Volunteers socialise at social media training event
27 February 2018
The Hilton Hotel was recently the venue for two days social media training. And four volunteers from North Birmingham Cats Protection took part and took heart from all they gleaned about sharing the education, neutering and homing messages via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Presenting the training were Erin Niimi Longhurst of media firm Social Misfits Media and Gemma Croker of the NCC (national cat centre) digital team. Cats Protection volunteers from all over the UK got to hear about the event - probably via social media! - and were set several tasks to produce the 'purrfect post' and the most concise tweet. And each team made a very neat job of it.
Benefitting from social media training in February were four volunteers from North Birmingham - Sheila Pennell, Fosterer and website editor, Sue Sandison, Direct homing, new volunteer Katie Grimason, and Jane Holt, Procurement officer. Also pictured are trainers Gemma Croker (left) and Erin Longhurst (right). *photo-credit to volunteer Ryan Onody of Cherwell Branch
Everyone was asked 'who was their favourite internet cat', and responses ranged from Simon's cat, Grumpy cat, Matilda, Marmalade, Larry and - the latest to go viral - Ollie - owned by Ricky Gervais. Another was 'Piano cat' who belongs to a Turkish twitter poster, and Tabby McCat, from a children's story book.
But as well as the light-hearted side, the thrust was ‘making social media go further’ and all that entailed was put over and discussed in great depth and detail – ensuring everyone understood Cats Protection’s social media policy, how best to respond to the public, and how to share the right cat care messages on the most appropriate platform.
Volunteers came from adoption centres and branches which included Oxfordshire, Coventry, Belfast, Milton Keynes, Camberley & District, Devon, North Wirral, Cherwell, Beverley & Pocklington, Norfolk, Rugby, Honiton and Stourbridge as well as, of course, North Birmingham.
At the close of the final day, NCC social media manager Gemma commented: “It was fantastic to see so many enthusiastic faces at the social media training and I hope it’ll help our volunteers reach even more people with messages about cats who need homes, cat care advice and also news about our events and activity in the local area.”