Social Media Strategy, Content Creation and Marketing
Growing brand awareness for an eco-minded conservation organization operating in Nosara.
The WCA team installing camera traps along the rails in Nosara as part of its Biodiversity Monitoring Program. Image by Carlos Clemens.
Costa Rica: a lush paradise with stunning beaches, steaming volcanoes, rowdy whitewater and epic surf.
In recent years eager travelers, ecotourists, expats and digital nomads alike have flocked to this destination seeking a slice of the good life. As a result, this small country has seen unprecedented levels of economic and real estate development that has begun to take its toll on the surrounding biodiversity.
The town of Nosara sits along the coast of the Guanacaste peninsula, a curious shaped shoulder of land located on the Northwestern side of the country. I first visited Nosara in 2017 when I decided to escape a particularly brutal Vermont winter during my senior year of college. For two months I taught English, hitchhiked my way through the sticky jungle roads (coated with molasses to keep the dust from rising) and learned of social and conservation challenges from the local community.
The WCA collects samples from three sites in Nosara weekly testing for fecal coliform bacteria. Result are then posted to social channels to inform the community of the potential safety hazards of swimming in the water. Video taken by Scientific Director Vanessa Bézy.
Fast forward to 2022, the Nosara I knew was a distant memory.
No longer a sleepy surf town, Nosara has become an internationally known destination, with many people settling down and building fantastical, multi-million dollar homes and resorts amid the trees.
In 2018 The Wildlife Conservation Association emerged on the scene after seeing a need in the community to couple wildlife conservation and research with rich educational programming. The brainchild of National Geographic Explorer Dr. Vanessa Bézy, the WCA embarked on a journey to build a more sustainable community by activating local organizations and individuals to engage in conservation practices.
The challenge coming onto the project was twofold
1) how to help the WCA stand out both from a programmatic and brand perspective in a crowded, competitive landscape and 2) how to maintain overall project momentum. In early 2022 the WCA’s audience was saturated with low-engagement followers due to a previous strategy that focused on “growth for growth’s sake”. I was able to immediately establish and run with a new social media strategy and as a result our team saw an increase in accounts reached by 500% and an 125% increase in total over a six month period.
Now the WCA is poised to enter 2023 with an incredibly interested audience; the community is listening and looking to the organization as a thought leader in local conservation practices. After clearing the first challenge, we can now turn our attention to growing our reach beyond Nosara to U.S. and global markets, resulting in increased funding for the organization.
Deliverables: Brand Activation, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Strategy, Marketing Implementation, Copywriting Services and Creative Direction.
