The Summer Camp Society Blog
10 Easy Social Media Campaigns Camps Can Do This Summer
Once the summer season starts, we all know it is incredibly difficult to think about anything else besides directly what’s in front of you. The following list is a compilation of social media campaigns you can run this summer, hand off to your social media director, or get on a calendar so you maintain your socials in the midst of the busy camp season! Shoutout to the participants from our Let’s Get Social webinar for putting this together! I have included the ways in which I would create the content, but of course, cater to your own skills. For example, any content designed for TikTok could be easily transformed into a graphic or a photo for Instagram if your camp doesn’t have a TikTok or you’re not ready to create videos.
1. Show off your camp menu
Assign your media director (or someone else if that’s your job!) to take a photo of your camp meals each day. At the end of the week, post a carousel post on Instagram and Facebook to celebrate camp food.
Caption ideas:
Shoutout kitchen staff
Why food matters at camp
Tell a story: what happens during meals at camp?
2. Meet the counselors!
Each week, celebrate a number of your staff! Use Canva* to design a graphic with each staff member’s face on it, and a fun fact or any information on them!
Love this example from Camp Ocean Pines:
*Did you know Canva offers non-profits the Pro version for FREE?
Level up!
Create a Tik Tok/reel to introduce staff! Here’s one fun idea from Rock Springs Ranch introducing their staff: watch it here!
3. Collaborate with other organizations and share the same post
Instagram now allows you to collaborate on posts in order for two accounts to share the same post which boosts engagement. Find an organization in your community that shares similar values, or an organization you’ll be partnering with, and create content that works for both pages to share. For example, here’s a post I created for The Summer Camp Society and Camp Stomping Ground to promote our upcoming Restorative Justice Conference to attract audiences from both pages. It’s kinda like 2 for the price of 1 deal?!
Allison Krabill note:
I think for camps not doing big conferences, this might look like collaborating with:
Agencies/associations
Organizations your staff are in
Local mom blogs
Rotary Clubs, etc. that helped provide scholarships or fund some part of camp
4. Camper quote of the week
Ask your staff to submit a camper quote they loved from the week into your mailbox, send you an email, or however you will be most organized to collect information. Use Canva to design camper testimonials and share your campers’ quotes. Quotes could have a theme or not! Love this graphic using a client testimonial from Transplaining for camps.
5. YMCA Camps: “Y Camp Wednesday”
For Y camps! Have a staff member or camper answer the question “Why camp?” Responses could range from silly two word responses, to more in depth responses of folks sharing why camp matters from them. Record responses and post to Instagram reels and/or Tik Tok.
Here’s a fun interview style Tik Tok from Camp Stomping Ground!
Allison Krabill note: Keep these videos and use Canva to easily make a quick video you can share with families and donors.
6. Preparing your campers and staff for summer
Create a video or visual with a list of things to pack, directions for how to get to camp, or what to expect! These kinds of posts not only share the hidden curriculum of camp, but create for great content that can be continually shared throughout your camp sessions, or even throughout multiple summer camp sessions.
Shoutout Camp Sloane YMCA for this packing video!
7. Cabin tours
In my role creating social media for Camp Stomping Ground, during the off-season parents were always asking more specific questions about what lodging at camp actually looked like. I always regretted not having more photos and videos of cabins, where campers would shower, and what cabin living was like.
Take 5 minutes one day to capture photos of cabin life and share on Instagram and Facebook!
8. Share your camp’s playlist
This one’s fun and easy! If your camp has a playlist, share to your Instagram and Facebook story with a link embedded for folks to join and follow along.
Allison Krabill Note: Turn it into a highlight so it’s always on your Instagram!
9. Alumni highlight
Similarly to #4, collect some quotes from alumni about why camp matters to them. Create a graphic to highlight quotes and share out. These can be great to drive registration, fundraising, and create awareness about your program’s mission.
10. Supporting staff
Catering certain content to staff is really useful. Whether it be posting a packing list for what they should bring, giving them a tour of their cabin so they know what to expect, or using social media to recruit staff fit for your program, designing content for our staff is important. Not to mention, campers, parents, and families love to see staff having fun just as prospective staff members do…
Here are a few fun ideas from camps sharing the staff experience on Tik Tok:
stay true to you
Overall, when it comes to social media, try to not get intimidated by all of the trends and funky features the apps have these days. Stay true to your branding and what comes easy to you.
Want more social?
Klee did a 90-minute webinar full of great tips. Buy it for $29 and watch it OR give it to your seasonal social media team. A huge thanks to Campminder for sponsoring the webinar and keeping the price low.
