If you've read my initial Charity Connect post about keeping your familiar and very local face in front of people who are going to have to self-isolate, this takes that idea a bit further.

 

Just yesterday (15/3), the Health Secretary confirmed that soon the Over 70s will be advised to self-isolate and to do so for a significant amount of time. Anyone with an underlying medical condition (including respiratory problems and those with low immune responses) will be joining them (if they are not already being advised to keep themselves away from everyday life) and if these people are your clients, your volunteers – and your donors – then being there for them, as best you can, will be vital for their well-being.

 

You may already be planning things like lots of phone calls, live chat, have regular messaging platform plans (probably not TikToK), and have an email list., but at a local level, your services are the best because people know your face, the faces of the whole of your team.

 

'Your People' (as above clients, volunteers, donors, supporters) may have a wide range of digital skills and actual equipment (computers through to phones – even connected televisions) but there is a way – a bit of media (which is what this post is all about) – that you can put together that will reach and be valued by everyone, from those who may (in the next few weeks) pick up a tablet for the very first time, through to those with Green/ Silver Fruit logos on their state of the art computers.

 

You do have a few weeks. It might be just one or two, it might be four or more (let's hope), but you do have time to both learn how make your new media and, for those who have little or no 'connectivity', ask your community to lend or give you connected devices they can use, and even make a donation to pay for short term Internet access.

 

My premise, my 'ask', is to forget making group chat the 'thing' you can and want to do. If this is all going to work for most people, some of the larger social networks come with baggage. All of this connectivity started with emails, and for all the Health Support Services, an email is probably second on the communication lists, after a letter (yes phone calls will be in there but people don't/can't always answer their phones immediately, and talking is yes, lots of detail,

.

 

They are curated content (sorry about the marketing speak) that can and should be controlled through an Editorial Policy (helps protect you as the owner of the newsletter).

 

You can use a free provider (say Mailchimp) and see what links are clicked, as well as when an email is opened (really important if you want to do follow ups where someone suddenly stops doing this).

 

Your newsletter – your 'We're Here – We Know You're at Home' regular messaging can be branded (with your logos etc, they can have lots of contact details right next to questions, and they can be written like letters – in this case I'd recommend keeping away from any formality, more something that is like the friendly letters people used to send pre the mid 90s.

 

And you can time delivery – and say that The Digital Postperson is going to be delivering at a specific time, just like many a retiree would have known that their post would come at X O'clock, a time that was the same for decades, until digital took over.

 

You can personalise the actual send – 'Dear Mary/Tom/Liz/Andrew' but then include content (Video!) which is a generic but individual approach - 'How are you all' – engendering the internal response that Mary has opened a email (a digital letter) and is now watching a video that she knows is being seen by people in the same situation as her. She's going to see your Friendly Face and know that her friend down the road is doing the same.

 

This is all the background. Here's a look at the reality -

 

1) There are lots of step by step guides to setting up an email service on which you can load addresses and then build and send regular email news-LETTERS (just stressing that this will be a really friendly personal letter – and may be unlike what you may presently send and definitely receive)

 

There are guides to making videos – and Vlogging (which is what you will be doing – of a sort) – but the secret is that your videos will be your own creations and you won't find out what you can best do unless you actually make some videos.

 

Call them rehearsals, screen tests, experiments – you have to do some before your first video will be ready to show to people.

 

You can do a 'test' in 10 minutes. All you need is a good mobile phone, a phone tripod (maybe £10) and a 'set' – then you sit down in front of the phone (camera) and start talking.

 

Your set? Somewhere you can readily access when needed (or is available). A relatively large desk which has plenty of natural light and isn't near too much noise (windows next to roads etc) would be great (a large desk so that you can put 'set decoration' on it – to make it look warm – and have things you want to show people right in front of you).

 

You can use little bits of tape to mark the 'x's' where things will go (when you need them).

 

This isn't a time for regular CEO speeches (apologies – but it isn't). If you are a CEO and you don't meet many of of 'your people' on a regular basis, then please step aside.

 

You are there to talk to and about the people who are going to watch. Ask lots of questions and give some of your ideas of responses they may be thinking (or saying) as they listen. Yes talk about what you charity does but don't be generic (your mission statement), be a story-teller. Ask for feedback (ie when you call an individual, what they are doing, how they are coping, reminisces that are 'getting them through'), then use these responses to create new content.

 

Unlike many an original vlogger, these are going to be videos which are all about the people watching and their 'journey' (even if it is an isolated one)

 

Not everyone will want to be in front of a camera. These are times of need but don't pressurise people to present and at the same time, you need to know how to say 'no' to people who may not be as engaging as they think they are.

 

You do though need a team. People may be ill or have to care for relatives and friends so become unavailable. You are also going to be producing mini versions of This Morning (very mini versions – see below) so you will have guests and experts you will want to bring onboard.

 

2) Protecting your Charity is a must

 

If you already have social media – communication – policies, you'll be a long way towards producing newsletters and videos which are really valuable and enhance your charities' reputation.

 

 

Yes you can go into partnerships, yes you MUST share content (links, guides etc), but good ideas aren't necessarily always as good as they first appear, or their 'owner' believes them to be.

 

An Editorial Policy is a way of controlling what content you develop and how and when you share it, but you MUST write it from the point of view of the people who will watch your videos – which yes, may seem to some to be contrary to protecting your charity first.

 

Think of how people in isolation may already have established routines. A day of TV can be planned and the programmes – such as Holly and Phil on This Morning – already be providing lots of moral support. Bargain Hunt, Doctors, Tipping Point, Antiques Roadshow, Pointless – all of these programmes will be favourites and take up many hours of a day.

 

You should be aiming for 10-15 per video, but you'll never need or be able to get to 30-40 minutes of contact that will have real value.

 

In your video you can talk about links in the body of the newsletter, or when you might call, or when your people can call you. You're linking lots of things together, things that are 'local', things that you know are part of the whole picture. You can't do more than this.

 

With good (free) software, you can see when an email is opened, when the video is clicked (and the same for other links). You can see what works and what doesn't.

 

As part of protecting your charity, use GDPR carefully. This newsletter should be a simple and one-off sign up. Saying this (and keeping to it) will add value to the whole project.

 

The more valued your newsletter can be, the more you can be authoritative about telling people (just about the one time that you will 'tell' them something), that they should go no-where near (and report) any email that talks about their finances, or orders for online deliveries that they have any doubts about.

 

 

This Charity Connect post is already a long one. I'll stop it here and if you want more ideas about content (the next stage of planning), say and I'll come back with more.

 

This all will be some work, but not as much as you might imagine. Just one email a week, from your Local and Familiar Face, and you could make a real difference to the outcomes of what's going to happen this Spring and possibly into this Summer.