Telling your story communications and social media hand-out pack Contents 1. Communications and campaigns essentials 2. Useful links 3. Taking better photos of your community group 4. The community group s very simple guide to setting up a website 5. Twitter guidelines the basics 6. Sample Press Release (from the Media Trust) 1 2 4 6 9 11 1. Communications and campaigns essentials The key communications principles Keep your message clear, simple and tangible - even if the issue is complex Have one key message for your campaign and three clear supporting points if needed Always stick to the most important information - what is need to know? Avoid jargon, old-fashioned turns of phrase and acronyms Focus on people and their stories Experiment and see what works for you keep track of how people are engaging Essential information to include when.promoting events Page 1 of 11
Date Time Location Cost (or state it s free!) Contact person Essential information to include when...fundraising What the money will go on The difference funding makes How to donate (online, by text, collection at event) Essential information to include when campaigning What is the aim? (one message and three supporting points) What has the campaign achieved so far? (include people s stories) How can people sign up? Things to remember for visual communications Keep it simple and unfussy Make sure you follow a basic colour scheme and never use light text on a light background or dark text on a dark background A good quality image can go a long way this can be a photo or a logo Things to remember for social media Talk to people like you would in person so, polite and informal Photos, images and videos get a lot of attention Keep it up-to-date even a few tweets a week keep a Twitter account active Make sure you set aside time to respond people expect quick responses 2. Useful links Guidance and advice Just Act website run by CDF with practical advice and guidance for community groups including how to promote your project www.justact.org.uk Community How To tools and guidance for community groups to use digital tools www.communityhowto.com KnowHow NonProfit run by NCVO, broad advice for non-profit groups on a range of topics Page 2 of 11
Email tools including Communications www.knowhownonprofit.org Mailchimp tool to design and send email campaigns, as well as store email contacts and analyse the efficacy of you emails using their reporting functions. www.mailchimp.com Website tools BT Community Web Kit tool to help charities and community projects set up their own website www.btck.co.uk Wordpress tool (either free or paid-for for additional features) to build customisable websites www.wordpress.com Downloading custom fonts DaFont website to download fonts. Many are free but some require purchase or a donation www.dafont.com 100 best free fonts for designers article from a graphic design website collecting attractive fonts for download www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design-tips/best-free-fonts-for-designers-1233380 Twitter tools Tweetdeck tool to send tweets from, schedule tweets for the future and create lists of key tweeters to monitor. Can be set up with a number of Twitter accounts if you are responsible for more than one www.tweetdeck.twitter.com Followerwonk helps you analyse your followers and their behaviour to better target your twitter activity and reach more people www.followerwonk.com Twitonomy detailed and visual analytics for Twitter, to get insights on the people you follow and those who follow you www.twitonomy.com Page 3 of 11
3. Taking better photos of your community group Photography can be a great way of capturing your community group s work, ethos and impact. It speaks equally to everyone, regardless of their literacy, language or cultural heritage. But sometimes it can be daunting to just start taking photos, so it can be helpful to remind yourself of the key things to think about before picking up a camera. This will also ensure you get the best possible photos when an opportunity arises. 1. What s the point? Think about what you re trying to capture and why you are taking the photo. Is it to show an unmet need or to celebrate the impact of your work? 2. Dialogue between photographer and subject. Tell the person who you are photographing (the subject) what you are trying to capture. Try putting yourself in the subject s position and consider how you would want to be portrayed. (This is particularly important when photographing vulnerable beneficiaries or service users). 3. Titles and captions. Ensure you give your photo a title and write a caption to explain what the photo intends to capture, even the simplest of shots can be open to interpretation. 4. Staging versus documentary. There s nothing wrong with staging a photo for marketing purposes, but documentary style will capture day-to-day activities more naturally. 5. Composition and framing. Try to think about what s in the frame (or not). Sometimes distracting things can be found in the background, but removing too much background can take the subject out of context. If it s not quite right at the time though, don t forget you can easily crop the photo on your computer afterwards. 6. Natural framing. This can help to focus the eye to your subject and could be achieved by taking a photo through something e.g. through an arch or a window. Or you could bring an object in diagonally from the corner of the frame, which draws the eye to the centre of the photo. 7. Foreground or background focus. The eye is naturally drawn to the front of a picture, but if you blur the focus of the front image, the eye will go to the background. 8. Point of view. By using a worms eye view can make your subject look powerful and by using a birds eye view can make them look vulnerable. 9. Rule of thirds. As you are setting up your photo, try to mentally divide the frame into thirds. Then, keep your subject off centre i.e. try to place your subject to the right or left so they are not right in the middle of the picture. 10. Lighting. The source of light should be behind the photographer. If you want to create a silhouette (for example, to hide someone s identity) then you should backlight the subject. Try to avoid using the flash where possible, as it can mean you lose detail. The legal bit If in doubt, use your ethical judgement. We all know that it s polite to ask permission before taking someone s photo (you can do it after though, say if it s an action shot capturing something spontaneous). Perhaps explain to the person you are photographing about your work or you could offer to send them a copy of the photo (but make sure you do so!). This exchange is likely to be more rewarding for both parties. Page 4 of 11
