How to Renovate Your Home Without Committing Murder

With 155,000 followers on Twitter, 132,000 on Facebook, 19,600 on Instagram, and over 60,000 app downloads, the Canadian Red Cross has a substantial social media presence.  

Introduction

The Red Cross is a multi-national organization that serves to prevent and alleviate human suffering around the world in contexts of emergencies. The Red Cross is essential in today’s world to help with humanitarian crises that are happening, whether it be war, natural disaster, or preparedness. The work they do is extremely valuable and helps the greater good of society through the mobilization of power driven by donors and volunteers.

We studied the social media presence of the Canadian Red Cross – Mainly, we focused on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and apps, and we inspected all the above platforms for strengths and weaknesses. Our goal is to identify ways to improve the audience engagement of the Canadian Red Cross.

The target demographic of the Canadian Red Cross is adult, middle- and upper-class Canadians. The bulk of their media content is aimed at recruiting volunteers and raising funds for their charitable work. Subsequently they want to appeal to people who have either extra time (retirement age) or extra funds (age 30 to 60). Their online media involves appropriate social factors including listening, customer care, reach, and relationships.1 This outreach serves to reduce anxiety, stop misinformation, and solicit information from the public when support is needed.

More about their organization can be found here.

Results and Discussion

Strengths

Outreach - The Red Cross includes a wide variety of photos in all their media and their photo content is evenly split between professional-quality versus amateur, with shots of both volunteers (not models) and emergency aid situations. Videos and blog posts offer interviews and information about a wide variety of situations.

Functionality - The Canadian Red Cross is partnered with Dell Digital Business Services with the aim of more efficient disaster responses through optimization of their social media presence. Facebook Live gives real-time answers to questions, and boots-on-the-ground staff members add in-the-moment content to the Instagram feed. The Be Ready app offers real-time disaster alerts for a wide variety of large-scale emergencies based on your location. The First Aid app gives clear, simple instructions with animated demonstrations according to the emergency you click on.

Consistency - The branding of the charity’s social media is consistent across all platforms. The logo and colour scheme of white and red are easily recognizable and utilized effectively on all social media. They consistently use the same hashtags, #RedCrossHelps or #PhotoOfTheWeek, making it easy for their audience to follow them, and most of their social media accounts are verified, showcasing trust and establishment of the brand.2

Weaknesses

Sharing the Same Content across Platforms – they are not curating content to be specific to their respective accounts. Cross-platform repetition does not create an incentive for the user to follow multiple accounts (a faux-pas in the social media world). As quoted by Hootsuite, “Things like caption length, image formatting, and vocabulary differ by platform. Sharing the exact same post on all of them means you might accidentally end up inviting your followers to retweet you on Facebook or pin you on Instagram.”3

Boring Content - their current content does not inspire people to want to follow them extensively. Many of the posts are simply headshots of people and are not that interesting in themselves. This means that users are getting a lot of similar stories, week after week and leads to low engagement on posts. On platforms such as Facebook, some posts only receive around 13 likes despite having 132k followers. As well, they are flooding their Facebook which leads to users not seeing posts due to algorithms which limit this behavior.

Lack of Overall Aesthetics - The static website is not very inspiring and it’s not interesting for the user to follow.4 Currently, on their social media, they frequently post images that appear to be raw and unedited and the imagery is not captivating.

Lack of Diversity – The website is available in only English and French. This ignores the fact that Canada is becoming more and more diverse. Additionally, the volunteers being photographed are mostly Caucasian and able-bodied. This lack of representation may be off-putting for some potential volunteers.

For tips on improving website content, check out this link.

Conclusion & Recommendations

While the Canadian Red Cross has utilized many platforms to engage their target audience, there is still much room for improvement. To encourage users to follow them through multiple platforms, the Canadian Red Cross should provide photos and information that are unique to each platform.

The static website could use updating to engage a younger audience. Embedding videos or animation, taking advantage of parallax scrolling, using Facebook Live, and adding volunteer bios on each page will add interest and increase audience engagement.

More information should be given about local relief efforts, rather than focusing strictly on international emergencies.

Dead sharing links need to be fixed.

Posting on Facebook should be reduced significantly.

Include a volunteer photo with a brief bio in a sidebar on each page. Include name, age, occupation (or previous occupation if retired), province, and a quote about how volunteering has changed their life.

Translating the website into more languages would reach a larger audience. Refugees, in particular, are eager to show their gratitude and having the website available in their language(s) will encourage them to donate their time. Double posting is a great tactic to use for multiple languages.

