On Monday Liz Truss was confirmed as the new Prime Minister. Charities quickly responded to the news. Civil Society shared statements from NCVO, NPC, CFG, DSC, Bond and Christian Aid. Charities took to their social media channels.
Here’s a selection of some of the different ways charities shared direct asks on Twitter. Most got really good engagement with supporters as they reacted quickly with strong messages as if they were talking to her directly.
Although some mentioned @TrussLiz (no one accidentally tweeted @LizTruss who is brilliantly having her own John Lewis moment and went from 800 followers to 19k in a few days) and others used #LizTruss, realistically, these messages are aimed at supporters rather than the new PM and her team.
To-do lists
This tweet from Together with Refugees shows a post-it with three tasks: Get keys to No10, set up new email and create fair, kind, effective system for refugees.
Now that @trussliz has won the race to become our next Prime Minister, we look forward to working with the new PM and her cabinet on the key topics our campaigners told us matter most to them.
Tomorrow is #LizTruss first PMQs. What do you want our new Prime Minister to prioritise for children and young people with cancer and their families?#CCAM
While Crisis asked supporters to choose one of four tweets aimed at the PM.
More than 220,000 in England are living in the worst forms of homelessness, and with spiralling rents & bills, many more will be forced into homelessness this winter.
Dear Prime Minister, will you protect women and girls? We’re calling on #LizTruss, as the newly appointed PM, to ensure that protecting women and girls is a priority. Together, we have a louder voice, sign the open letter today>> https://t.co/urYupoRfUfpic.twitter.com/vI6kr3fyez
The mix of tone of voice and different approaches in these reactive messages is really interesting. Do they work?
There were many charities who didn’t share a message for the PM this week. Did they miss a trick?
There were others who shared more descriptive messages announcing the news and sharing hopes for the future, like this from RSPB and this congratulatory one from Macmillan. Quite a different tone, more conservative than the direct ones above. See more examples in this Charity Comms thread.
What’s your view?
Waste of time or effective comms?
Did your organisation join in on Twitter or other social channel or email? Or decide to do nothing?
Have you seen any other great examples?
Is there room on your social media strategy for reactive comms?
Messages to Ministers
As the Ministers in the Cabinet are announced, charities have been communicating with them too.
Young Minds are calling on their supporters to sign a ‘congrats on your new job’ card for Theresa Coffey and shared a to-do list.
Record numbers of young people are being referred for emergency mental health support, but you have the power to change that @ThereseCoffey. Here's a quick to do list to help you get started. #EndTheWaitpic.twitter.com/irYnJrN0vM
Thérèse Coffey has just been announced as the new Health Secretary.
To make sure diabetes is at the top of her agenda from her very first week, we’ll be sending her a welcome card filled with messages about what it’s really like to live with diabetes day in, day out. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/UivYW2A95p
Highlights this month: charity content showing the impact of the pandemic, comms fatigue, anti-racism within the sector.
Now that the kids are back at school and I have a bit more time, I thought I’d reinstate a round-up. Here are some of the highlights I spotted last month. With so much going on at the moment, it is impossible to keep up with everything. I hope this helps fill some of the gaps. Until next month…. (fingers crossed).
How to use: 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.
Content
NSPCC showed how their support for children continued throughout the pandemic.
Charities have sadly been announcing cost-cutting and redundancies. Here are a few examples of messages direct from CEOs sharing the news with their supporters and users. This is difficult content to write. Sharing the news like this rather than as a press release or news story is much more personal and powerful.
How to find the right language – understanding the language your audience uses will help bring them closer to your charity says Dr Richard Berks.
Good writing for the web – video session with Rosie McIntosh of Third Sector Lab | The Curve. Includes top tip (as shared on Twitter by Amy Westendarp) for writing in the active rather than passive voice: if you can put “by zombies” onto the end of your sentence it’s the passive.
I was very sad to hear the news that John Popham had died. He was a real trail blazer for digital in the sector and beyond. It was lovely to see such a huge response to the news with so many people sharing stories of how John had inspired them. #BeMoreJohn
#ShowTheSalary launched this month. Here’s their story so far.
Has covid stopped charities working on their responses to the climate emergency or has it been a catalyst for change? My post on #GlobalClimateStrike 2020.
Joe Jenkins of The Children’s Society shared a LinkedIn post explaining what the organisation was doing to recognise the stress that colleagues have been working though. There were lots of interesting comments from others sharing what their organisations were also doing.