If you re out at an event, ask adults for their verbal consent for their photo to be taken, but make sure you also tell them where photos will go (i.e. on your website, social media or poster campaigns). And remember, you always need parental consent to take photographs of anyone under 18. Read the blog post online at: www.justact.org.uk/2014/04/29/taking-better-photos-of-your-community-group Page 5 of 11
4. The community group s very simple guide to setting up a website Even if you only go online every so often to check your emails, it s now becoming more common that even small community groups and projects have their own website. Luckily, these days setting up and running a website is possible for anybody; it doesn t need to be difficult, and it doesn t need to take up much time. Read on for the community groups very simple guide to setting up a website. But why do we need a website? In short, having a website is a great way to let others know what your project is all about, and what you get up to. It can be easier and cheaper than delivering flyers, and more permanent that putting up posters in your area. (But there s no harm in doing this too). And there are lots of ways that having your own website will benefit your community project. It can help you get funding. Some funding programmes will only allocate funds to projects that can demonstrate their work online. Even the simplest, free website can open doors to new sources of funding. It can help you record your successes updating on the project s progress with short written updates, and celebrating what your project has achieved at key milestones. This is known as demonstrating impact, which is another aspect that funders are keen on, so it ll make applying for future grants much easier. It will allow you to share photographs with your community easily. Wondering about ways to get hold of more volunteers and spread the word about your project? You can use your website to upload photos and show off the great work that you do. Having an up-to-date website means that you can keep all of your information in one place; it means that volunteers and members of your community have one central location to check facts such as when and where your next meeting or event takes place. It could also help you get local press and media coverage, and provide information so that people know who runs the project and how they can get in contact with you if they ve got any questions. Three Golden Rules for community project websites Running a website doesn t have to be technical or difficult, but there are some rules you should stick to: 1. State really clearly who you are and what you do If you re a new visitor to a site, you want to make sure straight away that you re in the right place. We recommend making an About Us section that s easy to spot from the homepage. There you can succinctly outline what your project is all about. Page 6 of 11
2. Don t let it get out of date Nothing will make a visitor switch off faster than a paragraph promoting an event that has already taken place or information that s out of date. Make sure you check in every so often to make sure that it s all still relevant. 3. Be careful with your contact details Websites can be seen by anybody, so you do need to be careful. We recommend that you make the group its own email address so that you don t have to give out your personal details. Make sure you get permission before you publish anything like personal phone numbers or addresses sometimes you can t be too careful. How to build a website for your group in 3 easy steps 1. Make an account with WordPress We recommend WordPress wholeheartedly; it strikes a great balance between being very powerful, functional and user-friendly. It s got detailed instructions that will walk you through the set-up process, and then it s time to add some style and content. 2. Make it look good The designs for WordPress sites are called themes. You can select one that you like the look of there are thousands of free ones that tech-types have built to share, so you can use them for free. This is called open source, and it s there because the internet is a wonderful community that s all about sharing resources. 3. Add your content As much or as little as you like! Upload photos, write about what you ve been up to, include information of what events are coming up the world is your oyster! What if I want a custom domain name? Not all websites were created equal, and not all of them are free. Let s say that your project is called the London Community Garden. If you re happy with londoncommunitygarden.wordpress.com, then you ll be able to register that for free, as long as no one has already taken it. If you wanted, for example, londoncommunitygarden.org, then you ll have to pay for the domain name. For this example, it is somewhere in the region of 12 a year, but this can vary depending on the name you re trying to register. This stage is entirely optional, but there are some advantages to paying for your website. For example: It makes your website easier for people to find and remember. It makes your group look more established and professional. Page 7 of 11
