This page is dedicated to all things Social Media with guidelines, links, images, suggestions, examples and more.
If you have any questions we encourage you to join the FaceBook group and join the discussion groups/CHEA.Chairs.PR The group is open to any Elk looking for support and information to promote their lodge, event or activity being hosted by their lodge.
If you have a “private” or “closed” group for your Lodge, consider adding one that allows you to share the good work that your Lodge does and spread it to the community. In all cases make sure the “public” information is really PUBLIC.
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The “guidelines” are directly from Grand Lodge…
Some helpful disclaimers for your Lodge social media
By RICK GATHEN, Membership and Public Relations Manager
Please consider using the following social media disclaimer for your Lodge:
We reserve the right to remove comments and or materials from the Elks Lodge social media when those comments:
- are hateful or mean-spirited.
- are potentially libelous, obscene, or sexually explicit.
- are personal attacks or involve profanity or insults.
- are private or public information published without Lodge consent.
- violate any law or promote the violation of any law.
- contribute to or encourage discrimination or harassment.
- display photos of Members drinking or smoking or considered harmful to the Elks’ image and reputation.
- contain the names of minors.
- divulge Lodge business that may violate your Obligation.
- are not positive and informative.
We reserve the right to terminate someone’s ability to post when any of the aforementioned has been posted.
- Don’t dive in headfirst. Social media beginners should focus on a few things and do them well.
- Don’t accept non-Members as friends.
- Don’t post photos of members drinking or smoking.
- Don’t post photos that may be harmful to the Elks image and reputation.
- Don’t post names of children.
- Don’t post Lodge business that would be in violation of your Obligation.
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Here you will find additional links and resources provided by Grand Lodge
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Here are the links to our accounts so please be encouraged to Like and Follow!
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Hashtags are like keywords which can be used to organize messages relating to the same subject matter across one or more social media platforms. A hashtag is used to unite posts about particular topics. It’s a way of organizing or grouping social media posts together. They are used to help people find topics that are similar and participate in discussions that are important to them. You simply click on the hashtag, and you can see all the posts that are centered around that topic or subject.
District Hashtag Identifiers are listed below (alphabetically)
Please use bpoe and your Lodge number for the Lodge hashtag identifiers. (example – #bpoe2059 is Mojave Lodge #2059 or Thousand Oaks would be #bpoe2477)
Bay District = #bpoebd640
Central District = #bpoecd680
East Central District = #bpoeecd720
Hawaii District = #bpoehd2320
Inland District = #bpoeid760
Metropolitan District = #bpoemd800
North Central District = #bpoencd880
North District = #bpoend840
Northeast District = #bpoened900
Northwest District =#bpoenwd920
Orange Coast District = #bpoeocd960
South Central Coast District =#bpoesccd1080
South Central District =#bpoescd1040
South Coast District = #bpoescd1120
South District = #bpoesd1000
Southeast District = #bpoesed1160
San Gabrial Valley District =#bpoesgvd980
West Central Coast District = #bpoewccd1240
West Central District = #bpoewcd1200
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An excellent resource for up-to-date image sizes along with a visual representation is located here https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-image-sizes-guide/
A sample of the images you can use on your social media are shared below. You are free to continue to create your own. If you used one of these – the only modification allowed is the size maintaining original proportion – do not change the image or add any text. Additionally, you are encouraged to check in with Diane Gleason on Facebook (Elks Social Media Network) and see what might be possible.
For additional standard images to share, also check the Bulletin Resources Page here
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We all know that for any successful event, a good deal of planning and preparation has gone beforehand.
Successful marketing is no exception. And this includes any successful PR campaign. Today’s social media is a powerful option to get the word out!
There are several services that allow you to manage multiple social media platforms and Hootsuite has a free account and provides a number of services including a social media posting calendar. You can see them all here https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-templates/
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Your lodge and your members do a lot to support the Elks charities as well as your community activities.
Wouldn’t it be nice if more people knew just how hard you work?
CHEA has the Blog, Facebook Page, YouTube Channel AND Twitter account, however, there is a high probability that your PR Chair and other members who love to share the benefits of Elkdom, are missing opportunities to get the word out!
As the coordinator for all the CHEA Social Media channels, I take in submissions for the Blog and set them to post. From there the post is shared to our Facebook page and beyond so that your success is
Your volunteer hours and community support are best shared in the stories that inspire and encourage others to take action, to be filled with hope and increase awareness of all that the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks do every day to make this world a better place.
Remember, the magazine is limited by the physical space the internet is not!
Encourage your best storytellers to send pictures and stories in greater detail to cheasocialmedia@chea-elks.org and let’s make our 150th-year one that the best-kept secret turned into the most appreciated organization in your community!
Here are a few basic guidelines:
350-600 words (think editorial) more is ok so you don’t have a “hard cut-off” line, but keep it interesting and reasonable as people won’t read if it’s too long.
Pictures – We’d like at least 1 but 2 or 3 would be awesome (please do NOT send high-resolution images as they are slow to load on the web – aka think SMALLER file size good ones from your phone work as you can typically choose the file size before sending)
If you have it – embed code for a good YouTube video of the event
If you have outbound links as reference- that’s great too (aka some other group like BSA or VETS that were part of the event)
See an example here – https://chea-elks.org/kern-river-valley-elks-lodge-honored-salvation-army
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