Thursday, September 23, 2010

Social Media Queens

Brady Gervais (left) and Brooke Ortmann (right)
Social media is a powerful tool -- one that sisters Brady Gervais and Brooke Ortmann have not underestimated. They have shared their story about running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in honor of their dad through Facebook, Twitter and Blogspot.

To date, the pair has raised more than $4,400. Approximately 10 donations came from people Brady and Brooke had never met face-to-face. Brady credits the use of Twitter, where she updates other Tweeps about how running in her dad's memory has impacted her. Furthermore, Brooke and Brady have posted their fundraising page on Facebook. They also update their statuses to reflect on training and the support they have received. Their e-mail signatures contain a tagline with a link to their fundraising page.

Social media is not the only tool in their fundraising arsenal. Together, they write monthly e-newsletters, where they update friends, family and supporters on training, fundraising and other tidbits. These e-newsletters are well received, and Brooke and Brady have gotten positive feedback from recipients, who say they look forward each month to the e-newsletter.

They also have turned to print media. In April, Brady wrote an article for their hometown newspaper about how she and Brooke are running the Chicago Marathon in honor of their dad, who died of multiple myeloma at 46. The story ran the week of the 15th anniversary of their dad's death.

They also sold approximately 50 "Kicking Cancer's Butt...One Mile at a Time" T-shirts to spread the word about their cause. During a recent hometown celebration, their cousin sold 30 more shirts with $150 in proceeds benefiting the MMRF.

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