Social media is a hot topic in all industries and businesses nowadays. However, research has proven that the charity sector and volunteering movement is not maximising the potential of social networks – less than 25% of volunteer involving organisations and support services are using them.
Saffron is striving to change this by organising a social media workshop in collaboration with the not for profit partnership Time & Talents, the reputation management consultancy ReputationInc and Whizz-Kidz, a charity for disabled young people.
Taking place on Thursday 29 July 2010, the workshop has been designed to help charity and community organisations overcome the challenges they face with social media and to learn more about using the various platforms to enhance their services.
Key barriers are:
- A lack of knowledge and confidence on how to use social media
- A lack of a strong business case to invest time and resources
- Confusion over the number of social networks available
- Problems with firewalls preventing access
- Concerns about sharing personal and professional data
Kim George, from Saffron’s award winning instructional design team, will be co-facilitating the workshop, presenting case studies of organisations successfully using social media and running surgery-style sessions. In these sessions, charity representatives will have the opportunity to share their real life social media challenges with media professionals and gain tips on raising their profile, promoting their services, spreading ideas and gaining volunteers via social media.
If you’re from a charity or community organisation wanting to find out more about social media or if you’re a social media enthusiast or marketing executive who can offer guidance and advice, we want to hear from you! For a place at the workshop, contact sholi@volunteer.co.uk.
