October’s CharityComms seminar covered social networking, campaigning and involving service users in communications. Trina Wallace, a writer/editor at ngo.media, shares five things she learnt at the event.
1. Be realistic in how you involve service users in your communications.
“Don’t get desperate about involving service users in your communications,” warned Mary Ryan, Patient Liaison Manager at Cancer Research UK. “Let people walk away if they’re not right for your organisation and make sure your agenda matches up with theirs.” It’s important, explained Mary, that you find out how long service users are available to help you for and you must respect their right to move on.
2. Gratitude goes a long way.
“Say thank you to service users who are involved in your communications,” said Mary Ryan of Cancer Research UK. “Reassure them that what they are doing has integrity.” It’s crucial to remind them, and yourself, how fantastic they can be for your organisation.
3. Journalists like being helped more than they like being pitched to.
That was the advice of Rob Dyson, PR manager at Whizz-Kidz. Rob offered delegates his top tips for making the most of social media, including how to find your voice on Twitter, and how to keep people engaged. He suggested finding journalists who write about issues related to your cause, then finding them on Twitter to pass on useful information that they might be able to turn in to an article.
4. Social media doesn’t have to take up too much of your time and can put you directly in touch with beneficiaries.
Rob Dyson from Whizz-Kidz explained that he is responsible for responding to and posting on his charity’s Facebook, Twitter and Flickr sites and that he has built this in to his daily routine. Doing so has created a whole online community of beneficiaries: he’s able to talk to and connect with the parents and young people who benefit from Whizz-Kidz’s work.
5. Size doesn’t matter.
Prostate cancer kills one man every hour in the UK. That’s a shocking statistic not many people knew about before Prostate Cancer Research Foundation’s campaign featuring comedian Bob Monkhouse, who died from prostate cancer in 2003. Emma Halls, Chief Executive at the charity, and her team of three had very little budget but, with a little creative thought, managed to launch a massive awareness-raising campaign to put prostate cancer on the news agenda. “It doesn’t matter what size your organisation is,” Emma told delegates at her seminar, “if you get people behind you, you can do anything.”
CharityComms runs monthly seminars on communications issues, everything from rebranding to retweeting. Click here for details of our next seminar.
Trina Wallace is a writer/editor at ngo.media, the leading editorial, copywriting, publications and training agency working only with charities, socially driven organisations and ethical businesses.