I arrived late to today’s session due to an appointment and felt a bit anxious that the next topic might have been coding, in which case I probably would have run for the hills. The thought of missing even a second’s tuition on something so seemingly techie would have sent my anxiety into overdrive. Thankfully the screen was filled with Facebook which I feel more at home with, having dabbled with business pages, advertising and content creation in my previous role. We were introduced to some powerful content creation tools, Canva which I had a log in for but hadn’t really explored and Adobe Spark which was new to me. It has certainly given me some ideas beyond using PowerPoint and Photoshop and I look forward to road testing them properly for this week’s homework.

Now to put all this talk of content into real life. We are still working on how best to help our charity case study Reading Refugee Support Group. I think l have finally nailed the customer persona of our preferred donor who I shall call Compassionate Chloe. Aged 25-44, Chloe is a graduate in politics, the arts, English or International Development. She is a young professional working for a charity, an NGO or an organisation with a social conscious. Chloe has fundraising form and has already raised money online to support other social courses. She lives locally to Reading, is enthusiastic and leads an active lifestyle, whilst also being tech savvy. Chloe is empathetic, politically aware, has faith and believes in inclusion. Chloe can mostly be found on Facebook and Instagram but will also digest local news on Get Reading.

Our task now was to think about a content calendar and the types of content we might create for our charity. Cue the brainstorming board and colourful post it notes. Here are some of our ideas:

• Meet the team – interview with Director Nick (video content)
• Soundbites from interviews with case workers (video content)
• Leverage national news stories about the refugee crisis but give them a local angle
• Educate – what is the difference between immigrants, asylum seekers & refugees?
• Where does the money go? – how many paid staff, volunteers, how many families does the charity support each year (infographic)
• How can you get involved? 5 fundraising ideas…
• Case study of a fundraiser and their journey
• Award of grants & where that money is spent
• Testimonials from refugees with pictures
• Link content to national events such as Refugee Week and National Black History Week
• Organise a meet up for supporters to meet refugees at the Monday drop off session
• Case study of homework club where local 6th formers tutor refugee children
• Facebook live event for the flagship event during the panel session

The ideas are starting to flow but will we be ready to pitch back to the charity’s Director Nick in just four weeks time?