Increase the visibility of minorities and volunteers with disAbilities on all platforms. Representing a variety of shades of skin, wheelchairs, hearing aids, and chromosomal disorders will encourage a wider market of volunteers.

More leeway could be given to volunteers to provide amateur real-life photos which could be edited by someone in head office. Alternately, uploading in real time would make the audience feel that they were a part of the crisis solution even if they only donated money. 

Bibliography

1)     https://www.sendible.com/insights/social-media-for-nonprofits

2)     https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/309671

3)     https://blog.hootsuite.com/cross-promote-social-media/

4)     https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234129

5)     https://blog.hootsuite.com/multilingual-social-media-presence/

6)     https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297367

7)     https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234129

8)     https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297367

9)     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jN1KmciFE

10)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UydKcNVxgaQ

With 155,000 Twitter followers, 132,000 Facebook followers, 19,600 Instagram followers, and over 60,000 app downloads, the Canadian Red Cross has a significant social media presence.  

Introduction

We studied the social media presence of the Canadian Red Cross, consisting of a website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and two apps, to determine if they were using their online presence to its full potential. Our goal is to identify ways to improve the audience engagement of the Canadian Red Cross. The target demographic of the Canadian Red Cross is adult, middle- and upper-class Canadians. The bulk of their content is aimed at recruiting volunteers and raising funds for their charitable work so they want to appeal to people who have either extra time (retirement age) or extra funds (age 30 to 60). Their online media involve appropriate social factors including listening, customer care, reach, and relationships and they use it to provide current news and data to the public. This outreach helps to reduce anxiety, stop misinformation, and solicit support from the public when support is needed.

Learn more about the Canadian Red Cross here.

 Results and Discussion

Strengths

Outreach - The Red Cross includes a wide variety of photos in all of their media and their photo content is fairly evenly split between professional-quality versus amateur, with shots of both volunteers (not models) and emergency aid situations. Videos and blog posts offer interviews and information about a wide variety of situations.

Functionality - The Canadian Red Cross is partnered with Dell Digital Business Services with the aim of more efficient disaster responses through optimization of their social media presence. Facebook Live gives real-time answers to questions, etc., and boots-on-the-ground staff members add in-the-moment content to the Instagram feed. The Be Ready app offers real-time disaster alerts for a wide variety of weather and localized emergency situations based on location. It gives a detailed list of what you should do before, during, and after a disaster. The First Aid app gives clear, simple instructions with animated demonstrations according to the emergency you click on. Both apps are clear, uncluttered, and scannable which is audience-appropriate in emergency situations.

Consistency - The branding of the charity’s social media is consistent across all platforms. The logo and colour scheme of white and red are easily recognizable and utilized effectively on all social media. They consistently use the same hashtags, #RedCrossHelps or #PhotoOfTheWeek, making it easy for their audience to follow them, and most of their social media accounts are verified, showcasing trust and establishment of the brand, which will build trust in their followers.

Weaknesses

Sharing the Same Content across Platforms – they are not curating content to be specific to their respective accounts. Content is not specific to each platform which does not create an incentive for the user to follow multiple accounts (very much a faux-pas in the social media world). Because it is repeated across multiple platforms, the content does not tell the true story of the brand so it does not allow the user to fully understand their work. As quoted by Hootsuite, “Things like caption length, image formatting, and vocabulary differ by platform. Sharing the exact same post on all of them means you might accidentally end up inviting your followers to retweet you on Facebook or pin your post on Instagram.”

Boring Content - their current content does not inspire people to want to follow them extensively. As mentioned above, the current content is repetitive, which does not make people want to be engaged with the posts. Many of the posts are simply headshots of people and are not that interesting in themselves. This means that users are getting a lot of similar stories, week after week. This is leading to very low overall engagement on posts, especially on platforms such as Facebook, where some posts only receive around 13 likes despite having 132k followers. There isn’t much appeal to emotions. There is not enough content that is specific to their work in Canada as the user doesn’t necessarily fully understand what they do in Canada, itself. Also, the sharing links all give a 503 error.

The Facebook presence is overwhelming; they are posting too many times in one day and this can turn their audience off. On some days, they can have up to 5 posts per day on Facebook. This flooding leads to users not seeing the posts due to flood-prevention algorithms. As well, the posts typically have links to their website; this technique is effective sometimes but should not be used in every post. Additionally, all of the volunteer bios are clustered together on one page, but it’s unlikely that anyone will sift through multiple volunteer stories.

Lack of Overall Aesthetics - The static website is not very inspiring and it’s not interesting for the user to follow. Currently on their social media, they frequently post images that appear to be raw and unedited and the imagery is not really captivating. There are not many other visual elements and they could use some diversity in their graphics.

