SocialMedia Strategy

Social Media Strategy – Ocean Decade

Ocean health is our health. Humanity and all living species depend on what is hiding under the vast blue surface out there. However, we know more about space than we know about our ocean. More knowledge and data is needed. United Nations has defined 10 crucial challenges to be addressed. In 2020 the UN members signed the call “Ocean Decade 2030” carrying one crystal clear objective: The science we need for the ocean we want.

Being endorsed as a partner under this call we are gathering the best scientific resources on the planet and inviting passionate individuals to help us: Sailors and scientists dedicated to hopping onboard our legendary steel yacht, rebuilt into a floating Ocean Lab, and racing around the world once again – not to win against other yachts but to deliver the data needed while inspiring others to help us fulfill the mission in all its aspects.

Hrimfare raced around the world first time in 1992/93. The Internet was not yet invented, but now it is. Here is how we intend to use it to reach out to the big masses, and ultimately to reach into their hearts and minds and have them follow us in our mission.

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1. PARTIES

Endorser

Project

Vessel

UN Ocean Decade 2030 officially endorses Sailing4Science and its activities. The endorsement means no financial support, but support in terms of trust as a certified partner.

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UN OCEAN DECADE

Sailing4Science (S4S) is a cooperation entity created by the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the University of Trondheim (Norway), two of Europe's most recognized marine scientific universities.

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SAILING4SCIENCE

Hrimfare is the "Mother Ship" for Sailing4Science and is assigned for a number of scientific expeditions starting 2024. Hrimfare is owned and managed by an independent company in Sweden.

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SY HRIMFARE

2. OCEAN DECADE

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development calls for partnering around “The science we need, for the ocean we want”. Ten major challenges are being addressed: pollution, overexploitation of fish and other resources, sustainable use of the ocean, observing and understanding and warning for ocean hazards equally for all people, allowing an accessible ocean for all, and increasing education.

3. PROJECT MISSION

Being assigned the mother ship for the project "Sailing4Science" and the vessel for United Nations' endorsement "Ocean Decade 2030" we share the same mission with respect and pride:

We sail to inspire, engage and motivate people to connect with our ocean.
We are building a global network of sailors who volunteer to observe and collect vital data from our ocean and coastlines onboard their boats.
We create awareness online, onboard, in ports and marinas through open science participation and active communication and demonstrations.
We share ocean insights and inspire people to adopt new ocean-friendly lifestyles.
We build and exchange capacity with low-income countries with a frugal approach to ocean observations in their home waters.

Objectives

4. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Being assigned the mother ship for the project "Sailing4Science" these are our shared objectives:

Deliver transformative ocean connections through open/participatory science sailing research expeditions to students, scientists, politicians, and curious individuals from the public.
Produce, deliver, and publish online content on social media in line with our mission and in cooperation with adequate stakeholders' missions and messages (quantified individually).
Make considerable impact and awareness online and live at the local coastal communities we visit (quantified separately below).

5. TARGET GROUPS

Being a sailing and science project according to our mission, we operate under three pillars:

Collecting vital data on a highly scientific level while sailing
Sharing the findings and the state of the ocean to a broad audience and
Engaging sailors to use their sailboats as vessels for data collection

These calls for adopting our messages for different target groups. We have identified 7 main target groups and we have built our strategy based on them and their seven individual personas.

Sailboat owners

Grown-ups, 25-80 years old.
This group members own their sailboat or yacht.
These vessels can potentially be useful for data collection and the owners may be available for networking and initiating simple Sailing4Science activities or expeditions with some guidance.
This group has a direct interest and concern in their local waters and is an important target group to communicate with along the sailing route with Hrimfare and in every stop-over.
This group is also to some extent active in various Facebook groups and pages as well as on Linkedin.
PERSONA: (In the making)

University students

Students 20-30 years old.
Within the field of marine biology and marine technologies etc, these students are in general highly motivated to follow the project.
The group is active on social media in terms of private peer-to-peer sharing, but most students also develop an interest in using social media platforms for their personal branding and career branding positions.
Inviting students to participate onboard on the expedition will be an important source for the spreading and sharing of stories, and experiences, and loyal re-posting of the project’s posts.

