April is Advocacy Month for Adult Education - and Earth Month - the perfect time to think about framing messages about increasing Sustainability, Climate Literacy, Green Job Pathways, Emergency Preparedness, Campus Sustainability, and Community Resiliency.
Here is a very late tip on a fun way to do that:
Create Photo Frames for Photo Opps Shared on Social Media -- Easy and Effective!
Learners can work together to paint and decorate frames with visual messages, logos, websites, mottos, and hashtags that you want to get out there into the cultural mind.
How To Do It
Pick up frames for cheap at thrift store.
Paint and decorate - low-cost, low-waste very do-able.
People are generally more willing to take photos when it's fun and full of a message they align with. If they make the photo frame - even more so!
Remember to ask before sharing photos on your social media! And ask if they want a photo taken with their own phone.
Advocacy Tip
If you are meeting with electeds, ask if they are willing to take a photo within the frame and if they have your permission to post on social media. When you post the photo, be sure to tag them in, using the @ sign to link to their social media account.
Props to Props
A note on the bear -- having a prop also helps to "warm people up" for photo ops. They feel more comfortable holding something - the sillier or more meaningful, the better. If you find/make a prop that speaks to your org, you can use it over and over, and build into or out of your logo, too.
Accountability Counts
The "Pledge Frame" can be a way to promote a practice while building in some accountability if the person is okay with your sharing on social media or they share on their own social media.
Accessibility Tips
Be sure to use #CamelCase in your hashtags! Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag. Example: #AdultEducationMatters, #AdultEdSustainability. This makes the hashtags readable for folks with dyslexia and using screen readers. More info on #AccessibleHashtags
Add Alt Text or Image Description to your photos to make them accessible for folks using screen readers. Sometimes these are automatically added by AI and sometimes you need to click the "Alt Text" link to add yourself. More info on #AltText.
Photo Sources
Photos here include frames/props I created for #AdultEdAdvocacy , #AdultEdGreenTeam, and #EarthDay2019 activities (above) as well as photo frames created by Latino Outdoors and the California Environmental Stewards California Naturalist Programs (below) for their own social media (below).