You can use it to set up a custom email address, like hello@londoncommunitygarden.org setting this up is quite advanced, but looks very professional. Depending on the name of your group, costs vary, as do the levels of services and support you ll receive for your money. We recommend you do a bit of online research if you do go for this option to make sure you get the best deal. What now? We hope that this is enough to get you started, but more help is out there. The WordPress support pages, in particular, are fantastic. They ll guide you through the whole process of setting up your website. Read the blog post online at: www.justact.org.uk/2014/09/11/the-community-groups-very-simple-guide-to-setting-up-awebsite Page 8 of 11
5. Twitter guidelines the basics Getting started Go to www.twitter.com or the twitter app on your smartphone. If you have your own personal account on your phone, the app allows you to add a new account and switch between the two without having to login/out each time. Setting this up varies by device. How to write tweets Tweets are short bursts of information and can t be longer than 140 characters (there is a count down of the number of characters you have left as you type, if it goes into minus numbers, you can t send until its back to at least zero). If possible, try and not use all 140 characters, to allow for others to modify or re-tweet (more on that in a minute). Try to avoid uncommon acronyms or abbreviations spell it out or summarise. Also try to avoid text speak if you re struggling for space, take out adjectives, repeated words or explaining a link. It makes it much easier to read, which is important as most people skim twitter: So not this... 2 c our new research report and recommendations on the important issue of funding comm dvlpmnt, pls click on this link: cdf.org.uk/greatreserach (140 characters). But this! Our new research report shows the importance of funding community development & makes recommendations for Government: cdf.org.uk/greatresearch (138 characters). Connecting to other people Feel free to follow individuals you know, organisations similar to yours and anyone else you find useful! You can mention other people or organisations simply put their twitter name e.g. @BBCNews. Mentioning someone has two key functions: To have a conversation e.g. @DCLG have you seen our new report on the importance of community cohesion? Or @locality thanks for sharing your survey findings. To announce something that someone is doing e.g. The @Guardian has great a piece today on community groups. One useful hint if you are promoting (not talking to) someone and mentioning them at the beginning of the tweet, put a full stop before the @ sign e.g..@bbc has just announced.... Basically, twitter can be tooclever and thinks if you are using the @ sign, you are just having a conversation with someone and it won t always show up in others feeds. You only need to do this at the beginning of the tweet so if the mention is Page 9 of 11
in the middle, you don t need to worry. Hashtags (#) These are just a common word or phrase to connect your tweet to others on the same topic. E.g. #funding. By using a hashtag, all other tweets on the same topic are searchable. Hashtags will never have spaces e.g. #reallyneedacupoftea. You can just make them up so one we used was #tailormade for anything to do with our research report called Tailor made: how community groups improve people s lives. If you decide to make one up try to keep it short so its easy to remember and use. Retweeting Retweeting allows you to share information or promote others work or opinions. There is a button on twitter (pictured above), which allows you to retweet. This means the tweet comes up exactly as written by the original user, including their logo/photo, but with a small green corner. To keep your own logo on things, try to put RT in front of the tweet and then mention (@) whoever you re retweeting. E.g. RT@BBCnews: Community groups are great. This is also nice as you can edit it or add in a comment like < we agree!. Event tweeting It s really helpful for those who can t attend an event to get an idea of what s going on and the tone e.g. inspirational, sharing good practice, new announcements etc. Look out for the event s hashtag (#) and include it in all your tweets. These are sometimes displayed on events PowerPoint presentations or on signs and leaflets. If possible, take a picture when you are out meeting people. There s a button on the twitter app where you just take the photo with your phone and it uploads instantly it will really liven up your feed! Photos can be of anything that captures the day e.g. a community group or a speaker. You don t need any written permission (as long as you re not using it for promotional material) and for speakers you can just put a photo up (they will be used to it!). If there s anyone else in the photo, just politely ask if it s ok. And finally If you re worried about putting something on Twitter, just think if it s something you d happily comment on in an external meeting/event then it will be fine. Page 10 of 11
6. Sample Press Release For immediate release: date Or embargoed until: date Headline - grab my attention (5 w's) (where) At the Annual Conference (who) Myfabcharity (when) today announced (what) their new campaign 'looking after people' to change the way vulnerable people are viewed (why). (quote) xxxx from My fabcharity said 'key message or reinforce issue here.' (3rd paragraph) additional or in depth information that adds to the story. (4th paragraph) case study someone you have helped and the impact it had on them. Human interest angle for journalists. (call to action) For more information or to support our campaign go to www.myfabcharity.org.uk Ends Notes to editors (what you can offer) High resolution photos available, video of the conference and interviews with key speakers in available in HD, case studies available (with permissions granted to interview and quote) (always include your contact details) For further information please contact xxxxxx at Myfabcharity on 020 123 1234 or email address. Out of hours please contact xxxxxxx (boilerplate) About Myfabcharity: Myfabcharity was set up in 2000 to support vulnerable people and campaign for a change in attitudes etc. Page 11 of 11