Lack of Diversity – The only languages in which the website is available are English and French. This ignores the fact that Canada is becoming more and more diverse and many newcomers want to “pay it forward” but may not yet have a good grasp of either of the official languages. Additionally, the volunteers being photographed are mostly Caucasian and able-bodies, while people photographed receiving aid are not. This lack of representation may be off-putting for some potential volunteers.

Instagram is Unverified – Instagram is not being used to its best capacity. The account is unverified which does not instill trust in people to follow the account. According to entrepreneur.com, verification is an important aspect to ensure people understand your account is the proper one to follow. As such, the Canadian Red Cross Instagram account has significantly fewer followers as compared to their other platforms.

Conclusion & Recommendations

While the Canadian Red Cross has utilized many platforms to engage their target audience, there is still much room for improvement. To encourage users to follow them through multiple platforms, the Canadian Red Cross should provide photos and information that are unique to each platform.

The static website, while not ancient, could use updating to engage a younger audience. Embedding videos or animation, taking advantage of parallax scrolling, and adding volunteer bios on each page will add interest and increase audience engagement.

Appealing to emotion is known to increase audience engagement. Stories of desperation mixed with heartwarming triumph will keep audiences coming back for more.

More information should be given about local relief efforts, rather than focusing strictly on international emergencies.

Dead sharing links need to be fixed.

Posting on Facebook should be reduced significantly and the link to the website should be included less frequently.

Include a volunteer photo with a brief bio in a sidebar on each page. Include name, age, occupation (or previous occupation if retired), province, and a quote about how volunteering has changed their life.

Translating the website into more languages would reach a larger audience. Refugees, in particular, are eager to show their gratitude and having the website available in their language(s) will encourage them to donate their time.

Increase the visibility of minorities and volunteers with disAbilities on all platforms. Representing a variety of shades of skin, wheelchairs, hearing aids, and chromosomal disorders will encourage a wider market of volunteers.

Bibliography

The 10 Most Deadly Mistakes in Website Design

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234129

5 Ways to Get to the Heart of Emotional Marketing

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297367

The Beautiful Nonprofit and Charity Websites That Won The 2018 Webby Award

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jN1KmciFE

Web Design Tips For Not-For-Profit Organizations

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Hey Reno Fans!

     I looove old houses. My name is Karen Gawne and, as newlyweds in 1995, Hubby and I bought an old country church that had been partially renovated. It cost us a whopping $70,000. When we moved in, the upper floor had been gutted by a fire, none of the bedrooms or closets had doors, the stairs were rotten, you could see sunlight through the ceiling, the bathroom floor was squishy, the pipes froze in the winter, the plumbing was an abominable mess, and the furnace was ancient. Also, there were bats.

     Over the next 12 years, we spent every penny we had finishing that place.

We:

painted

insulated

drywalled

replaced

plumbed

rewired

had three kids

     And, with the exception of hooking up the electrical, we did all of the work ourselves. When we finished it, we slapped a ‘For Sale’ sign on the lawn and got the heck out of there. We bought a place that didn’t need any work at all and stayed there for eight years. It was peaceful.

     In 2015, we got the idea into our heads that, now that the kids were older and leaving the nest, it might be fun to have a project to work on together. I found a farmhouse that had a lot of potential and we moved in. Then the “fun” began.

     Parts of the house had old knob-and-tube wiring (an insurance company no-no) so, on Day One while the kids and I were cleaning and unpacking the kitchen, hubby and an electrician dug the old wiring out of the entire house and replaced it with new. And that was just Day One.

Over the next three years we:

replaced the plumbing

ripped up carpet

built a second bathroom

tiled and grouted floors and shower walls

installed heated floors

replaced the old oil furnace with a high-efficiency propane furnace

stripped an astonishing amount of wallpaper

discovered naked drywall under all the wallpaper

designed, built, and installed a kitchen

became proficient at mitring trim

went through more tubes of spray foam and caulking than I can count

replaced the front porch floor

painted every square inch of the house, inside and out

screwed up a million times

bled, like, a lot

     Once again, we did almost everything ourselves. The truly exciting thing about this experience is the fact that Hubby and I are still married and we even still like one another! These renovations have taught us a lot about one another. They’ve also taught us that we are stronger than we know. I, for example, learned that I likely won’t die if a petrified mouse corpse drops into my hair and gets tangled up as I frantically try to remove it whilst wearing oversized work gloves. And I’ve learned that these lessons make for really juicy social media fodder.         

     I hope you have some fun as I share my tips on How to Renovate Your Home Without Committing Murder.

Hammer in hand,