Okay, but want free stuff?
Klee has a number of free resources in our Free Stuff section.
Transforming Our Communities
In my second year of field placement as a part of my master’s in social work program, I got the opportunity to work as a social work intern at an elementary school in Rochester, NY. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, the district has a lot stacked against it. With a major decrease in its student body over the past few years, trying to stay afloat amidst financial stress, and over 80% of students in the district reporting they have experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 2021-2022 school year, there are many needs.
What there is not much research on is the resilience, determination, and love demonstrated by faculty, students, and their families. I have learned so much this past year and want to share with you all a story I will not forget. (And earlier in the year I had to clean poop out of a shower stall so that’s saying something! Shoutout summer camp for preparing me to strap on some rubber gloves and clean something when that is what’s needed…)
Anyway, a 4th grader who I’ve become really close with had gotten in trouble for ripping down artwork in the hallway after getting mad at peers in gym class. This behavior is not out of the ordinary for this student. When he gets angry, which is often, he sees red and becomes volatile and aggressive. I was sitting with the student in the principal’s office and we were discussing restitution. He agreed to put the artwork back together and then go apologize to the art teacher. Despite being exceedingly young, this student is already dealing with severe trauma, and I’ve noticed that when he feels wrongfully accused of something, he is triggered and shuts down. That being said, when we went to talk with the art teacher, he could not handle it and ended up making a bigger mess. Looking back, I should have trusted his behavior more to recognize he was not ready for a restorative conversation. This is not the first time I have made this mistake, and I am sure it will not be the last.
After knocking over boxes of glue sticks and getting his hands on anything he could destroy, he ran out of the classroom defeated, crying, cursing, and extremely pissed off. I barely had time to think before I noticed I took a risk. I put my arms around him, held him there, and “ssh’d'' him as I would my baby nephews. He collapsed into me, and he cried in my arms. We held each other there for a while.
This is the transformation we can be active participants in. What if we didn’t call security to restrain him? What if we didn’t suspend him? What if we didn’t force him to apologize before he was ready? What if instead, when we are hurting the most, we held each other and created spaces to work through complicated emotions free of shame and punishment.
There is no doubt about it, summer camp helped prepare me for this moment. To be more specific, the restorative culture at Camp Stomping Ground prepared me for this moment. A restorative culture honors the humanity in us all. When someone is at their worst at camp, the priority is not “how can we protect others from being uncomfortable?” but instead, how can we protect the person who is hurting the most and build a culture of support and understanding.
There is another possible outcome in which a kid in pain is not looking for physical comfort, and I am completely aware of that. In this moment, I could feel the regret, confusion, and despair seeping from him. No words were needed, just a moment to breathe. HE KNEW HE MESSED UP! Big time. I would argue the cruelest consequence one can receive is sitting with our own shame to recognize the impact our decisions have on others. Oftentimes when I discuss interactions like these people are quick to jump to responses like, “Well did he ever apologize?!” or “Sounds like he got away with it..” and to that, I ask you to question where you get that information from or what makes you so uncomfortable. Are you looking for a certain kind of punishment? Or are you looking for real change to occur in the way we see ourselves and others. What does justice mean to you?
To be real, I think most of the time we rob kids of this experience. In this situation, we had a one track mind in a lot of ways: get the artwork back up, make the kid apologize, make sure he goes home with a smile so we don’t get an angry call from home. And this is the same at camp in so many ways. BUT! What we have at camp that we don’t have everywhere is intentional time. We get a whole week, maybe more or maybe less, to build trust-based relationships with kids, and prove to them they are worthy of spaces that support their autonomy, right to advocate for themselves, and a space where it’s okay to be scared, sorry, or simply admit “I don’t know why I did that.”
There are some people who did not see eye to eye with me when it came to my reaction with this student and what happened after (us listening to music and having a snack in my office) and that’s okay. We all have a different role to play. BUT what I do know, is that immersing ourselves in restorative communities is fuckin’ worth it. We have an incredible power as leaders in the camp space to transform the way ourselves and our campers and staff think about disagreements, conflict, and wrongdoings. Restorative Justice is not a band-aid for tough situations, or a one-size-fits-all approach, rather a complete cultural paradigm shift. This won’t happen overnight, and it may not even happen in one summer. It is collaborative, and that takes time.
Let’s talk about hugging at camp for just a second. I honestly struggle with this. On the one hand I 100% want to make sure physical interactions with kids are based in consent, and I know holding someone can be a risk for child abuse prevention and 100 other reasons. AND in this case it worked. It worked because this child and I had built an incredible amount of trust together, and not because this child did something different in the moment, but because it built a bond between us and showed that by partnering together he could get through tough situations. It showed that I cared about him and I had his back.
