How to use a Twitter Moment

Twitter Moments were launched in 2016. They are generally underused in charity comms. A quick survey of 50 charity’s Twitter accounts found that only 18 had ever done a Moment. Most of the 18, had only done one or two. Yet they are a quick and easy way to present and preserve content.

Engagement levels of Moments seem to be generally low but if you are using them infrequently and only sharing them once, this isn’t surprising. You need to have a content plan for sharing and integrating them within your comms.

Value shouldn’t just be based on likes, shares and opens. Having a permanent document of something is useful for lots of different reasons. For example a Moment can make it easier to share the story of an event during and afterward. Having an archive of Moments can help you to take stock and plan future comms. A Moment can be a great way to show Twitter activity to colleagues. Moments can also be used and reused as evergreen content.

Here are the most common uses for Moments:

• to share an event
• to preserve or share fragmented content
• to have a permanent record of something important
• to showcase your community
• to present content in a different way.

1. Events

Runs, fundraising challenges and other events can generate a lot of tweets. The good ones can get lost in the noise or missed altogether. Having a Moment is a great way to showcase and celebrate what happened. They can brilliantly show the live atmosphere and hype of the event better than any write-up. And they can be useful months later when recruiting for next year or sharing the impact of what happened.

• Macmillan’s London Marathon 2019 Moment captures the energy and atmosphere of the day. It starts with scene setting (number of runners and a map of the route), includes videos and lots of people in green.
• Young Minds made a Moment of their #HelloYellow fundraising and fun day in 2017.
• British Red Cross shared highlights from Red Cross Week 2019.
• Social CEOs documented their awards night.

Top tip: Try and make the Moment as soon after the event as possible. People get home and want to relive it. If your Moment is ready then, more people will look at it and share it with their friends. A Moment made a week later has missed the boat.

2. Content curation

Moments are also a great way to curate content on Twitter. Think of them as a simplified, single channel (much missed) Storify or Wakelet.

A Moment can be used to bring content together that would otherwise be hard to find. For example, responses to a question (user-generated content) or a series of tweets not made into a thread or when you want to include tweets from other people into your messaging.

• Time to Change share lots of Moments collecting views from their community. See ‘These are the reasons people say they are fine when they are not.’
• This example from Virgin Money London Marathon shares tips for and from runners. They created another one after the event with the responses to Show Us Your Medals.
• The Association of Chairs made a Moment of tips for effective chairing.
• Whizz-Kidz made a Moment of ‘Stupid questions wheelchair users get asked‘ using 10 different videos.
• JRF marked the launch of a big piece of research including press coverage and responses from other charities – UK Poverty 2017.
• Oxfam GB shared Hifsa and Jacqui’s story of their visit to Nepal in See for Yourself.
• Blue Cross shared favourite images for the International Day of Happiness.

3. A permanent record

If something big is happening, why not make a Moment of it? Tweets will soon get lost in your back catalogue, never to be seen or used again. Document it live or after the event to help others follow what happened.

• Heads Together marked the #MentalHealthMinute for those who missed it.
• Sue Ryder make Moments of their Twitter takeovers. Fight Bladder Cancer made a Moment of their 3-day MADL takeover. The curated @nhs account have been doing Moments since they started – 98 to date!
• NCVO Volunteering documented a Twitter chat.
• Scope documented events in their Say Sorry Phil Moment.
• The Prisoners’ Education Trust shared tweets from an important meeting. Likewise, The Young Foundation who curated tweets from a conference.
• UK Parliament curated tweets from multiple partners telling their bit of the story of The Gunpowder Plot.
• Orkney Library shared the story of how they helped get a book into every school in Orkney.
• Could you use a Moment to mark a significant anniversary? See RNIB’s 150th anniversary Moment.
• Amnesty UK’s shared footage and tweets from #FootballWelcomes 2019. The Princes Trust created a Moment to share highlights from the National Prince’s Trust Awards 2019.

See also: Rocur and Twitter takeovers – blog post from 2017.

