CharityComms

To me, 2010 was a turning point for many charities in their communications efforts. Many got to grips with social media for the first time, and for those already well versed in the art of online communications the way that online tools were used for campaigns was even more innovative, and ultimately, successful in raising funds and awareness for their organisation.

There’s plenty of guidance out there for those who don’t feel like they’re up to speed with their comms activity- everything from media relations to social media, using celebrities to campaigning. CharityComms is one resource, but why not take a look at Because It’s Good, the Media Trust or even Bright One’s list of resources?

But rather than concentrate on tips for those just getting going, I’d like to take the opportunity to give a call to arms to those charities who are already big enough, well supported enough or have the necessary expertise and support to have their communications activity in order.

Budgets are tighter, donations continue to be lower than in previous years, and our time is more stretched than ever. This means that although you may have had a successful 2010, you need to work even harder this year to make sure you stay ahead of the game and continue to deliver for your organisations in 2011.

Push doesn’t mean just shoving out more of the same old messages, it means pushing your comms activity harder to achieve bigger goals. Push isn’t making your team work longer or harder, it means working smarter and more efficiently. Push doesn’t require more budget or bureaucracy, it needs creativity, innovation and vision.

Here are some questions in several key areas to help you work through your comms and make sure your team is pushing for better results:

1. Enhance your branding

• Are our organisation’s profiles complete? Make sure all your social media profiles and bios are complete, with your service users as the audience - not you.
• Do I have custom profile landing pages? Custom landing pages can increase your social media efforts, so you may want to create a custom Twitter background, custom Facebook fan page landing tab and custom YouTube channel backgrounds.
• Am I integrating my social media profiles? Can you share your Twitter feeds on Facebook and LinkedIn? When you integrate your profiles, you help build the relationships you have already started on each social site and build a stronger online community.

2. Integrate Your Profiles

• Do I have social media integration on my business blog? Ask your blog’s readers to follow you on Twitter, subscribe to your YouTube channel, add you on LinkedIn, or “Like” you on Facebook. Also, you should consider sharing your Twitter feeds and Facebook updates on your blog’s sidebar.
• Am I integrating offline marketing with my social profiles? You can promote your social media profiles by integrating offline media. Add your social media profile URLs on your business cards, on your flyers, and anywhere else that people normally find out about your organisation in real life.
• Am I integrating on other networks? Do you do any guest posting at all? Another way you can integrate is using your social profile URLs as your website when leaving comments.

3. Clear Up Your Content

• Do you share other updates relevant to your followers? Do your updates lead to conversations?
• What feedback do I get from my followers concerning my updates? People are definitely saying something about what your business is saying or doing on the web. What are they saying about it? What do they complain about? What do they praise you for?

4. Measure, Measure, Measure

• What part of my social activities do I measure? Measure all your social activities: the data will let you know where you are effective and where you need to improve. Some tools you can use are Social Mention, Twitter Counter, Klout, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights.
• Do I have alerts set up to notify me of conversations involving my brand? If you don’t, do it now. You can use Google Alerts or Social Mention’s alert feature.
• What social media site gives me the most traffic, followers, donations? According to your web analytics, what social media site gets you more traffic? Why do you think you keep getting traffic from that site?

5. Now Pull It All Together

• How much time do I put into social media? You need to know the average time you put into social media every week or every month.
• What results am I getting from it? Are you reaping great benefits from your social efforts? Are you getting ROI on your investments on the social web? Building relationships takes time, so you have to give it time before you will see good ROI.
• What is working? What activities bring you more positive results? What works for you in terms of generating leads? What social media site works for you best?
• What is not working? Make some changes to the sites that aren’t working for you and measure it at a later time. If it still doesn’t work, think again if you need a presence on the channel
• How effective is my overall campaign? From your results, determine whether your campaign has been successful. After you decide that, decide what’s next for you and your campaign.