<Feel the cold? Get a heatpad. Heat yourself, not your room / home. It’s cheaper and greener and warmer. Sorry if you have heard this a hundred times! Have been banging on about this for ages.>
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 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.
As we move into a more widespread experience of the virus, our comms will change. So far, we have been in a full-on crisis planning stage. We have been mobilising to work from home, digitising our services, getting ready to do the work which is needed, fundraising and campaigning under #EveryDayCounts.
Now, the situation will change as we hit the peak with more cases. More of us will get ill, know someone who is ill or who has died. At the same time, we will be feeling the impact of increased financial and practical pressures individually and on our organisations.
How and what we communicate on behalf of our organisations and between ourselves will change. The leadership team should be setting the tone and framework for this. Work with them to plan now what this might look like for your organisation.
Here are some resources and thoughts which might help you to plan for this stage. Effectively we are all working through a constant crisis situation.
External comms about your work
What you say about your organisation at this time, clearly depends on the work you are doing. But your comms need to be agile. The situation is changing rapidly. The priorities for your organisation and your audience have completely changed and will continue to do so. What are you able to predict with confidence and what scenarios are likely to be ahead?
Is your comms process working in the current situation? If not, what needs to change to streamline publishing? For example, who is deciding on and approving messaging? Where are the bottlenecks and can these be removed? Who is identifying new content you need to create to cover subjects people need to know about? Are you able to turn this round quickly but to the same quality standards?
Your audience is likely to be flat-out and also needing to switch off. So, the volume of your comms, the range of topics you are covering and the channels you may use, will be different. Streamline what you are doing as much as possible so you are sharing the same messages across the channels you are using.
Do you have time to respond to people’s comments and questions via social media? People may be lonely / bored / frightened and more likely to reach out this way, than before. Are you set up to deal with this type of ‘customer service’? Who do you priorise if you have limited time? It can be helpful to have a playlist of common responses and links which you edit as needed.
Keep one place updated as your primary information source. Many organisations now have a coronavirus section on their websites where they share resources and information about their services. Create a go-to place if you haven’t already.
What does your content mix look like? Is it appropriate to share good news, fun stories or reassuring content? People will need cheering up. Think about your tone of voice. Make sure what you are sharing is appropriate for the general mood / news.
Think about your language. How you talk about the virus and its impact on your beneficiaries and organisation will change. Write and share a mini styleguide to include standard phrases which you use, as well as ones to avoid. This post by Ella Saltmarshe about how language changes through a crisis and how to frame your comms is useful. 8 tips for framing covid19. And the NHS styleguide now has a coronavirus entry.
Beware of sharing misinformation or yesterday’s news. Things are changing rapidly. Only share current and official sources of information.
Don’t forget about accessibility during this time. Everyone needs to be able to access important information. For example, don’t share images of text, gifs of videos without text descriptions and / or links to an html version. Use subtitles on videos.
Scheduling messages may be risky at the moment. We just don’t know what is ahead.
Comms about your people
How is your comms set up to deal with bad news about colleagues, volunteers or the people you work?
For individual cases
How will you receive the news? Are you checking in with each other? Do you have contact details for next of kin?
How will you tell people the news internally? Who will do this?
Are there some people you might need to share the news about publicly, such as patrons, founders or trustees? If so, do you have a template for biographies or tributes? Do you have appropriate photos you can use?
Do you have ways that people can come together online to share their stories and memories of that person? For example, through a hashtag or in-memory board? How will you curate or share these with the person’s loved ones?
In the absence of funerals and with so many people working from home, not seeing each other, the usual ways of coming together to grieve are not possible. What can you do to help people mourn within your organisation?
For multiple cases
How will you keep track of people within your network who have died? Will you manage a list? Who will look after this? How might you need to use this now and later?
Tone of voice
What is your internal and external tone of voice talking about death? Do you use euphemisms like ‘passed away’? Or talk in a more matter of fact way? It is a good time now to work this out if you haven’t already. The NHS health writing style guide has just added an entry to clarify how they write about death and dying. They use direct language.
Internal comms
What systems do you need to put in place to help people process bad news? This can be really hard especially when everyone is working remotely. Good internal comms is key.
Regularly review whether your internal channels are working well. Is everyone engaged? Are your systems making things easier or adding more stress?
How can you add some light relief? I have seen people starting their team conference calls with a quiz or tours round their homes or with a fancy dress theme (such as a hat). Other people bring their children or pets on the calls to say hi.
Useful resources about mental health
Look after yourself and your colleagues. This thread from Matthew Sherrington about managing your team through a crisis – organising, communicating, taking care of yourself and others, is full of useful tips.
