I’ve been doing some work recently for my local public radio station, and for the Fall Pledge Drive, I came up with this social media campaign. And then I started to come up with ideas of how bookstores could do something similar. I think you’re going to like this.

It started with testimonials. Ten supporters of Wichita Public Radio were asked to come in a record testimonials for the drive. While they were here, I took their photo in front of a black backdrop. I pulled a quote from their testimonial, and inserted both the quote and the image on a black background. I added the “Keep KMUW Strong” slogan with a call to action and saved it for the web. Each morning of the drive, a new image goes up on the KMUW website.

Here’s where the social part comes in. I took the same images and quotes, adjusted the canvas size in Photoshop to 851 x 315 pixels, allowed for buttons, words, and profile images, and a different testimonial appears on the KMUW Facebook page every day.

And then it really got social. I invited the staff to take a photo in front of the backdrop and tell me why they want to keep KMUW strong. I created a Facebook cover image for each of the staff to share on their personal pages during the drive.

Once the drive started, anyone who came by the station was invited to do the same thing: take a photo, provide a quote, and they got a personal cover image to share.

If anybody came by the station to help pitch, we took a photo before they went on the air and then promoted the fact that they were here through the KMUW Facebook timeline.

If someone preferred Twitter to Facebook, we created something like this:

As the day went on, we used SoundCloud to share the testimonials through social media:

And any emails sent through Constant Contact has the same look.

Even though we’re only halfway through the drive, I can already see that the results are outstanding. Every time somebody changes their Facebook cover image to the one we created for them, they get 75-150 “likes,” and the number of “likes” on the station Facebook page increases as well.

It’s social media at it’s best.

Now, how can bookstores do something similar?

• As you approach the end of the year, capture customers with their favorite read of 2014.
• During Banned Books Week, take photos of customers with stacks of banned books.
• Have customers nominate their favorite teacher and showcase them during Teacher Appreciation Week.
• Launch a This Book Changed My Life campaign.

One last thing. If this feels daunting, let me show you where I took the photos.

Yep. Everybody had to come back into the electrical room and sit down in front of black fabric I have yet to press. But it didn’t matter. I removed most of the black from the images, leaving a head with a black halo on a transparent background. I dropped it in on a black image I created in the correct pixel size in Photoshop, added some text, and then hit “save for web.”

A campaign like this is completely doable. Just have fun with it. And if you can get others to help spread your word through their own social media, the potential reach is exponential.