4. Community building

I didn’t find very many examples of Moments being used to showcase community action. How could you use a Moment to thank or celebrate your community?

• Cambridge CVS showcased small charities during Small Charity Week 2018.
• Cats Protection gathered some of the best responses to their #CatMenDo campaign.

5. Fun / interesting content

Be creative. Moments can work in lots of different ways. Could you use a Moment to show your impact or as a brochure to your services or present complicated information (such as symptoms or research) in a Moment? Here are some examples of more unusual uses.

• The British Red Cross make Moments of their year in review. Take a look at 2018’s review.
• The Princes Trust made a quiz (although this is only one tweet).
• Eight things you didn’t know about St George – nice list from English Heritage.
• Charity Comms shared highlights from #InternationalDayOfHappiness to share the joy and inspire good comms.
• Marie Curie used a Moment to document the night shift of one of their nurses on clock change night.
• RNLI shared a story from their archive about When lifeboats went to war.
• The Museum of English Rural Life shared unsolicited duck pictures they were sent by other museums. Gaining 1.3k likes – the most I saw in any Moment.

How to make a Moment – tips

If you haven’t ever made a Moment, they are pretty simple to do, just follow the steps once you click ‘Create new Moment’. Here’s a how-to guide from Twitter if you need one.

Here’s are some tips on how to do them well.

• Choose a great cover image which will will be eye-catching and sets the scene for your Moment. I tend to put this tweet at the end of the Moment so that people don’t see the image twice straightaway.
• Think of a Moment like an essay with an introduction, main points in the middle and conclusions at the end. Ease people in with a tweet which introduces the topic and at the end finish with something fun or silly or thoughtful. Don’t just trail off. I have sometimes written a tweet purposefully to use at the end of a Moment either in thanks or to ask a question or to signpost to further reading or a donation.
• There should be a rhythm to your Moment. You have to curate it, so it flows and tells a story. For example you might put tweets next to each other which use the same colours.
• Try not to include tweets which are very similar to others. Be ruthless. Not many people will make it to the end of a 20 tweet Moment. Put some good ones at the end – reward people for getting there!
• Try to use tweets which only have one image. Tweets will multiple images take up more space and can disrupt the flow.
• Include tweets with video or gifs or graphics to keep it interesting.
• Make the title clear and short. Include the #hashtag if you are using one.
• Tweet your Moment and @mention some of the accounts you have included to broaden engagement.

Top Moment makers

• Scope wins at Moments, using them in lots of different ways.
• See also The British Red Cross’ collection of 11 Moments.
• And RNIB who use Moments to share rich content and campaigns.
• @ZurichVolSec now have a collection of 48 Moments documenting awareness days and charity comms. If you want inspiration for Halloween or Pancake Day, start there.

More about Moments

• Charity Comms guide – Making the most of Twitter Moments.

Do you use Moments?

Have you used Moments? Do you like them or think they are a waste of time?

Share your favourites and top tips in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

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Charity web at 30

The World Wide Web is 30 today (11 March 2019). Five years ago I used the Wayback Machine to look at trends in charity website design, using British Red Cross as an example. Here is the post, now updated with lessons from 2019.

Is your charity website keeping up with the latest developments in design and functionality?

Starting out – 1998

The British Red Cross homepage in 1998 shows that the web standard of logo in top-left was there from the start. The site was very basic, probably hand-coded in html and uploaded via FTP.

• Brochure-ware content – dense homepage to be read like a book.
• Email to make a donation.
• ‘Click here’ links.
• No images.
• No search.
• Approx 10 pages. Only one-level down.
• Sponsored by Vauxhall.

Increased functionality – 2006

Fast-forward eight years and the 2006 homepage leads with an appeal. Fundraising and raising awareness is now most important. There is greater awareness of design. More thought about actions and audience.