I don’t know that I would encourage others to just go out and hug kids, but what I do know is that the power over mentality that most adults use with kids is broken. We need to be exploring and searching for better ways to build authentic communities with ALL kids. Restorative Justice is one part of that. I hope you will consider joining us for the Restorative Justice Conference this fall. Not because we will have the perfect answers, but because you want to explore possible alternatives together. Because at the end of the day what we are looking to do is heal harm, mitigate future harm, and build community.
Let’s transform communities at camps and let the rest of the world follow.
WANT MORE?
If any part of this blog was interesting to you, or you have just a bit of curiosity around restorative communities and the impact they can have, I really hope you will consider joining our restorative justice conference. We are gathering guest speakers who have an incredible amount of knowledge in this work from diverse backgrounds in terms of the spaces they have worked and helped transform. For more information, visit our website or reach out to me personally.
Okay, but want more free stuff?
Klee has a number of free restorative justice resources in our Free Stuff section.
10 Takeaways From the Restorative Justice Conference (Might help sell your boss)
What is Restorative Justice?
Trust me, I know professional development dollars are tight. At The Summer Camp Society we work super hard to make sure we are delivering huge ROI for every dollar you might spend. The Restorative Justice Conference, an in person gathering in September will be jam packed with learnings as well as connections.
Below are a few examples of takeaways you will learn in our community. Check it out and see you in September.
1) How to support campers with mental health needs
Learn from youth development professionals to support kids with mental health needs and best practices for care. We’ll be in both small and large group settings talking best practices and narrow in on specific needs and diagnoses like neurodiversity, trauma, grief and loss, and more.
2) How to address staff conflict and staff dynamics
Learn about best practices to provide feedback to staff, support them through challenges, and address staff conflict. If our staff are angry or not working as a team, this trickles down to our kids. We’ll talk about communication practices, conflict mediation with staff, and proactive steps we can take to keep our staff engaged.
3) Working with parents and caregivers
Learn from professionals in the field involving families and community members in every step of the way of the restorative practices they implement with kids. In small group sessions, you’ll get to experience role plays and best practices for communicating with parents every step of the way when it comes to the restorative process.
4) Developing support plans for campers
Learn from other professionals how to best support individualized camper needs and set all kids up for success. All kids are worthy of a fun, dignified, and safe youth program experience.
5) Staff training techniques
Learn best practices for onboarding staff to new and/or existing ideas, and best tips for
Engaging staff throughout the summer. We’ll dive into mistakes made at piloted restorative justice programs in the past, and talk about steps you can take BEFORE your program begins to onboard staff to restorative values.
6) How to handle tough situations
Learn best practices for difficult conversations, safety, mandated reporting, and how to best support your camp community. We’ll hear from social workers and other mental health professionals who address youth crises in action and best steps to take when it comes to documentation, supporting those in crisis, communicating with families, and practicing community care after a crisis has occurred.
7) Changing your camp infrastructure to match your program values
Learn from “systems” experts in how to tinker with your program and make sure your mission and vision are implemented and embraced in daily
practices of your program. In small groups, design the program changes you want to see and get feedback from other youth professionals.
8) How to enhance social emotional learning in your program
Learn how to give kids invaluable, lifelong tools they need to effectively communicate, identify their needs and express themselves. At the conference we’ll learn how to bring these skills to life and support kids’ social emotional needs.
9) Academic research relating to youth and mental health
Learn about the most up-to-date data pertaining to youth and their mental health needs and how our programs can best support them. We’ll have different youth professionals present their findings in youth mental health and how our identities each play a role in our experiences.
10) The best learning happens in person.
Above all else, network, get feedback, feel inspired, and connect with others in your field. This conference will be a powerful way to discuss our impact on youth and thus better our communities. The work you do is important. If you have felt burned out, overwhelmed, or unsure about how to take your hopes and goals into actionable programs and see real impact, this conference is for you. Let’s disagree, get messy, learn, connect, and come together to build a space for youth to belong.
11) BONUS! - BEST $$s YOU Can Spend
For $999 you can bring 3 people, all food and housing is included. Going to a standard conference you will spend that much just on registration and still have to pay as much again in lodging and food for just 1 person. Basically, you are losing money if you don’t come! LOL
I HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US!
Honestly, I can’t wait to meet you and spend time with you. If you have any questions or need help making this possible send me an email and let’s make it happen. klee@campstompingground.org