Updated: 6 April (new: Charity So White report, write your own coronavirus style guide, how to communicate with furloughed staff).
Since I wrote this post on 3 March, everything has moved on. Coronavirus is dominating world news and the way we live and work has completely changed. I have been adding new useful resources as well as removing ones which are no longer relevant. I have kept the examples of charity comms for reference.
Whatever your size of organisation or purpose, you will be meeting to plan how you’ll respond internally and externally. There is lots of noise and misinformation about the spread of the virus with rumours and blame escalating. What are you doing to reassure your beneficiaries and keep your staff safe?
Here are some useful links and good reads to help you manage your own charity’s response.
Writing about Covid19 for beneficiaries
Information about the virus is changing all the time. Keep an eye on official advice which is being updated on a daily basis and share / incorporate it into your comms:
Full Fact are working hard to fact-check lots of the information circulating. Are there any misleading memes or discussions circulating related to your audience or cause? It’s worth checking FF’s website to see.
Knowing what and when to communicate about coronavirus depends on what type of organisation you are.
If you are a health charity, one working with older people or one with public-access buildings, you may be sharing updates, especially if you are getting lots of helpline calls or forum discussions about risk. As there is so much misinformation circulating, this is your chance to be the go-to authority on the subject for people with specific needs and spreading good advice.
Here are some examples of information charities have created for the people they represent:
Charities representing people with underlying health conditions listed in the Government’s latest advice quickly responded by updating their information. This Twitter Moment includes examples from Asthma UK, Diabetes UK, Bloodwise and others.
Older people are one of the at-risk groups. Age UK have been sharing updates via social media and have a prominent link on their homepage to their Age UK advice page.
19 cancer charities shared information under the One Cancer Voice group.
Hospitals and care homes are issuing guidance about visiting. Hospice UK have shared links to statements from 13+ hospices across the country. (They also took part in a video call of 200 hospices to share plans and best practice – love this!)
Information is available in alternative formats. Sign Health have produced a video using British Sign Language and subtitles to share information with deaf people. Mencap and Down Syndrome Ireland have produced easy-read guides.
PDSA addressed questions from pet owners about the impact of the virus on animals and their owners.
Good Things Foundation released information about accessing digital healthcare – to support people who may have to do this for the first time due to the virus. Using the internet to get ready for coronavirus.
Comms tips
Think accessibility – not everyone can read the text on an image. If you are sharing images with text on via social media, include a link to a web page where the same information can be read and/or repeat the text in your post. I have seen so many covid statements which are just images of text with no link (and probably no alt text). See more from @CovidAccessInfo (new account set up on 19/3).
Make information easy to find. Pin your tweets. Use hashtags (#covid19UK / #coronavirus etc). Clearly layout information so it is easy to read. Add the story to your homepage.
Only ever link to one page which you are keeping up to date. As the situation develops you don’t want people to be seeing old advice. They may be seeing old posts or looking at old emails but at least you’ll know they can click through for current information. Avoid PDFs for the same reason.
Clearly indicate information you have added or changed. You might do this at the top of your web page or by highlighting what has been added. See this example from Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Even if you don’t have infomation you have produced yourself, at this stage it is probably a good idea to have a page about coronavirus on your website which links to the key sources of information and something about the services you offer if there are changes to them. A quick random search found lots of charity websites showing no covid results in their searches.
Don’t include information about the current number of cases or deaths. This instantly dates your information and shows that it is not up-to-date.
As the situation develops, you may need to use more effective and urgent ways to communicate your messages. Plan ahead now. Are you able to use video or audio or other methods to respond to a crisis comms situation? Might you need to devote your entire homepage to the story? Can you send out mass emails to your stakeholders? Are your crisis comms processes up-to-date? See this thread from Gemma Pettman sharing crisis comms planning tips.
Check your scheduled messages. For example, do you have messages scheduled which are promoting events which are likely to be cancelled? Be aware that the situation could change over the coming days / weeks.
Start planning ahead. We are now moving from the crisis planning stage into a more widespread experience of the virus. This means that your comms needs to be less about explaining the virus and how to respond to the changes we are all making. The next comms stage is describing our ‘new normal’ of operating and communicating about ill or dying colleagues, volunteers and stakeholders. See Coronavirus comms – planning ahead.
