Oh! Community hub
– office space – venue space – variety of community uses
Arts centre – theatre, dance & gallery – arts activities – youth theatre
Youth employability – 16 – 26 years – volunteering & internships – tasters + projects e.g. takeover
What did we want to do?
• New trustees
• Advertise hire space
• Build awareness of OH
Where did we start from?
• Little in-house knowledge as work application
• Personal use by staff & volunteers
• An ok web site
• General interest & willing to give it a go
(1) Recruiting trustees
Our problem – How to find new blood? – Limitations of existing channels – No budget or cast of thousands
A solution? – To Tweet or not to Tweet – Plus a bit of FaceBook too
Oxford House @oxhse @NatWei @oxhse looking for Chair & Trustees. Talented & committed then come & join us. More info go to http://tinyurl.com/bm85uee Pls RT
(2) Advertise hire space
Our problem – Spaces not being used – Lord Leverhulme dilemma? Which 50%?
Solution – Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/Oxford-House
– Twitter https://twitter.com/oxhse
– Pinterest http://pinterest.com/oxfordhouse/
– Enews www.mailchimp.com
(3) Build awareness of OH
Our problem – Not enough people know about – Unused spaces & events – Need to generate more income – No little ‘black book’
Solution – Create a presence – Tell the story or stories – Bury the myths – Build engagement
Has it worked?
• Difficult to prove but…
• Reached new audience of trustees & we did recruit successfully
• Increase in use of hire space & activities over last 12 months
• Awareness has increased both through anecdotal feedback & increase in enquiries for our 3 strands of work
Lessons • It’s a medium not the medium
• Relate it to your communications strategy
• Be bold
• Use strong images
• Be yourself
• Try humour? Or Maybe not…
• Use measures & tools to help evaluate
• Don’t get hung up blaming the internet for everything
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