We’ve been thinking a lot about communications lately at Spark, specifically how challenging social media can be with its ever changing landscape.
Post, viral, and tweet are all common social media terms now, but not so long ago they had very different meanings. A tweet came from a bird, post was a letter, and viral…? Well, that term seemed to have taken on a whole new meaning!
We needed to know if we were telling our story the best way we can, and if we were using our social media platforms to the best of their ability. We needed help. So, we made our own Spark match! with Cate Friesen. She helped us identify our communications goals moving forward and develop a work plan to achieve them.
In fact, communications help is one of the most frequent requests that we get from organizations. It can be challenging identifying what is the best platform for a particular organization, what message they want to communicate, and to who.
For Klinic’s Teen Talk match, they wanted to engage youth, who according to Bren Dixon were “all on Instagram!” However they recognized that other audiences weren’t as active on the online photo sharing service and created a plan with Margeaux Girardin to reach and engage not just those on Instagram but a variety of platforms.
Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, already had an active presence on Facebook and Twitter, and with the help the Spark match with Kyla Roma, created a plan with a goal to use those platforms to increase engagement levels and connect with like-minded organizations.
Family Dynamics is our newest social media Spark match! They are working with Taylor Arnott on a social media plan to help spread the word through Facebook about the organization’s upcoming 80th anniversary community celebration event.
Social media can be a powerful and multi-use tool. These organizations have used social media for three different goals: engagement, networking, event planning, and there are countless other goals it can accomplish as well. However, it is constantly updating, new articles claiming how to “conquer” a certain platform are written everyday. In short, for all its positives it can also be overwhelming. The trick then is to keep going back to the questions: who are you trying to reach and why? It also doesn’t hurt to have a little help with a Spark match!
If you have a background in communications and would like to volunteer your expertise to an Winnipeg organization doing social good (like the ones above) please get in touch (via social media!), we would be happy to meet with you. Or, if you are a non-profit needing communications help, we’ve been there! We would be happy to discuss your challenges and get to work on matching you with a great pro bono volunteer.
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