City of Vancouver 2022 Municipal Election

Building Civic Literacy and Voter Engagement Through Social Media

Overview

In preparation for the October 2022 municipal election, the City of Vancouver partnered with Tiny Planet Digital to design and execute a strategic social media campaign aimed at increasing civic literacy and voter engagement.

Despite a condensed 8-week campaign window, our efforts generated over 511,000 impressions across 158 posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X), achieving a 287% increase in engagement compared to the 2018 election campaign.

The Challenge

The City of Vancouver’s Election Office needed to raise awareness and participation for the 2022 municipal election while ensuring all communications aligned with the City’s official content calendar and brand guidelines.

Adding to the challenge, the implementation timeline was significantly shortened – just six weeks instead of the 41 weeks used in previous election cycles. The campaign also had to shift public perception by making government information more accessible, engaging, and relevant to citizens of all ages.

Approach

Tiny Planet Digital developed a comprehensive social media marketing strategy centered on three key principles:

Simplify information: present voting details in a clear, digestible, and visually engaging way.
Spark curiosity: encourage citizens to explore the election process and take ownership of their civic participation.
Encourage interaction: transform static government communications into approachable, shareable, and relatable content.

Our team coordinated closely with the City’s communications department to ensure every message, post, and visual aligned with official guidelines while maintaining creative flexibility. The tone was deliberately friendly, confident, and community-oriented — designed to break away from the perception that civic information is “boring.”

Execution

Over eight weeks, Tiny Planet Digital:

Produced and managed 158 social media posts across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Designed visual templates and short-form content to highlight key election dates, voting tips, and behind-the-scenes insights.
Monitored and optimized engagement daily to maximize organic reach.

Aligned content scheduling with the City’s broader communications calendar to maintain consistency across all channels.

The Results

The campaign exceeded expectations across every metric.

Half a Million Impressions Across Platforms

Generated 511,449 impressions across all channels, significantly expanding overall reach and visibility.

287% Increase in Engagement

Achieved a 287% increase in engagement rate compared to 2018, reflecting stronger audience interaction.

Significant Increase in Voter Awareness

78% of voters reported feeling informed about the election, up from 50% in 2018.

Boost in Advance Voting Participation

Drove a 33% increase in advance voting compared to the previous election cycle.

Strong Overall Voter Turnout

More than 450,000 voters participated in the local election, demonstrating broad community engagement.

Lessons & Takeaways

This campaign reaffirmed that government communications don’t need to be dull to be effective. By combining strategic storytelling with consistent data analysis, civic engagement can be both informative and inspiring. The project demonstrated how clarity, creativity, and collaboration can drive measurable public impact (even under tight timelines).

What the client had to say...

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Julie was easy to work with and very helpful and collaborative. Julie and her team provided carefully crafted reports and plans for improving our digital marketing efforts and went through them in detail with our team. If you’re a non-profit or business looking to improve your digital marketing efforts, we highly recommend working with the Tiny Planet Digital team!

Since working with the Tiny Planet team, I've been able to maximize my team's resources and trust that their team will handle anything that comes their way. The team has been organized, communicative and very easy to work with.

Tiny Planet Digital has been so easy to work with. They have taken a major piece off my desk by helping us manage our Google Advertising and now our social media management. They are responsive and fun to work with.

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