• Published using CMS.
• Images but no coherent design.
• Site-wide (top) and left-hand navigation.
• Fundraising prominent – 6/12 ‘Quick Links’ are fundraising. Donate now tab.
• Search button.
• Functionality – ‘In my area’.
• Accessible links.
• No social media (Facebook launched in 2004, Twitter in 2006).

Integrated digital comms – 2014

Another eight years and now the 2014 website still leads with an appeal using a single emotive image. The site is sophisticated offering many opportunities for interaction, transaction, discussion and commerce but also has a presence across many other digital platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blog, Apps, games etc). It feels like digital is now being taken more seriously.

• Multiple channels (links to six network channels at the bottom of the page).
• Optimised for mobile / tablet.
• Many opportunities for interaction.
• Greater use of video, audio, photos, games to tell a story.
• Donation button and quick PayPal option on homepage.
• CMS powered, integration with CRM and other databases.
• Evolution of ‘in your area’ functionality.
• Accessibility buttons.

Website in 2019

Now the 2019 homepage is all about clarity and impact. Previously the homepage would have had to work hard at promoting everything as most people would go to the homepage first. Now sites are so well indexed with people going direct to the pages they are looking for, so the homepage can be devoted to telling a story or running a campaign. The homepage can appeal to hearts and minds rather than acting as a directory.

The currently site uses a full-screen video for the current appeal. It shows 10 seconds of different views from Yemen to tell a story to drive donations.

Below the appeal, the page is segmented into sections with different types of links (UK appeals, get help in a crisis, support, first aid, how we help, shop). These use colour and photos to make it easy to use. This architecture is replicated in the top-level navigation which is now reduced to five options.

• Images are more powerful, instantly telling a story. Video is centre-stage.
• Simplified navigation (no more What we do, Where we work etc).
• Language is shorter and has more impact. Links are 1-3 words. Appeal text is ‘Help give life-saving aid to families in desperate need’. In contrast with ‘Help us continue giving thousands of people vital aid in this desperate situation. Please give what you can today’ from 2014.
• Donate button on top right-hand side.

Web design in 2019

I have been training people on writing for the web since 2003 – over half of the web’s life – and working on websites since 1996. Many of the old rules still apply (short sentences, headings, meaningful link text etc). But the way we consume information and content online in 2019 means that we now need to be even tighter with our words. Attention spans are shorter and screens are smaller. The language we use needs to be immediate, strong and clear. There is no room for wasteful words on the homepage or in navigation links.

Photographs and images now need to have more impact. They should use strong colours and instantly tell a story. Compare the images used in 2006 / 2014 with the images used now. They use close-ups and are not afraid of sharing an intimate moment, pain or emotion. They are beautiful and difficult to look at.

Homepages generally use a hero image (or in some cases video) which is shown at full-screen. This image has to work very hard to communicate everything you want in that key real estate location. Do you have images that are strong enough to do that? Take a look at the homepages of Crisis, NCT, Brathay Trust, and Bloodwise for examples. (See also Review and improve your use of images.)

Your digital strategy

You don’t need to be the size of British Red Cross to need a clear plan for how your website and wider digital platforms support the goals of your organisation. Technologies and design standards are changing all the time. Just today, Samaritans launched its new website which has a cool features such as a dynamic homepage which changes depending on the time of day.

A digital strategy can help you to persuade trustees to invest in new technology or staff. You may use it to plan your increasing use of social media, create digital services and have a reference for how you’ll deal with a crisis. Or it may help you plan the next 6-12 months, ensuring you are using your resources in the right way and keeping up with your peers.

Take a look at the Charity Digital Code of Practice which was launched at the end of 2018. It aims to help charities increase their impact, develop skills and improve digital sustainability. Zoe Amar recently shared data from the self-assessment tool to show where charities are at with Code.

Whatever the priorities for your website, it is worth investing your time in producing a digital strategy to support its future evolution.

Useful links

• Charity Digital Code of Practice
• The Charity Digital Toolkit
• Charity Comms posts on digital strategy
• Charity Comms’ Digital benchmark
• Building a digital workforce – NCVO tool.
• CAST’s 10 design principles for better digital design.

