Social media for charities: Intermediate level

Acting globally just got easier – find out how to plan and deliver successful social media strategies that can make a real difference to your campaigning

Social media is now an integral part of every charity's communications strategy – with supporters, campaigners and policymakers using it daily to share information, raise awareness, and keep abreast of developments in their sectors. But creating a successful social media campaign requires a different set of skills and software tools to maintaining a personal profile.

This course will equip anyone looking to run social media profiles for their charity or NGO to build a cohesive content strategy across various platforms, and to help mobilise followers to take action. Attendees will learn social media etiquette, what makes a good post, and how to effectively manage and grow online communities, with insight into the latest developments in the sector from lead tutor Emerson Povey, digital communities editor from Amnesty UK's renowned social media team.

Course description

Through a mixture of classroom instruction and practical exercises, attendees will learn best practice from individual posts to cohesive multiplatform campaigns, along with the use of tools to expand your community management and content planning abilities.

The class will cover topics including:

• An introduction to using platforms including Facebook and Twitter, professionally and as the 'voice' of a charity
• Social media etiquette for various platforms
• Built-in tools and services available to organisations and businesses, and how to make the most of them
• Low-cost third-party tools to help manage your social platforms professionally
• What makes a great post
• How to benchmark and measure the performance of a post
• Digital storytelling in 140 characters and less
• How to plan a content calendar
• Community management – responding to questions and critics, and how to avoid a crisis

This course is for you if…

• You work in charity sector PR or marketing and want to understand best social media practice in your sector
• You're an individual campaigner or activist who wants to learn how successful charities use social media to their advantage
• You work for or manage a small charity who can't afford to hire dedicated marketing, PR or social media staff

Please note that this is an intermediate level course for those who already have some familiarity with one or more social media platforms. Those new to social media may be more suited to our beginner level course LINKHERE

Tutor profile

Emerson Povey has been working with charities on digital communications since 2003 and is currently Amnesty International UK's digital communities editor. Emerson leads on Amnesty's social communications, campaigning and blogging, helping campaigners and volunteer activists use digital techniques for social change.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website