Students at highschool and elementary levels will be considered on stop-overs.
PERSONA: (In the making)

Young sailors

Young sailors 5-25 years old.
This group will be the one affected the longest by climate change and the state and well-being of the ocean.
They can all be considered potential sailing scientists and customers of marine products and boats.
This group is reached directly via the younger categories of platforms, but also, indirectly via content adjusted for their coaches', trainers', and parents' platforms.
PERSONA: (In the making)

Scientists

Grown-ups, 25-65 years old.
This group is considered professional scientists and will be of uttermost importance both on a global outreach level online and potentially even more important to invite on local levels along the coastlines of the expedition and all its stop-overs.
Our already very strong and widespread network of our scientists involved in the project guarantees access to the most important sectors of global marine science as well as pinpointing and reaching out to important “scientist influencers” around the world.
PERSONA: (In the making)

Stakeholders

Grown-ups, 25-65 years old.
This group covers the organizations, companies, and governmental institutions supporting the project, the universities, the commercial sponsors of yacht equipment and expertise.
Other target categories are – festivals, events, city communities, harbors and marinas etc.
This group will also be strategically considered and divided into “global online targets” or “local targets” along the route of the expeditions.
PERSONA: (In the making)

Politicians

Grown-ups, 25-65 years old.
This group will also be strategically considered and divided into “global online targets” or “local targets” along the route of the expeditions.
The outreach, the invitations, and the messages created will also be adjusted for the character of the culture and governance, depending on which country or part of the world the expedition is visiting.
PERSONA: (In the making)

General public

All ages.
The general public will be reached primarily via all the above target groups, but also by engaging in local media and press institutions .
Another important outreach possibility is to use local social media platforms on a case-by-case basis, depending on country, language, culture and part of the world the expedition is visiting at the time.
PERSONA: (In the making)

6. PLATFORMS

The social media will be managed as follows: Content is produced and uploaded onto the Later account. Each post/story is shared/scheduled onto the timelines for "Project Sailing4Science" and the "Vessel Hrimfare". Each post (Sailing4Science and Hrimfare) is being tagged and hashtagged with adequate stakeholders and furthermore shared with external groups for exponential outreach (hinders for commercial direct or indirect messages may occur). Analysis on results by Later.

Facebook

Reaching our grown-up audience with a more stable economy.
Likely more interested potential buyers for our sponsor’s products.
The audience is also prospects as paying crew members.
This audience has on average a longer attention span and is more used to conventional "slow digital" media ready to take part in more informative content, as well as having a higher response rate to links to our webpage, newsletter, email subscriptions, etc.
Facebook will be used for invitations to events.
Interesting audience to several of our sponsors since the audience in targeted groups are owners of boats acquainted with our premium partners’ brands.

Youtube

Our main platform for collecting and posting more comprehensive video content.
The presence on YouTube and the ability to actively build a substantial number of followers on YouTube will be more realistic to plan for when we know that we have secured a long-term capacity for advanced editing of collected content as well as the capacity to publishing videos consistently (living up to promised expectations).

Instagram

Reaching our younger audience who grew up on digital platforms and fast entertainment.
Reaching young minds interested in sustainability, regeneration and circular life style alternatives and in volunteer crew and collaborators.
Build a wide digital presence with good ocean vibes in our messages and positive future outlooks in ocean and climate challenge realities, and also filter some of the dedicated into our webpage and network.
Interesting audience to several of our sponsors since this group will soon be able to buy their own boat and this is the time they get acquainted with our premium partners’ brands.

LinkedIn

Reaching out to grown-up professionals such as professional research organizations and maritime businesses as well as sailboat owners and the growing number of young university students entering the professional world (and recruitment platforms) after their exams.
We see this also as an important channel for fostering the new generation of scientists and influential decision-makers.

X (Twitter)

Initially not a prioritized platform, but we will be scanning and following influencers for debates and trends on the subjects we cover.
In our outreach efforts toward politicians and governmental institutions, this channel's importance will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for potential actions.
Also utilized to advertise posts on other channels to draw other crowds into our channels.
Tweets are a functional format relayed on low bandwidth communication when offshore.

Later.com

A social media management service we have great experiences from in other projects. It will be a cornerstone service for us.
Coordinating and scheduling social media posts on all our accounts allowing us to produce long-term batches of thematic posts in advance.
Enable us to create one post and distribute it to all channels.
Offers expertise in social media management
Offers expertise in social media analysis management
Offers influencer network coordination and consulting