If you need in-person help, there are lots of Digital Strategy courses and freelancers / consultants who can support you.

More on the web at 30

Read more about the web at 30:

• 30 years, what’s next for the web from the World Wide Web Foundation
• crowdsourced timeline of web milestones
• We can get the web we want – Tim Berners-Lee in The Guardian.

Look at other examples of how design has evolved via the web design museum.

Digital round-up – May

In the month that we were all swamped in GDPR emails and RNLI and Dog’s Trust were responding to endless negative comments following misreported press stories, there were lots of great reads. Pull up a comfy chair and catch up with some great charity content and digital reads you might have missed from May 2018.

Warning – you may need longer than a tea break to catch up. Pick and choose links to read, or open in new tabs for later. Or bookmark this post. Even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox. Enjoy!

Digital

Useful resources and reads if you are working on digital projects, thinking about future technologies or just getting on with your everyday digital tasks:

• Build the right thing in the right way – 10 design principles to help charities build better digital services by CAST.
• Super useful conversation menu produced by CAST. Use these prompt questions when starting digital projects.
• A guide to agile communication by Giles Turnball.
• Have you seen SCVO’s beta Digital Check-up tool?
• Key findings from the LBG Consumer Digital Index. And the full Consumer Digital Index report 2018.
• 8 free digital tools for small NGOs – useful list from Thomas Worley at BOND.
• CAF’s Future:Good project.
• The highs and lows of social media marketing in 2018 (eConsultancy).
• 6 steps to create a persona that drives your marketing (Social Media Today).

Inspiration from other organisations getting stuck into digital:

• Going digital is bloody difficult by Adam Koszary of MERL.
• Small charities smashing it with digital – Mandy Johnson blogs for JustGiving. Includes 5 top tips and examples.
• Research into the impact of health tracking following chemotherapy and about Anthony Nolan’s My Transplant Tracker app.

New websites / rebanding:

• New website from MS Society.
• New website from Alzheimer’s Society.
• About the rebrand and new website by Canal and River Trust. New Canal and River Trust website too.

Events:

• Becca Peter’s notes from the Charity Comms Engaging Digital conference.
• Doing more with less: tips for busy communicators. Slides from the CharityComms seminar.

Content / comms channels

• Why your content wants to be bad. Love this post by Jack Garfinkel of Scope about the impact of bad processes.
• How the British Red Cross revamped its website from 4000 pages to 400 (eConsultancy).
• How to position your brand as a knowledge centre through content (eConsultancy). Many charity websites are already ‘knowledge centres’ but is your knowledge the type and in the right format for your audience? Are you the go-to for your subject or are your peers or non-charity competitors doing it better?
• How to spot the passive voice in your writing using monkeys. Simples!
• Investing in a content strategy leads to better ROI with video. Video content benchmark report by Raw London on Charity Comms.
• How to write a video brief – tips from video agency Magneto Films.
• Best practice guide to Facebook by Kirsty Marrins for Lightful.
• What I learnt about impact in Oxford by Richard Sved.
• Your monthly reminder to caption your images on social.
• Talking about poverty in the UK – what works? JRF share a 10-step guide based on research by the FrameWorks Institute. See also this thread from a Universal Credit sufferer which got 4k likes and kick-started some #FoodBankChallenge action.
• Crisis also worked with FrameWorks to research attitudes to homelessness. Reframing homelessness in the UK (PDF).

ICYMI – I updated my 2013 post about trustee / staff pages on charity websites with new best practice and examples. How does your site match up?

Fundraising

• Charities have a problem with men according to a CAF report (UK Fundraising). Includes questions and a flatpack fundraising guide to address the issues. Handy!
• The landscape for grantmaking in 2043. Slide share of predictions by Rhodri Davies of CAF.
• Solo fundraising: how to make it work for your charity – Julia Pitman on CharityComms.

