This slideshow is enhanced content for "Advocacy Lessons from the Campaign to Save Prentice" by Elizabeth Byrd Wood in the Winter 2015 Forum Journal (Strategies for Saving National Treasures). To learn more about Preservation Leadership Forum and how you can become a member visit: http://www.preservationnation.org/forum

1. Seven Key Social
Media Takeaways
from the Save
Prentice Hospital
Campaign
Enhanced Content: Slideshow

2. The Save Prentice Coalition was
established to advocate for the preservation
and reuse of the Chicago’s Prentice
Women’s Hospital, designed by noted
Chicago architect Bertrand Goldberg. The
coalition hired ASGK Public Strategies for
help with an ambitious advocacy campaign
that recast traditional preservation
messages, strategies and tactics to
generate media attention, grassroots
support and political recognition from
Chicago decision makers. As part of its final
report to the coalition, ASGK Public
Strategies recommended seven key
takeaways for social media outreach by
preservation organizations.
Some participants at the Save Prentice! rally were born in the now largely-vacant
hospital.

3. 1. Social Media Matters Offline: Updates
to the Save Prentice Facebook and Twitter
pages were useful in attracting new fans,
raising awareness and showing public
support for Prentice. However, the campaign
also worked to convert online engagement
into offline results. For example, the
campaign developed a custom Facebook
tab that allowed users to easily send an
email message to the Commission on
Chicago Landmarks urging commissioners
to vote in favor of Prentice. The campaign
also aggressively promoted each
Landmarks Commission hearing prior to the
hearing dates and encouraged supporters to
attend. More than 200 supporters turned out
at the hearings.
PHOTO: SAVE PRENTICE, PICTURED LANDMARK ILLINOIS STAFFER AND FELLOW
PROTESTERS

4. 2. Campaigns Can’t Be Everywhere At Once:
Save Prentice social media advocacy was primarily
focused on two platforms, Facebook and Twitter,
which were the dominant social media channels
between 2010 and 2013. While other social media
channels like LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+
presented engagement opportunities, the
campaign focused its resources on the two
channels that offered the broadest reach with
online audiences and the deepest reach with
influential audiences.
As of December 2012, 67 percent of U.S. Internet
users are on Facebook, which not coincidentally is
the exact same percentage of U.S. Internet users
who are on at least one social media network. The
second most popular social media site is Twitter,
which comprises 16 percent of U.S. Internet users.
Notably, Twitter is a gathering place for
“influencers” like journalists, politicians and brands,
making it a particularly important engagement tool
for advocacy campaigns. It is also worth noting that
in 2013, Pinterest, a social photo-sharing network,
will surpass Twitter among U.S. Internet users. For
future preservation campaigns, this is particularly
relevant as Pinterest would be an ideal network for
showcasing place-based visual content, in addition
to Facebook and Twitter.
PHOTO: PEW RESEARCH CENTER

5. 3. Multimedia Spurs Engagement: Photo
and video posts generate more “viral”
activity online, which means they are more
likely to spread faster and reach more
people than text-only status updates and
links. Photos posted to the Save Prentice
Facebook page reached, on average, 30
percent more Facebook users than other
forms of content. Visual content can be
particularly compelling for tangible, place-
based preservation campaigns and should
be a centerpiece of online advocacy.
However, visual content should be varied
and vibrant. As the campaign evolved, the
Save Prentice page featured more diverse,
colorful content like infographics and crisp
photos of contemporary architectural works
by Prentice supporters—and less black-and-
white imagery of Prentice and other lost
Chicago buildings.
PHOTO: “PRENTICE + CHICAGO = LOVE" BY, K. BAIR

6. 4. Fans Follow Live Updates: Live-
tweeting and live-posting both Landmarks
Commission hearings during the Save
Prentice campaign were beneficial in
attracting and engaging supporters. During
the November 1, 2012, Landmarks
Commission hearing, the @SavePrentice
Twitter account added 42 followers and was
re-tweeted 122 times. Facebook updates
posted throughout the hearing totaled 2,960
Likes, 353 comments and 277 shares. The
most popular post, which announced the
unanimous preliminary landmark
designation for Prentice, generated 546
Likes and 10,970 impressions. The
November 1 hearing happened to coincide
with the 2012 National Preservation
Conference, and the live updates were
closely followed by preservation supporters
gathered in Spokane, Washington.
PHOTO: TOM HARRIS © HEDRICH BLESSING 2013

7. 5. Positive Is Popular: While it may seem
obvious, favorable news is more likely to
drive social media engagement. Content
that makes a positive case for preservation
and focuses on successes is more likely to
engage than content that dwells on
preservation challenges or losses. Positive
posts and favorable campaign updates
generated higher response levels on both
Facebook and Twitter throughout the
campaign. The most popular post/tweet
during the entire effort? “The Landmarks
Commission finds in favor of Prentice and
designates it a preliminary Chicago
landmark by a vote of 9-0!”

8. 6. Facebook Ads Attract and Retain Supporters:
Facebook advertising is the most cost-effective avenue for
reaching audiences with high degrees of precision. The
Save Prentice campaign used Facebook ads to quickly
increased its awareness and reach within Chicago. Taking
advantage of Facebook’s sophisticated advertising targeting
tools, the Save Prentice strategy aimed to engage Facebook
users living in Chicago who fell into one of three categories:
1) Northwestern students, faculty, staff and alumni; 2)
preservation- and culturally-minded individuals; and 3)
politically-minded individuals. The coalition was able to
display Facebook ads to any Facebook user living in
Chicago who had Liked Facebook pages associated with
these categories. A sample list of the pages that were used
to target these individuals follows:
• Northwestern Wildcats Basketball
• Feinberg School of Medicine
• The Daily Northwestern
• Architecture of Chicago
• Pritzker Architecture Prize
• Urban Planning
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Rahm Emanuel
• City Aldermen
• Crain’s Chicago Business
Facebook ads generated an additional 1,200 page
supporters. While this required an upfront use of financial
resources, the approach increased the supporter count at a
drastically quicker rate than it would have taken to
organically grow the page, and supporters remained with the
page after the ads had been discontinued.

9. 7. An Audience Is Forever: Building an
online audience is time-consuming and
difficult, but a cadre of supporters can
outlast a single advocacy effort. Even after
Save Prentice advocacy on behalf of the
building ended, online engagement
continued. Facebook and Twitter supporters
were encouraged to visit a “Share Your
Prentice Stories” website set up by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Supporters were invited to upload photos
and videos and write about their personal
experience and memories of the building as
part of a documentary project. This helped
the National Trust grow its email list and
reach new audiences with membership and
fundraising appeals.
PHOTO: DAVE SCHALLIOL

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