner on the fourth week.
5 Shipping fees 4 5,000 20,000 66 Costs of shipping the gifts to the respective winners.
- TOTAL PROJECT COST 600,000 1,974 **Forex rate used is $1 = 304.65, provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria and used by banks

Endorsements edit

[[Category:IdeaLab/Ideas/Inspire/New readers]]