Monthly Newsletter Marketing for the Community Team to WordCamp

Editorial Calendar for Community Team to Empower & Educate MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. or WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Organizers

At WordCamp US’ Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/., the Community Marketing Team came up with this basic structure for an editorial calendar for Meetup Organizers.

It’s important to note that whatever is currently working for you should continue on. This may help spur ideas for new organizers or those who feel like they need a nudge. In no way was this meant to be mandatory.

How to Use This Editorial Calendar

This editorial calendar is designed to help (You) the volunteer community team create a monthly newsletter directed towards Meetup organizers & WordCamp organizers. The goal of the newsletter is to empower & educate organizers.

We have created a suggested format for the newsletter that will update the organizers with current happenings, helpful tips / resources for their events, and a recurring summary paragraph remind them of all accumulated resources as they grow.

When you are writing the newsletter use the outline below. There is an example email template following this format included in this document.

There is also a series of ideas organized by month to help you create your monthly newsletter. These include things such as community happenings, initiatives, & resources. If there is a more relevant topic feel free to use that instead.

Expectations

January is an example month with completed content of how your newsletter might look after following all of these guidelines.

Monthly Newsletter Format

  1. Hello & Happenings
  2. This month’s tip & resource
  3. Complete resources
    1. Checklist
    2. Swipe Files
    3. Best Practices
  4. Call to Action / Open LoopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop.

Monthly Newsletter Template (AKA Swipe File)

Hello Organizer!

This is what’s happening this month in WordPress. We have had another successful WordCamp in [location]….FILLER HERE

As part of our continuing series to help you be awesome at MeetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. & WordCamps we have created [AWESOME RESOURCE]

As always we have compiled all of these tips into one amazing resource which includes [RESOURCE 1 LINK], [RESOURCE 1 LINK], [RESOURCE 1 LINK], and even more.

Don’t forget, if you have any other questions or need help with your Meetup, feel free to call [???] ??? [???]. Check your inbox next month for even more great stuff. (Remember, some of our emails go to your spam folder.)

 

Monthly Content Ideas for Happenings & Resources

Remember, these ideas are not set in stone. If something is more currently relevant, feel free to make that the focus topic for the month. You are responsible for finding links from the greater WordPress community that can help organizers cover the topic. Note: January is an example month.

January

Hello Organizer!

This is what’s happening this month in WordPress. We have had another successful WordCamp in the Pitcairn Islands. It was their first camp and they attracted over 100 people with the main focus on growing WordPress in Micronesia.

Happy New Year! As part of our continuing series to help you be awesome at Meetups and WordCamps, this month we’d like to focus on the new possibilities for your Meetup group: how to attract new people and newly energize the ones you already have.

As part of our continuing series to help you be awesome at Meetups & WordCamps we have selected our favorite three suggestions of getting new people to your meetup this month:

  1. Ask three to five current members to present a 5-7 mins on the favorite new thing they learned that has helped them with WordPress during the past year. Make sure the items are varied to hit a variety of perspectives from blogging/content, to SEO, to plugins, to security. Pick your favorites.
  2. Ask each of your current members to invite a friend, even if that friend doesn’t work with WordPress. Ask that person to share what’s the best new thing they learned this year. We are betting that item has great WordPress possibilities.
  3. Remember to Tweet your Meetup using hashtag #WordPress and the words “local help and community support.”

As always we have compiled these tips into one amazing resource which includes: 11 Ways to Get People to Meetings, Six Ways to Make Meetings Fun…or at Least Not Suck, and even more.

Don’t forget if you have any other questions or need help with your Meetup, feel free to contact our Meetup point person this month who is [name]. You can catch her on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. at [username], Twitter [username], or [email].

Check your inbox next month for even more great stuff. When we are going to tackle WordPress Love and Design.

February

Theme: WordPress Love and Design

Hello Organizer!

This is what’s happening this month in WordPress. We held successful WordCamps in [insert locations]. Meetups and WordCamps are changing people’s lives! Thank you for your contribution to making them happen!

This month we’d like to focus on how you can continue to grow your Meetup group, by sharing the love of WordPress! Tell a story about how you’ve made friends and felt community support as you attended a WordCamp.

Here are three ways you can spread the love of WordPress this month:

  1. Reach out to three to five active members and ask them to share your group on social media and how attending the Meetup has helped them to make friends, gain knowledge, get professional feedback and support or anything else.
  2. Ask each of your current members to invite friends. Explain that we are an inclusive community and that we know we can create amazing things together. WordPress newbies are encouraged to come and learn.
  3. Remember to Tweet your Meetup using hashtag #WordPress and the words #community #techsupport #learn. Make sure all levels are welcomed.

As always we have compiled these tips into one amazing resource which includes: 11 Ways to Get People to Meetings, Six Ways to Make Meetings Fun…or at Least Not Suck, and even more.

