Communications strategy

Strategy

In 2020, WEGO-ITN’s website continued to act as the network’s primary platform for communication and dissemination, together with its social media accounts, namely Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, and Vimeo. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it has kept up to date to online events and conferences attended by the ESRs and served as an efficient tool for disseminating the network’s outreaches and deliverables.

As of November 2020, WEGO-ITN’s website has hired a new Web and Social Media Coordinator, journalist Karin Hueck, who is accompanying the digital activities daily. She is responsible for updating posts, facilitating ESRs communication deliverables, promoting trainings and developing new and original multimedia contents, including interviews, campaigns, podcasts, and videos. Throughout 2021, she is expected to help the network in meeting its deliverables, but also in positioning WEGO-ITN’s website as a reference for academics and activists looking for content on Feminist Political Ecology.

Web and social media statistics

Google Analytics has been tracking WEGO-ITN’s website as of May 21st, 2020. Traffic results for May-December 2020 are the following:

Updated social media data

*Facebook Insights only allows access to stats for up to 180 days

The growth of followers on WEGO-ITN’s social media exceeds the expected KPI (Key Performance Indicators), of 10%, established in the networks previous Digital Engagement Plan.

The hiring of a new Web and Social Media Coordinator, in November 2020, has brought a noticeable growth in publications and outreach. Comparing the last two trimesters of 2020 (periods from 01 June 2020-31 August 2020 and then 01. September 2020 to 09 December 2020), there has been a significant in WEGO-ITN’s website audience, namely:

  • 43% increase in unique users
  • 40% increase in sessions
  • 25% increase in pageviews
  • 43% increase in new users

Source: Google Analytics

Facebook

Comparing the period from November 14th to December 12th to the month before, there has been a:

  • 720% increase in page Likes
  • 274% increase in pageviews
  • 825% increase in post engagement
  • 444% increase of post reach
Twitter

Comparing the period from November 11th to December 11th, 2020 to the month before, there has been a:

  • 183% increase in tweets
  • 272% increase in impressions
  • 286% increase in profile visits
  • 24 new followers

We expect the growth to be continuous, albeit at a more regular pace.

Next steps for dissemination and communication

Currently, the website ranks well in terms of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), appearing fourth in a Google search for ‘What is Feminist Political Ecology?’ For 2021, it is expected for wegoitn.org to be even more relevant in the dissemination of Feminist Political Ecology, becoming a reference in the subject, with more original content aimed not only for academia but to the broader public.

2021 will also see WEGO-ITN’S Feminist Political Dialogues, held in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, UK and other locations. Its panels will be publicized on WEGO-ITN’s platform with organized marketing and publicizing activities, with the intent of reaching not only academics, but also policy makers and activists.

The first trimester of 2021 will also see the launching of WEGO-ITN’s first podcast, “The Political Ecology Podcast”, in which partners, ESRs and guests will discuss insights on FPE and its research challenges. It will be available in all relevant podcasts’ platforms, such as SoundCloud and Spotify, and will help positioning WEGO-ITN as an online reference on the topic. WEGO-ITN is also developing a social media campaign connecting academics and activists for March 8th, the International Women’s Day.

Expected trainings in 2021 for the ES developed by the communication’s team include: podcast editing, visual storytelling, writing opinion pieces.