Facebook & Twitter &
Pinterest, Oh My!
Communications Strategies For The
Small Anti-Violence Organization
Alyson Culin
Development & Marketing Director
Orange County Rape Crisis Center
alyson@ocrcc.org
What Is Communications?
• Marketing:
• The action or business
of promoting and selling
products or services.
• Communications:
• Imparting or exchanging
of information or news.
• Means of connection
between people or
places.
• Should be a strategy,
not a checklist.
Who is Your Audience?
• Constituency:
• Donors
• Volunteers
• Board of Directors
• Staff
• Grantors
• Community members
• ??
• Considerations:
• Age
• Gender
• Orientation
• Ethnicity
• Geography
• Interests
• Values
Communications = Content + Delivery
Content – Ideas?
• Program updates
• Day-to-day staff stuff
• Service opportunities
• Informational articles
• DV 101
• Legislative updates
• Info about special
populations
• Agency in the news
• How to get involved
• Volunteer needs
• Call for donations
• Thank Yous
• Upcoming events
• Post-event debriefs
• Advocacy opportunities
• Post-campaign
• Volunteer spotlight
• To specific people
Delivery – Platforms?
• Website
• Newsletters / Annual
Report (print or email)
• Blog
• Social Media
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Instagram…
• Word of Mouth
Word of Mouth
• Especially relevant in
small towns
• Have good services
• Train your staff/board:
Elevator Speech
• Agency mission
• Services offered
• “What I love about the
agency…”
• Confidentiality issues
Website – Most important thing!!
• Attractive design, easy to update, user-friendly
• Consider all audiences: clients, donors, volunteers
• Put yourself in the user’s shoes:
• Client: Can you find info about services easily? Can you find the
hot line number easily?
• Donor: Is it easy to donate? Are there too many pages to click
through in order to donate?
• Volunteer: Is it easy to find info about volunteer programs, how to
apply, and who to contact?
• Considerations
• Help line info should be easy to find. Quick Exit button.
• Simple and short. ~ 6th grade reading level.
• Spend $$$ on SEO
Newsletters & Direct Contact
Print
Electronic
• Might be better for older
• Takes less time, skill
audiences.
• Looks more formal
• Might be more likely to be
read (??)
• Cheap or free
• Easier to manage
contacts
• Easier to create goodlooking materials
• Easier to segment lists
• Users can manage their
own subscription
Newsletters – Considerations??
• Don’t email too often
• Don’t write too much
• Put a name/ face to your
communications
• Make sure replies go to a
person.
• Always respect requests to
unsubscribe – you are
legally required to!
• What do/would you use
your email marketing
system for?
Social Media – Is It Worth It?
• Goal: What would be the goal(s) of using this platform?
• Audience: Does our audience use this platform?
• Knowledge: Do you have someone (staff, volunteer) who
is very familiar with the platform and who can commit the
amount of time needed to it?
• Resources: What kind of content would we put on this
platform? Does that content already exist, or would we
have to recreate it? Do we have the resources (time,
talent, treasure) to create that content?
• Trend: Is this platform just a trend? Is it outdated?
Social Media Platforms
YES!
Probably
No
eh sure
Probably
No
Facebook
• Everyone’s on Facebook!
• Have a Page, not a Profile.
• Content
• Easy to find stuff to post
from other sources
• Easy place to put your own stuff.
Can do link/photos/videos.
• Suggested 2-3 times per day.
Minimum: Once per day.
• Use the content scheduler!
• Interactivity
• Algorithm: Shares > Comments > Likes
Twitter
• Overrated
• Mostly only insiders talking to each other
• BUT. Set it up, push FB notifications to Twitter, walk away.
Pinterest
• New, fastest-growing platform.
• Audience: women
• Image-oriented = difficult
• Content and vibe of platform doesn’t really match goals
Instagram
• New, fast-growing platform.
• Audience: young people
• Image-oriented = difficult
• Creation-oriented = difficult
• Content and vibe of platform doesn’t really match goals
Blog
• Content commitment = high
• Time commitment = high
• Suggested minimum = once per week
• Absolute minimum = once per month
• Interactivity
• Push to other platforms
Pitfalls
• Resources: Need time and talent
• Decentralization: easier to produce content, difficult to
•
•
•
•
control message
Mission drift
Hot issues
Inappropriate comments & trolls
Special concerns: Safety
• Personal over-sharing
• Over-sharing about others, identifying details, etc.
• Images
• Must have clear communication and protocols for people
who are working on marketing
Takeaways
• Go where the crowd is
• Create a strategy, not
a checklist
• Consider resources &
ROI
• What is one idea from
today that you want to
try to implement
immediately?