Irish charities 'behind' with social media
Howard Lake | 18 May 2011 | News
A leading social media consultant believes that charities in Ireland are “much slower on the uptake” than commercial organisations when it comes to social media.
Writing in the Irish News, Jill Culbertson of Navajotalk, said that the charitable sector lends itself well to promotion by social media but smaller charities and social enterprises in particular are missing out on the opportunities offered by social media such as Facebook.
“Given the levels of engagement that social media fosters amongst ‘followers ‘ and ‘fans’, charities are really missing out on increasing recognition and support for their cause,” Ms Culbertson said.
She said that social media can have a direct effect on donations and is a ‘perfect opportunity in this digital age’.
Ms Culbertson said not all charities are missing out on the potential of social media and quoted the examples of Age NI for its High5 campaign, the Irish Cancer Society for its virtual gift campaign and social enterprise organisation Loaf Catering.
The first step for charities, according to Ms Culbertson, is to develop a social media policy and strategy for social media marketing and messaging.
www.navajotalk.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.