Promoting AFS in your community is a fun and engaging way to expand our AFS family and make more people aware of who we are and what we do! Volunteers who have interest in marketing, communications, and social media will find many ways to utilize their skills (or learn new ones!) through promoting AFS. Whether it's in-person, online, or through local communications, spreading the mission of AFS starts with your team, in your community.
If you're a new volunteer who would like support navigating marketing, communications, or social media for your team, please fill out our AFS-USA General Marketing Inquiry Form and our marketing team will follow up as soon as possible.
See below for:
- Pre-Recruitment promotional ideas
- Ways to represent AFS in your community
Pre-Recruitment
Pre-recruitment refers to activities that help keep AFS's name and logo fresh and recognizable in the community. These activities are designed to raise awareness of AFS international student exchange programs. Some ideas about what you can do include:
- Place local stories about newly returned students (recent AFS Returnees) or current hosted students in local publications.
- Create social media profiles for your Area Team to reach more AFSers near you and highlight volunteers, students, alumni, and host families in your community.
- List AFS events on community calendars.
- List AFS in local digital and print directories.
- Deliver new posters and catalogs to schools and community organizations.
- Place advertisements in local school digital or print newspapers.
- Submit an article about AFS to the newsletter or bulletin at your place of worship.
Represent AFS in the Local Community
There are no limits on how to represent AFS in your community:
- Hold AFS events (potlucks, picnics, parties) and invite people from the community.
- Connect with the local Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. In particular, collaborate with the Girl Scouts' World Thinking Day in February.
- Host an AFS booth at a local fair or community event.
- Call all civic groups (Kiwanis, Lions, etc.) and get on their speaking agenda at least once a year.
- Publicize AFS at festivals, picnics, street fairs, church banquets, or summer concerts. You can also create your own flyers.
- Reach out to your local media to share AFS opportunities, special events, and what AFS means to you!
Note: Local ads are more likely to generate results less expensively than a national advertisement campaign. Whether you want to take out an ad that publicizes an event in your area such as an Information Night or Open House, or that builds awareness of the regional AFS network, local ads offer you a way to reach a targeted audience easily and inexpensively. Be creative, and don’t be afraid to spend some of your team funds for ads—you’ll be surprised at how well they work! Most Community Calendars offer event announcements for free.