New:Think about your language. How you talk about the virus and its impact on your beneficiaries and organisation will change. Write and share a mini styleguide to include standard phrases which you use, as well as ones to avoid. This post about how language changes through a crisis and how to frame your comms is useful. 8 tips for framing covid19 – Ella Saltmarshe.
Running your organisation
Internally you will be looking at the impact of a wider spread of the virus and what this might mean for how you operate.
New:Charity So White have written a position paper sharing the ways coronavirus can impact BAME communities disproportionately. It calls on charities to consider that in their response and includes five key principles to guide them.
It’s useful to see other organisations’ internal plans if you need to write one yourself. Some have shared theirs publicly:
Reassuring staff and volunteers that you are prepared is key. Internal comms must play a vital role. What internal comms systems do you use? Do they work to reach everyone? There is some good advice in this post by Rachel Miller of All Things IC.
What about your events or meetings? Many have been cancelled / postponed or changed to online. Here’s how Bond announced the cancellation of their annual conference.
Digital service delivery
What does the situation mean for the services you run and the support people in your community might need? What might you need to do more of or change?
For example, can you move face-to-face services , online? What different services could you offer to expand to support people through a scary and challenging time? Are you able to run digital events or make fun content to entertain?
Community Action Response launched to encourage everyone to support their communities, particularly vulnerable and isolated people during the crisis. Here’s a thread explaining the five-step process by Eden Project Communities.
If you are a community volunteering charity, how are you keeping volunteers in touch with how they might be needed? And reassuring them about measures you’ll be taking to protect them?
Virtual working
More people are switching to virtual working as a way to reduce risk. It can be a real shift for an organisation if you are not used to working like this. Here are some useful links:
The London Marathon has been postponed until October (announcement 5pm Friday 13th March). Read this thread by Russell Benson with great tips and alternative options for events fundraisers if you haven’t already. Here are a few examples from charities responding to the news in case you want some ideas.
Tobin Aldrich – A proper crisis. “But what we really need to do is to plan. How are we going to have the maximum impact in supporting our beneficiaries throughout the crisis and after it. And how are we going to fund it.”
New: Pandemic fundraising: what to expect and how to succeed in the months ahead – Better Fundraising.
Good Finance have created a resource hub for social enterprises and charities.
The Fundraising Regulator have advice about fundraising events: “All charities should now be thinking about what they will do if their fundraising event needs to be cancelled or postponed.”
Many funders such as London Funders are adapting the terms for the charities they support. LF say “we want to offer reassurance that we stand with the sector during this time”. See also Esmee Fairbairn and Corra Foundation. This thread by Max Rutherford had lots more examples.
Howard Lake of UK Fundraising wrote advice for fundraisers about the challenges ahead and how to be prepared.
I’m seeing lots of threads on Twitter of people with existing health conditions talking about self-isolation. This Channel 4 News clip shares one story.
Many health charities shared information as the news spread. Look at examples from Asthma UK, Sue Ryder, Diabetes UK, Cystic Fibrosis Trusts, Sickle Cell Society, Crohn’s and Colitis UK, Eczema Society, MS Society, British Liver Trust and more gathered in this Twitter Moment from early March.
Highlights this month: as well as all the Christmas campaigns, end of year round-ups, December was busy with Giving Tuesday, the election results and more.
If you were caught up in festive planning or trying to get everything done before a break, here are some of the charity highlights from December. Hope you had a good break if you got one.
How to use: 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.
31.2k likes for this response by Give Blood to Netflix’ question ‘what’s something you can say during sex but also when you manage a brand twitter account?’
PoliticsJoe took to the streets to ask people to guess how much healthcare costs in the USA. 21m+ views.
CRUK hosted a live Twitter chat #JoinTheCancerConversation on 5 December about NHS staff shortages. I couldn’t find a write-up or Moment documenting the discussion but it looked very active with lots of cancer charities and people affected by cancer joining in. There were four questions.
Nice use of a thread by Kids of Colour to show the highlights of their year. (It would have been even better if they had included a link to a web page with an html version of the text too, as the images will be inaccessible to some.)
As a response to the Lloyds’s Charity Digital report saying that 45% of charities have leaders that don’t think digital is relevant, Matt Collins set up a scheme to match charity CEOs with digital people. One hour digital call – for charities.
Good grantmaking – prototype website of resource for grant-makers. Includes tools for service design in philanthropy, designing partnerships and ecosystems, setting tech policy positions and digital grantmaking. More about why this is needed in this blog post from Cassie Robinson – Skills and capabilities for effective grant making.
What did you read, watch or launch? Please add your links in the comments.
Can I help you?
