Here at Inmarsat, delegates from the world of charity join the Social Media Academy for Charity PR and Fundraising in a Social Media World, a day of presentations from digital marketers, heads of communication and campaign managers from charitable organisations. (Simon Francis has also written a blog post on the conference, which can be found here).
Martin Thomas, Author of Loose and Crowdsurfing on Understanding the Strategic Opportunity Social Media Presents Charitable Organisations
As ever, Martin kicks us off by talking about what social media means for the world and specifically companies and charity organisations right now. He underlines how we’re now living in a climate where people expect instant answers and news, where increased speed in customer service through social media has heightened expectations and where it has never been easier to set up your own business or charity. His opinion is that forcing organisations to adapt to this huge cultural shift and for established charities to react to these changes is the big challenge.
Katherine Huntly, Press and Campaigns Manager, The British Lung Foundation on Getting Started with Social Media
Katherine detailed how The British Lung Foundation went about establishing their social media presence. She talked through how the organisation realised that conversations were taking place on digital media without them, which motivated the charity to take part in and attempt to control these conversations. She then talked about the charity’s attitude towards their social media use, which includes teaching and enabling their staff in order for them to be trusted when using the technology, having more than one person in charge of writing social media messages (in order to give them a variety of voices stylistically), setting guidelines not rules for their social media contributors, linking their social media up to other digital media and setting clear aims before deciding on metrics. She also detailed the BLF’s campaign against passive smoking in cars, showing what they did, which things worked, which things didn’t and then showed clear parallels between their actions and changes made in the real world.
Gregg Vines, Director of Communications, Action for Children on Powerful Targeting of Stakeholders with Social Media
Gregg began by detailing why social media is such a good thing for charities – its low cost, ability to create relationships, engage new audiences and take control of messages. He then detailed how Action for Children approach their use of the technology, basing efforts on traditional marketing techniques, planning and integrating it within the organisation’s existing strategy. He went through how AFC take all crisis management issues offline as soon as they can, how they target Twitter users with the correct profile so that they find people who have followers most likely to donate, how they’ve previously used social media to tap into existing fan bases (specifically The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and detailed work they’ve done profiling journalists at length in order to target them properly.
Helen Thomas, Web Communications Manager, CLIC Sargent on Setting Your Message Free – How to Empower Staff, Volunteers and Supporters to Speak About the Cause using Social Media
As Web Communications Manager for CLICS, Helen discussed how her organisation took a considered approach to social media, stepping back and not rushing in; instead building their audience slowly. They used pilots for campaigns, set targets and tips (that continually evolved through learning), took a flexible approach to communication and experimented with the technology, leading to guidelines for employees to use it. In terms of measurement, Helen iterated that, for charities it’s donations, not follower counts or friends, that matter in the long run.
Jane Gallagher, Head of Marketing and Communications, Dyslexia Action on Cutting Campaign Costs with Social Media
Working for a charity that isn’t perhaps as attractive to news media as many others, Jane’s presentation detailed how to approach social media under difficult conditions. Her outlook was upbeat, stating that in trying circumstances social media, with its ability to explore new methods of communication with no cost implication, may actually be something of a godsend. She stressed the importance of planning campaigns; knowing what you are trying to say, to whom and why before you begin, building your community before asking for money and ensuring that you bring an emotional side to your communication. She then talked through DA’s creation of a community around a man who, off of his own back, cycled around the USA to raise money.
Nick Capeling, Digital Projects Team Manager, Save The Children
Nick spoke about his experiences with Save The Children using Facebook to engage audiences. His advice included integrating social media into overall communications strategies, training and educating other teams outside of communications so that they understand how to use social media, why it’s being used and what effect it can have, leading the entire organisation to be more open to the possibilities of social media. He underlined the importance of consistency, with the need to develop a policy to ensure posts say the right things in the right way, but also allowing the personality of the poster to shine through – audiences preferring to communicate with a human. When building communities, Nick pointed out that, in time, they are likely to run themselves with supporters communicating with negative posters, although he stressed that organisations should also take time to open a dialogue with critics. Nick spoke of the need for patience with social media and not to focus all your efforts on cash, instead on building a community first, then when the need is there, the audience is likely to respond. Your fans will be your megaphone, spreading your message for you.
Simon Badman, Head of Movement Communications, YMCA on Social Media for Internal Commuications
Using pizza selling as an example, Simon’s chief point was not to rush into social media before identifying exactly what it is you’re trying to do with the technology, staying true to your organisation’s core values. He spoke of the difficulty in managing social media efforts with an organisation as large and dispersed as the YMCA and how they set up their own private social network so that they could communicate effectively together, organising their social media communications better. Simon talked through how the YMCA have gone about using social media, finishing with the point that ‘build it and they will come’ doesn’t work in this case; to succeed, you need to go to where the existing relationships are.
Mel Barry, Communications Manager, Motor Neurone Disease Association on Amplifying Charity Advertising Campaigns with Social Media
Using the MDNA’s Incurable Optimism campaign as a case study, Mel spoke frankly about how they approached the campaign from a small start, the things they got right and wrong and how they set achievable aims with the belief that the process would also increase learning for the organisation. The campaign featured a story with a large human interest angle, through which the MNDA gained considerable national media attention using an advert featuring just a photo and a link to a blog, chosen because the organisation wanted a stand-alone piece to fully detail the cause and generate interaction. Using data taken from the blog, cross-referenced with their existing data, they were able to see that the vast majority of people getting involved were new to the cause. She spoke of a hashtag on Twitter that didn’t work (it was too long!), how the wall on Facebook was the place to be and how sharing, not liking, was the key to the Facebook campaign.
David Barker, Director of Communications, Breakthrough Breast Cancer on Developing an Integrated Social Media Strategy
Comparing social media to teen sex was a new one on me! But not for David, who felt that early, perhaps less successful excursions into the naughty business are not dissimilar to initial dabblings with Facebook, Twitter et al. It also allowed for more pun and innuendo than you could shake a stick at! His answer to social media difficulties is to look at your approach holistically, ensuring support from senior management and integration into overall communication strategies. Thinking and acting organisationally, making the most of measurement tools and involving all areas of your business in your plan is key in this process. David also echoed Nick’s thoughts on engaging first, fundraising second.
Sophie Hudson, Fundraising Reporter, Third Sector on Overview of the Most Innovative Charity Social Media Campaigns of Late
Sophie went through recent social media campaigns from the likes of the National Trust, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Comic Relief and Alice’s Bucket List, highlighting how and why the campaigns worked well, as well as providing charities with tips on how to work well with journalists using social media.
Gen Edwards, Director of Communications, Terrence Higgins Trust on Measuring and Evaluating Social Media Activity
Gen took a look at various THT campaigns and detailed ways in which they’ve developed measurement and evaluation techniques. She stated that, although proof on return can be done, successful campaigns are more than just about getting attention. She advised that organisations must define metrics during the planning stages of campaigns, making sure that they are in a position to measure before they begin and that it is key to not be afraid to continually refine and refine your methods to achieve success.
Amy Maclaren, Associate Director, Colman Getty, Simon Francis, Managing Partner, Band & Brown and Gerry Hopkinson, Co-Founder, Unity in a Live Panel Discussion
Our live panel discussion ended the day with some lively debate and diverse opinions. The team discussed social media activism, finding influencers, how social media can be a great chance to learn from failure, how care should be taken when using agencies for social media, social gaming, the pros and cons of using celebrities for campaigns and the increasing importance of sentiment in social media measurement.
About The Author
Paul Barnett
Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about the things he does here.