Working with people

• A letter to my extroverted boss, from an introvert by executive coach Emma Taggart.
• Measuring wellbeing – free tools for charity use (UK Fundraising).
• Tweets about stress for #MentalHealthAwarenessDay. (And did you see this film of Michael Rosen talking about how drawing helped him following the death of his son?)
• Why is flexible working not mainstream asks Kirsty Marrins.
• Similar questions about trust and good management from Kate Brennan-Rhodes in this thread.
• And this by Madeleine Cassidy on Charity Connect about the mental health of people in the charity sector – The elephant in the room.
• Stop. CollaboRaise and Listen by Lisa Clavering.
• If charities really want to be more diverse, then they need to change by Kirsty Weakley in Civil Society.
• Debunking Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (BPS).
• Results of the ProCopywriters Survey 2018.
• Some brilliantly inspiring people on this year’s Alternative Rich List.

Great content

• What’s the difference between a healthy brain and one with Alzheimer’s? Engaging video from ARUK.
• Marine Conservation Society use a shocking image to prompt petition signings about single use plastic.
• Have we forgotten how to make friends asks the Campaign to End Loneliness.
• Cheeky Question Time tweet from Shelter.
• Live scenes of hay fever at Asthma UK.
• Love the pantone colour matching tweets from National Library of Scotland.
• Refugee Action campaign.
• NCVO’s nifty animation showing highlights from the Almanac.
• There was lots of activity for #ChildrensHospiceWeek. Also for #DyingMatters week (though there was no Moment or news round-up to link to, to show you).
• Instead watch this cute video and song from Dog’s Trust.

Plus there was lots of nice content around for the Royal Wedding, such as this knitted couple from Age UK and this blue blood image from NHS Give Blood.

This Royal Wedding Moment contains lots of fundraising related fun from large and small charities. Great examples of how to join in with a feel-good event.

Strawberry Social even did a comprehensive thread of an A-Z of Royal Wedding tat which should have got more likes than it did.

See also

• Love this visualisation of the T&C’s of different apps.
• Nice buttons and dials from Present and Correct.
• Gammon People (not) by Pulp in a thread.
• Sick of hearing about the floss but not actually sure what it’s all about? This handy guide by TES for teachers so they can keep up with the kids, is for you!
• Scan paintings with a new app at the National Gallery.
• How to build a fly stimulator and annoy little girls.
• 279k likes for this cool interaction between biker and bus driver.

Your recommendations

What did you read, watch or launch this month? Please add your links in the comments.

Can I help you?

Get in touch if I can help you with digital copywriting, content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. I can help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck and ideas injection.

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Did you miss April’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

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#firstfiver – a democratic viral fundraiser

I have been watching the spread of the #firstfiver campaign since it started just under two weeks ago. It has been great to see how many organisations have joined in with this very simple idea.

Unlike other viral fundraisers (such as #nomakeupselfie which I have blogged about before) this was not connected to a particular cause. It also didn’t feature a complicated or strenuous ask (such as the Ice Bucket Challenge or the current #22PushUpChallenge).

Instead it was simple and easy to ask. And simple and easy for supporters to join in with.

Examples

If you haven’t come across it yet, look at my storify showing the spread of the campaign and how different charities have responded.

It includes examples from small charities such as Trinity Hosice, Harrogate Easier Living Project (HELP), The UK Sepsis Trust, Freedom from Torture and Make Lunch. And large ones including War Child UK, the Children’s Society and Sue Ryder.

Images, videos, thank yous and shopping lists showing the difference a £5 donation could make, all help to make a request stand out.

#firstfiver Storify – showing tips and examples

Get involved

If your organisation hasn’t joined in yet, it is not too late. The hashtag is still going strong and many people still haven’t had a new £5 note yet.

Share your views

Have you seen any good examples that I have missed? Any particularly humourous or creative or persuasive posts?

Has your organisation had (m)any donations? How easy was it for your organisation to join in with this campaign?

Have you made a donation yourself?

Please do comment, I’d love to hear from you.