Get in touch if I can help you with 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.
Highlights this month: big hashtag events including #YouMadeItHappen and #WorldMentalHealthDay, legacy fundraising + the sector’s response to the climate emergency.
October is a massive month for awareness days and creative content so this is another bumper issue of 100+ links. I have also included a new section on the sector’s growing response to the climate emergency.
How to use: 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.
New ambitious campaign from MS Society UK – #StopMS. Appeal webpage has a powerful message and pledge totaliser: “By 2025, we want to be in the final stages of testing treatments for everyone with MS. Treatments that slow or stop disability progression. We believe £100 million could take us to a future where no one has to worry about their MS getting worse. But we can’t do it without your support.” They also shared an animated video explaining MS and its symptoms.
Getting outside definitely helps my mental health. I liked this from London Wildlife Trust.
Did you join in with #YouMadeItHappen day this year? Here is a #YMIH Moment of some of the stand-out comms and a #YMIH blog post which goes into more detail.
Are you guilty of using alienating jargon in your internal and external comms? This post from Virgin Money Foundation is a useful reminder about the words we use.
Accessibility tip of the month: don’t use images / gifs which flicker as they could trigger a seizure in someone who has photosensitive epilepsy. Useful information from Epilepsy Action.
Extinction Rebellion have sector specific branches for doctors, lawyers, the arts etc but there isn’t one for the charity sector? I have added this section to share some of the sector’s response.
The new normal: leadership in the climate crisis – video of the RSA President’s Lecture 2019 from Emma Howard Boyd. Emma’s thread from her speech starts with: “Everyone needs to put the climate emergency at the heart of what they do. It should not be given a cursory 10 minutes at the Board meeting before everyone gets back to “the business of business”. The climate crisis IS “the business of business”. “
Woodland Trust is recruiting citizen scientists to track the effects of weather and climate change – Nature’s Calendar and pushing their #EveryTreeCounts target.
RSPB shared this animation made by young employees: “Young people are not just supporting the global climate movement. They are driving it.”
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 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.
Highlights this month: a lesson in crisis comms from RNLI, climate change comms, diversity in the sector, guide to wellbeing.
It’s overwhelming to try and keep up at the moment. Aside from UK and world news, this is a busy time of year for awareness days and campaign launches. Here’s a small snapshot of some of the best charity content and reads from this month and some from August too.
How to use this round-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.
Content
Big campaigns
Alzheimer’s Research UK launched a new video starring Samuel L Jackson as part of their #ShareTheOrange campaign. It’s all over social and has been viewed over a million times on Twitter. No mention of it on their homepage now World Alzheimer’s Month has finished though. The campaign has now been running for five years. ARUK also shared a behind the scenes film from the shoot.
Clic Sargent shared this video about the cost of travel to treatment, as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Dogs Trust shared this video (with very upsetting content) to mark 15 years of their Freedom Project, removing a barrier for families escaping from domestic abuse.
Creative content
‘Choose your own adventure’-type Twitter thread from Trussell Trust to raise awareness about Universal Credit and drive signups to their #5WeeksTooLong campaign.
Time to Change shared a Moment of what people want you to know about suicide, for #WorldSuicidePreventionDay. They have also been sharing illustrations of what it is like to have mental health problems. This showing physical symptoms is very powerful.
Did your organisation do anything to join in with the #GlobalClimateStrike either by joining a strike or sharing messages of solidarity or making statement about your own organisation’s commitment to addressing climate change? On a day where there was a global focus on the issues, it was good to see some (mostly environmental charities) pulling out all the stops. It was disappointing to see so many others saying nothing. Here are some examples of charities who joined in with the #GlobalClimateStrike.
Comms
It can be stressful and relentless being on the comms frontline. Your work is key to building and protecting your organisation’s reputation and impact, while also battling internal pressures. This month, Charity Comms launched A wellbeing guide for comms professionals authored by Kirsty Marrins with contributions from others sharing case studies and tips. It aims to help build resilience and look after mental health. Do have a read if you haven’t seen it already.
This month, RNLI faced a backlash then a rush of support, following a story profiling their overseas work. Their messaging on Twitter was an example of patience and warmth. The volume of incoming comments was relentless through the week. They responded by writing personal messages to thousands of people. Their initial tweet has been liked 44.8k times.
Great thread of ideas from Richard Berks about sharing research insights internally. Could also be used as part of any buy-in process or internal roadshow.
Listen to this Radio 4 programme about digital skills and the social divide created by the digital world. Dr Josie Barnard explores reasons why 22% of the population are being left behind. Digital Future: the new underclass.
