Benevolent Societies presentation on WK social media, 8 July 2010

Changing communicationsin a digital society

Whizz-Kidz: A Case Study

Rob Dyson, PR Manager & social media Pic: www.flickr.com/photos/matthamm

• Starting the Journey

• Reaching out – entering the conversation

• Beginning to influence

• Can we turn dialogue into donations? & What are other charities trying?

• Metrics – what’s important to you?

• A bit of netiquette

The start of a journey…

Once we had a presence – people started arriving…

We also found them here..

Top tip: Search Samepoint.com for mentions of your charity (including misspellings) in social

media and online blogs

Reaching out – entering the conversation

Pic: www.fwdesign.com

Talking in Twitter

…and creating an appetite for our own work…

Facebook:as valid a place for advice as our helpline

Spreading conversations across networks -

opening a space for peer to

peer advice & debate

Ask a simple question, get a simple answer…

The viral loop: cross-promoting all of our sites

Bringing people with us,staying ‘local’ to loyal champions

Beginning to influence

Pic: http://carpe-diem.typepad.com

Sharing stories directly on Flickr

Fin’s mum:

“If sharing Fin's story helps raise money and awareness then it is our way of saying thank you… 

“And it makes Fin feel special and like a celebrity! He loved seeing his photo on flickr!”  

Polling opinion of our followers…     “to be truthful its very imaginative! good thinking by the whizz-kidz team *APPLAUSE*”    twitter.com/jamandcheese     “Nice one. Will certainly get the attention of your target audience!”     twitter.com/rachelbeer       “Great poster Could you do one for the ladies?”    Childsi, Child's i Foundation  

  234 views on Flickr - within 3 days - spread via Twitter

Magic FM helped us out during Marathon because we “tweeted” them…

Influencing the influencers

TweetingStories thatcaptureimagination

Big Question:Can we turn dialogueinto donations?

Pic: www.flickr.com/photos/mfinleydesigns Pic: www.flickr.com/photos/catsfather/

• We use to record video messages from our

young people – to encourage top fundraisers to double their target, and to supplement Charity of the Year Corporate pitches

• Team Whizz-Kidz runners in the London Marathon made their own creative videos to help fundraise!

Case study:Jess, London Marathon Co-ordinator, set up “Jess Whizz-Kidz” Facebook profile to connect all of our London Marathon runners.

• 2010 has so far raised more than previous years for Whizz-Kidz – and faster.

• 17% of the runners who received the “double your target” video doubled their targets. 38% raised over £2,500 (above the average of £2,100)

What worked…

• Great feedback from runners about this use of social media to build their Team Whizz-Kidz London Marathon experience…

“Really nice idea - easy to leave a message or question without having to call etc. Jessica put statuses on regularly with updates etc which were

really useful.”

“very good reading and some of

the tips by other runners were

great”

“made you feel like a team and took some of the nerves out of the day as it felt like you already had a relationship with the team”

“Jessica was always quick in responses and

advice given. It was something not available on

my first time last year and must have been

useful for many first time runners.”

“Was great to see others’ thoughts leading up to the big day.”

“I used this to get to some faces, so as not to feel like a total stranger on race weekend”

“It was lovely to see the photos.”

Weighing It Up

Pros

Personalised approach

Significant level of engagement with LM10 team (and team engaging with each other). Generating real community.

Great feedback from runners

Clear and focused audience. Automatically reaching engaged and interested audience – easier to direct communications

Personalised/warmer approach has stronger effect for promotions than straight ‘marketing’ approach

Cons

Splitting our audience

Lack of Events unity in approach

Too London Marathon-centric

Closed to the general public

Only relevant during team’s marathon year – what next?

What are other charities trying?

Pic: www.flickr.com/photos/cellphonesusie

Child’s i• Buy a virtual brick in the

wall, write a message, & raise money for Child’si.

• Bricks sell at set-prices, and represent a shopping list of items your donation can fund.

• Notable twitterer Stephen Fry has purchased a bricks, which has helped raise awareness.

Shelter• Use Google Street-View to

and this clever viral to decorate your home – remember others remain homeless.

• The viral has just been revised with a World Cup theme, where you can adorn your house with England flags and bunting.

• Could the jump from decorating to donating be stronger?

Amnesty International (UK)

• The Times refused to publish an Amnesty International advert showing a ‘celebratory’ wine glass dripping with Shell oil

• The charity crowdsourced the funding of the ad to go wider and bigger from its supporters (good awareness campaign too).

• Supporters became stakeholders in the ad, which Amnesty say they will drive around on the side of a van outside Shell’s AGM if they raise enough money!

Marie Curie Cancer • Basic fundraising, with a

twist. Donate cash in order to attend a virtual tea-party online.

Problems could be

1. Who is to say that those using the #tweaparty hasthtag are also going to donate (and you can’t exactly throw them out)?

2. No minimum suggested donation.

But it raised £200 & had over 100 guests - in one hour. & they maximised social web:

Metrics – what’s important to you?

Pic: www.flickr.com/photos/lianakabel

It’s useful to be reaching lots of people – before counting on social media to raise funds..

stats in Jan 2010:

• Twitter followers: 1,444

• Facebook fans: 903, engagement fluctuating dependent on what we put out there.

• Approx 9,000 video views of our YouTube channel + 24 subscribers + 6 comments

• 1,649 views of our Flickr page

The last few months have seen Whizz-Kidz:E.g.• launch our cinema ad – which we also hosted on

YouTube & tweeted about & linked on Facebook.

• Appear on BBC1 ‘The One Show’ + so we spread the iPlayer link via FB & Twitter.

• Secure Major Phil Packer to walk ‘mile 26’ of London Marathon for us – with a disabled ambassador (tweets, FB, Flickr)

You get out what you put in..

1st week of July:

• Twitter followers: 2,170

• Facebook fans: 1,264, with greater degree of feedback & engagement.

• Over 21,000 (!) video views of our YouTube channel + 46 subscribers + 24 comments

• 5,474 views of our Flickr page

Summary – a netiquette

In social media, Whizz-Kidz:

We don’t:

• answers questions • asks questions.• invites people to attend

events and join campaigns.• are helpful and signpost to

different parts of the org, and website.

• talk like real people.• Has fun & tries to be creative.

• delete messages we don’t like.

• just link to press releases.• criticise or dismiss anyone • leave our profiles stagnant.• limit chances to take part.

Thanks for listening

Twitter:@whizzkidz@robmdyson

Web:www.whizz-kidz.org.ukhttp://robdysonpr.wordpress.com