The use of Web 2.0 Tools by the Children’s Rights Alliance

By Róisín Fitzgerald

Communications OfficerChildren’s Rights Alliance (Ireland)

Outline

• What is the Children’s Rights Alliance?

• The importance of social media for the Children’s Rights Alliance

• Examples of how we uses web tools for public relations

The Children’s Rights Alliance

• A coalition of over 90 member organisations who represent all leading NGOs concerned with children in Ireland

• Set up in 1993 following Ireland’s ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

• Established as the NGO voice to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

• Our vision is to make Ireland will be one of the best places in the world to be a child

• Our mission is to realise the rights of children in Ireland through securing the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• Recognised Social Partner with Government

Why is Social Media so important?

• Word of mouth to word of mouse, to world of mouse.

• Accessible to the majority of the population

• Direct access to your audience

• Two-way platform.

• Mainstream journalism has embraced web 2.0 technology. News Feeds Video’s, reports, audio, podcasts, text etc. uploaded to website. RSS Feeds, Like this or Tweet this. ITV Presenters – Twitter Address on screen

Social Media Facts & Figures

• More than 600 million active users worldwide As of January 2011, (Goldman Sachs)

• Ranked the most used social network service by worldwide monthly active users (Compete.com study Jan 2009)

• Most popular social networking site in the United Kingdom. (Facebook is UK's biggest networking site". The Daily Telegraph (London) April 30, 2008)

• Internet market penetration of 57% in Europe (McCarthy, Caroline (July 21, 2010). "Who will be Facebook's next 500 million?". c (New York).

• In 2010 the Queen of England joined

Facebook

Social Media Facts & Figures

• 105,779,710 registered users

• 180 million unique visitors per month

• 37% of active users use Twitter on their phones **These figures relate to 2010 (Twitter: All the Numbers That Matter- Mathew Ingram Apr. 14, 2010. GigaOm)

• Irish Government Leadership Challenge – Official result by tweet

• Red Cross & Haiti based mobile phone companies sent 2.1m public health SMS ahead of Cholera epidemic resulting in 10’s of 1,000’s of lives being saved.

Twitter

Mass SMS

How to use Social Media Effectively• Relevant Content

• Engagement

• Different Audiences on Different Sites

• Tweet with personality

• Turn followers/friends into advocates.

• Two way function –Source of news & outlet for your news

• Tool to build relationships

• Video is the most powerful tool to create emotion.

• People use YouTube to 1)- Be educated 2)- Be informed 3)- Be entertained

• Build a community - not just a list of contacts

How the Alliance uses Web 2.0 Technology

• Website

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Blog

• Podcasts

• YouTube

• iTunes

• E-newsletter

Website

Primary Functions

• Primary source of information on the internet.

• Central to all other web tools.

FacebookPrimary Functions

•Send direct messages to audiences

•Upload photographs

•Facility for longer messages

•Publicise Media Coverage

•Alert to new content on other sites

Facebook

Twitter

Primary Functions

• Instant delivery of messages

• Link to News outlets, journalists & politicians

• Inform about press releases

• Spread news relevant to Alliance

• Alert to new content on other sites

Twitter

• Audience is mainly made up of media outlets, journalists, politicians, social commentators and member organisations.

• They want news lines, links to press releases, links to publication

• Retweets: Spreading the word to new audiences (RT)

• @ChildRightsIRL:

• @tagging: Direct delivery – avenue for media coverage – build relationships & brand

• Hash tag e.g. #ReportCard2011

Twitter• Potential Audience

1 Tweet

300 Alliance Followers

Retweeted by Follower

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3

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4

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5

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Twitter

Blog

Primary Function

•Outlet for detailed article

Podcast

Primary Function

• To reach new audiences using audio - interesting interviews that are available on website and via iTunes

YouTube

Primary Function

• Alliance Video’s to be available on largest video sharing website

iTunes

Primary Function

• To provide facility for audience to download podcasts to their media players (get new ones automatically)

eNewsletter

Primary Functions

•Provide updates & information

•To members, friends, funders etc.

Final Tips• It is very important to interlink your various

• Your website should have links to all your social media

• Your email signature should have links to your social media

• Always drive people to your own website (not external one’s) from Facebook & Twitter

• Draw up a social media policy to avoid misuse of your site i.e. Defamatory, racist, incitement comments, external links

• Always remember that what you post on twitter/facebook/blog/youtube is seen as public content and so can be used by media etc. Don’t tweet something that you wouldn’t be happy seeing on in a newspaper article or on a TV report.

• Measure your social media success with Facebook Weekly updates, twitter stats, google blog search, www.socialmention.com, www.google.ie/insights , www.youtube.com/linkedback, www.google.com/alerts/, www.google.com/analytics

Where to find the Children’s Rights Alliance

• www.childrensrights.ie

• www.facebook.com/childrensrightsalliance

• www.twitter.com/ChildRightsIRL

• www.childrensrightsallianceblog.wordpress.com/

• www.youtube.com/cradub

• www.itunes.com

Thank you