Amazing work from suicide prevention organisations who have managed to influence so many digital platforms to automatically share content about prevention in response to keyword searches. This tweet from Ben Bowdler-Thomas shares some screenshots from Twitter, Facebook etc.
Fundraising
Age UK partner with Cadbury in #DonateYourWords. 30p from every special Dairy Milk bar will be donated to Age UK.
Remember a Charity Week was 10 years old this year. Here are some examples of how charities joined in on social media. Legacy fundraising on social media.
Salary and Organisational Culture Report – new report from Charity Comms based on 668 survey responses. Includes data about pay, diversity, career paths and attitudes towards comms staff. The report links to useful guides and includes a list of actions for staff, leaders and recruiters.
NCVO launched the Trusted Charity Essentials Tool, a new online diagnostic toolkit for small charities to judge how well they are working and how to improve.
What did you read, watch or launch this month? Please share your recommendations in the comments.
Could you also tell me if these round-ups are useful. It takes quite a long time to put them together. How do you use the round-ups? Please share any feedback. Thanks!
Can I help you?
Get in touch if I can help you with 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.
——
Did you miss July’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!
Highlights this month: mental health awareness, campaigns about talking, animals (dogs, cats, ravens) and lots of great digital charity reads.
Not sure where the summer has gone! Pop the kettle on, turn off the news and catch up with some of the things you might have missed in May.
How to use: 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.
Content
This month, it was #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek so there was some great content around. For example, have a look at:
Twitter takeover of the month: Ceri and Krissie’s Twitter takeover of the Scope account showing how Scope have developed their digital experiences to make them easy to use and accessible.
What are you doing for #SmallCharityWeek next week (17-22 June)? If you don’t work for a small charity, why not find a local one to support. Keep an eye out for the #BigSupportSmall campaign too.
Nice an example of how to use a Moment as part of an awards evening, showcasing the winners and sharing a bit of the atmosphere from the event – The King’s Fund’s GSK Impact Awards. It was released next day giving all involved something to share. See more in my post How to use a Twitter Moment.
If you are a medical charity, how often do you tweet about symptoms to raise awareness? Here are some nice examples from Fight Bladder Cancer and Ovarian Cancer Action this month.
NCVO have updated the Digital Maturity Matrix to include service design, data protection and security. Have you used this tool to assess the digital maturity of your organisation? In today’s Charity Digital Report, it was cited (question4) by just 23% of respondents. Do take a look if you haven’t seen it already.
Once you have done that, read Digital transformation is a leadership problem about team culture and blockages by Mike Bracken. Here’s his definition as he says the term has got lost in all the noise: “digital transformation is the act of radically changing how your organisation works, so that it can survive and thrive in the internet era.”
Charities, young people and digital mental health services – new report from NPC looking at the capacity level in charities needed to develop these services and suggesting strategies how funders can support charities to do more in this area.
Glasgow Women’s Library have a policy to not RT tweets that don’t use image descriptions. Does anyone else have similar accessibility rules about sharing content?
Scope launched The Big Hack – a reporting tool where disabled people can share experiences with digital technology and help to make things better.
Video of the pendulum motion. [AD: brightly-coloured balls hanging on strings all the same length are released at once in a line. Initially they swinging backwards and forwards, then move in changing sequences including at one point like a caterpillar].
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 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.
Highlights this month: Notre Dame, Extinction Rebellion, New Power, April Fool comms, surveys and more….
Another Bank Holiday? Already? Excellent! Catch up with charity digital content and reads you might have missed while you were trying to squeeze some work in between days off.
How to use: 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.
Creative fundraising can lead to creative content. One of BHF’s shops started selling books without their covers, instead inviting customers to choose a book based on the opening sentence. This prompted HQ to run Friday fun Twitter polls to test knowledge of opening lines of novels.
#LiftTheBan is a campaign run by Refugee Action and a coalition of 150 charities challenging the right to work of people seeking asylum. Have you seen any of the eye-catching graphics – such as this one shared by Asylum Matters? Find out why The Bike Project joined.
The National Library of Scotland were one of the first to respond to #BlackHoleDay, modifying one of their usual weather updates.
More and more charities as producing films which are more like documentary. Did you see this 12minute film comissioned by RSA about low income rural Britain?
There were lots of responses to the money raised for Notre Dame thinking about the role of philanthropy. See threads from Rhodri Davies, Angela Cluff, Nikki Bell.
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 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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