Don’t forget if you have any other questions or need help with your Meetup, feel free to contact our Meetup point person this month who is [name]. You can catch her on Slack at [username], Twitter [username], or [email].

Check your inbox next month for even more great stuff. Next month we are going to tackle Updating WordPress and Keeping Code Current.

March

Theme: Earth, Sustainability – Updating WordPress and Keeping Code Current

Hello Organizer!

March is a time to turn inward and express gratitude for the word in which we live. As usual there is much to witness in the WordPress world. WordCamps were held in [insert locations] in February, inspiring more users and leaders in our ever growing community. We are so grateful that YOU have chosen to be a WordPress Meetup organizer and want to assist you in any way possible. Please let us know specific ways we can support and sustain your efforts.

This month we’d like to focus on sustaining membership and enthusiasm in your Meetup group! Take a few minutes to let your members know what is happening with WordPress as a whole and with WordCamps worldwide. Let them know that as they spread the word, they are growing a community that contributes and makes WordPress even better!

Here are three ways you can sustain your members and WordPress this month:

  1. Honor one another’s contributions. Take time to highlight special projects or specialties of your members. Each one has something valuable to contribute to the group and everyone loves a little recognition.
  2. Share a snippet of a talk from a local or far-off camp and discuss the value of learning and working together. We sustain one another as we contribute to the worldwide discussion and share code with one another. Remind your members that WordPress extends far beyond a 40 mile radius and that help is there, across the globe, should they need it.
  3. Remind your members to update their website code and use tools such as GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/, make.WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ and WordPress.tv to further their own knowledge. Ask tyour members to invite friends in person and on social media to your Meetup using hashtags such as #WordPress alongside #community, #techsupport, #websitehelp and #dev.

As always we have compiled these tips into one amazing resource which includes: 11 Ways to Get People to Meetings, Six Ways to Make Meetings Fun…or at Least Not Suck, and even more.

Don’t forget if you have any other questions or need help with your Meetup, feel free to contact our Meetup point person this month who is [name]. You can catch her on Slack at [username], Twitter [username], or [email].

Check your inbox next month to see how our theme of Spring Is in the Air allows you to Create Change with WordPress.

April

Theme: Spring Is in the Air

May

Theme: AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)

June

Theme: Soft skills

July

Theme Celebrating Summer

August

Theme: Community – International Friendship Day

September

Theme: Back to School

Talk Like a Pirate

World Gratitude Day

October

Theme: National CyberSecurity Month

International Music Day

World Mental Health Day

November

Theme: Gratitude

December

Theme: Holidays

Vacation

 

Alternative Themes:

  1. New things (skills, tech, plugins)
  2. Why Accessibility Matters to a Small Business Site
  3. Design
  4. Support
  5. Localization
  6. Community
  7. Training (ie Speaker Training – see curriculum https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/speaker-training/ )
  8. WordPress Security
  9. Soft Skills
  10. Giving back
  11. Backup Solutions and Best Practices
  12. How to ask for Support
  13. Googling as a Resource for Solutions
  14. Converting to httpsHTTPS HTTPS is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS stands for 'Secure'. It means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted. This is especially helpful for protecting sensitive data like banking information..
  15. Getting ready for httpHTTP HTTP is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands./2.
  16. Site Speed for Developing Environments (3G, 2G)
  17. Must needed plugins for nonprofits, small business, blogs, etc.
  18. How to apply conditional logic to your forms
  19. Changing Themes and The Struggle with Shortcodes
  20. Why Child Themes are Important
  21. How to use the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. in WordPress Themes
  22. Page Builders: The Good, The Bad, The Needs Improvement
  23. Moderated Forums: Why have password-protected on-site forums instead of a blog or Facebook Group?
  24. Project Management Tools for the Overworked Freelancer
  25. Partnering Up: Building Sites and Gaining New Client Work with Meetup Friends
  26. If SEO is more than a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party, how do I start to rank?
  27. How often should I blog?
  28. Content Marketing: Long-form versus Short-form
  29. Design for Accessibility: Color Blind, Nearsightedness, and vision-impaired.
  30. Teaching Tech to Kids
  31. Hackathon  Night — Bring your worst problems, we’ll fix them.
  32. JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. Libraries and WordPress Theme Development
  33. Leveraging the REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/. in your WordPress Site.
  34. Building Your First Plugin
  35. PH What? An Introduction to the beginner.
  36. What is WordPress Really? An introduction to LAMPLAMP LAMP is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP – a stack of free software programs that can function as the environment for running WordPress..
  37. No Stupid Question Night. Seriously. Ask. Let’s chat.
  38. Mentorship Night. Let’s pair up and keep ourselves accountable to continuous learning.
  39. Empathy in Tech – Why Marketers should learn Dev and Devs should learn Marketing
  40. WordPress as a Platform for Apps

 

Original GDoc. 

#marketing-community