My second month working with a charity (February and a tiny bit of March because of holidays and meetings) was one I must admit I was very excited about, working with Jerry Green Dog Charity – going for meetings and getting to meet lots of pooches is definitely a good meeting for me.
As with last month’s case study this will highlight the different ways Evolve Business Developments worked with the fundraising team to give you an idea of what activities could happen for your business.
Initial Conversations
I met with the marketing team at Jerry Green Dog’s to see what they were already doing on the social media channels and how they were already utilising the sites so we could establish what they needed to develop their social media activity. They also had a very enthusiastic member of the team who was very active on Facebook and doing a brilliant job of ensuring the “likers” engaged with posts and the status’s that were being posted.
We identified more could be done for the charity on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube and, that Twitter especially, was uncommon ground for the team. Catherine Foster, Head of Fundraising at Jerry Green Dogs, also requested time was spent looking at the social media strategy for the whole charity ensuring all sites were included in the activity.
Activity
Twitter activity took place initially and Jenny Harris (Fundraiser at Jerry Green Dogs) and Evolve Business Developments spent some time creating content for the account. We sat and considered what individuals would want to see from an account advertising dogs who needed homes but also what we could post that would keep the personality of the charity alive. This personality is providing excellent results on Facebook so the same needed to take place on Twitter. We also explored different social media dashboards to ensure that Jenny’s time was effectively being spent.
We created a LinkedIn company page, this page will ensure that any updates from the charity go direct to all the followers and this way the message can come from the business as a whole instead of individuals. This also ensures that if there are any staffing changes these connections will continue to see the charity message as it will not be individually linked.
Whilst we were reviewing all other channels we did take a look around Facebook and Evolve Business Developments explained some of the functions that weren’t being used and took some time to explain the Facebook analytical data.
The final piece of the puzzle included a strategy workshop with three key members of the charity. This workshop explored exactly what they wanted from the social media accounts, ways they were going to measure the outcome, any potential challenges they may encounter and how they were going to combat these and much more.
Results
Immediately the Twitter feed has started to see an increase in retweets, followers and interaction. Information about donations, support for services and dog’s needing rehoming has started to be shared and the LinkedIn company page has seen new followers being added all the time. Feedback from the charity explains that actions agreed during the strategy meeting have already taken place and are adding benefit to the charity (see below). The main outcome is to get dogs rehomed and changes to the rehoming form and when asking for information from the public will show how social media is helping with this.
Feedback
“Karen very generously gave her time to Jerry Green Dog Rescue in the form of 2 days complimentary consultancy on social media. Karen’s knowledge on this subject matter is second to none & we have implemented a number of significant changes to the way we work as a result. Karen not only worked with us on developing key social media tools for immediate use but also guided/advised on an overall social media strategy which we have since been able to introduce with relative ease. Karen worked cross-departmentally and was both professional and personable. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with Karen again and also to recommend her services to others – the results certainly speak for themselves!” – Catherine Foster, Head of Fundraising
PS – the featured image doggy is a photo of Miles. He’s 9, absolutely lovely and needs a home!!! (Click here)
