Over the past seven weeks, I’ve carried out a passion project titled Moment in Matchbook. The social media campaign encompasses hours of research, planning, discoveries, and content, all while uncovering the complexities of a seemingly simple subject.

I challenged myself to dig deep and craft informative yet engaging posts about matchbook topics ranging from history to sustainability. While it took extensive planning and oversight, I couldn’t have predicted the amount of knowledge I gained, not just about matchbooks but about passion projects as a whole. 

The following is a summary of my findings and their accompanying artifacts that I produced throughout this journey.

Project Proposal

Blog post: Turning Stress into Strategy: A Breakdown of Project Proposals

The most essential part of any project is the proposal. Here, you document your plan to break down and organize each task required to get you to your intended result.

My project proposal for Moment in Matchbook details a project overview as well as the main topics and goals. It also identifies the intended target audience and campaign deliverables to be created and published throughout the seven weeks.

Even with this proposal in place, certain circumstances caused some divergence from the original plan. Of course, part of the planning process is to expect the unexpected, and for this reason my initial proposal looks a bit different than the result.

View the full project proposal here:

Project Management

Blog post: Structuring Success: My Approach to Managing a Solo Passion Project

Tackling a passion project demands discipline, and even solo efforts benefit from structured and organized project management. By breaking down your project into the smallest, manageable tasks, you can effectively allocate time and effort for staying focused on your goals.

The format of Moment in Matchbook required me to focus on multiple stages of research and creation at a time, so being able to see exactly which areas required my attention on a weekly basis was key.

That’s where Trello came in. Its high functionality and simplicity proved perfect for my intended use. The flexibility of the software also allowed me to easily re-arrange tasks if necessary.

Here is the *almost* complete version of my board:

By creating this project plan, my goal was to not only boost productivity and reduce stress, but to also give myself the time and space to ensure the quality of my work exceeded my expectations.

View the full project management plan here: 

Content Creation: Week 1

Blog post: Rolling with the Punches: A Week in the Life of a Social Media Campaign

My four weeks of content creation began by adding research and annotations to my bibliography. My entire campaign revolves around accurate information about matchbooks and matchbook collecting, thus making these efforts some of the most crucial (see Reflections section to view my final annotated bibliography).

My next task was to start designing. I decided to create a cohesive three-column cover that connects when viewed together. The initial images captivate the audience, while the subsequent slides deliver the core content.

As I outlined in my project proposal, my campaign consists of four key themes, with each post representing a topic within those main ideas. Using my research, I then developed the written and visual content for posts 1 through 3 which can be viewed below:

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Content Creation: Week 2

Blog post: Instagram and Pinterest Essentials for Social Media Success

Learning how to best leverage my chosen platforms was a main goal of mine going into the campaign. Back in week 1, I selected one mainstream platform (Instagram) and one evergreen platform (Pinterest) to display my work.

To incorporate platform-specific best practices into my social media campaign, I continued my three-column cover strategy for posts 4 through 6, focusing on striking visual elements. I then created the consecutive carousel post slides using an informative design layout which can be viewed below:

Post 4

Post 5

Post 6

Content Creation: Week 3

Blog post: Unexpected Lessons from a Passion Project

With two weeks’ worth of content creation under my belt, I went into my third week excited to unearth more strategies for staying on track.

Using a calendar to track my content has been central to my project organization. This, and my Trello board, have saved me on countless occasions when I started to get overwhelmed with my workload or idea generation. 

You can see the first two weeks of my calendar below:

Because a social media campaign can span weeks if not months, I used mockups to preview the main feeds of my Instagram and Pinterest accounts. This allowed me to visualize how my scheduled content would appear alongside previous posts so I could adjust as needed. Below are the mockups for content creation week 3, featuring posts 1 through 9:

Posts 7 through 9 can be viewed below:

Post 7

Post 8

Post 9

Content Creation: Week 4

Blog post: Burnout, Boundaries, and Brain Breaks

In my fourth and final week of content creation, I continued with my established routine: refining my annotated bibliography, updating my project plan and content calendar, adding to my platform mockups, researching for posts 10 through 12, and working on designs.

You can view posts 10 through 12 below:

Post 10

Post 11

Post 12

Reflection

Blog post: Reflections on My Seven-Week Social Media Campaign

To say that these past seven weeks have been challenging would be an understatement. I often questioned the depth of my subject, the effectiveness of my chosen platforms, and my ability to make a topic as obscure as matchbooks appealing to an audience.

With that being said, I’m extremely proud of what I’ve accomplished. My twelve artifacts and supporting materials reflect weeks of persistence, imagination, manifestation, and passion. I hope my campaign helps to shed light on the phillumenic community and broaden the overall interest in matchbooks.

You can access my Instagram and Pinterest pages below, along with my final annotated bibliography, content calendar, and platform mockups. Thank you for following along!

Final Annotated Bibliography

Content Calendar

Platform Mockups