The Power of Social Media

"Social media sparks a revelation that we, the people, have a voice, and through the democratization of content and ideas we can once again unite round common passions, inspire movements, and ignite change."
Brian Solis

Social media is a huge force in our world today, it can be good or bad depending on how it is used. For the first time ever we as humans have the ability to communicate thoughts, ideas and news instantly with the rest of our species, this is most evident when we think of the videos, pictures and blogs coming out of Syria during this time of conflict for them. Social media transfers information in it's raw form, unfiltered, unbiased and brutally honest at times. However, the communication of information is not the only thing it is used for; through the transference of information we make connections with others. These connections allow us to communicate with individuals, businesses and organisations in a way that we previously would not have been able to do.

Most of you already know, but for those that don't I had to raise a minimum of £800 before I travel to Sierra Leone. As soon as I found out that I was going to Sierra Leone I set up a FaceBook page called "Denise Goes to Sierra Leone" which people could like and share with others. This was subsequently linked with a new Twitter account, both of which I used to promote my Just Giving page. If I posted something to my FaceBook page this would appear on my Twitter page, I would then retweet this post onto my personal Twitter. I have found that consistency and engagement are key to using social media successfully. I identified my goal which was to raise my target of £800, I then set out a plan of action which was to maintain activity on the page and to engage with as many people as possible on FaceBook and Twitter. For example whenever my Just Giving page was donated to I would thank the person personally on FaceBook and Twitter and provide a brief update on my progress and how much more I needed for my target.

Therefore, the 3 most important steps to remember are below:

1. Idenify your goal
2. Set up a plan of action (Engagement and consistency)
3. Follow through with your plan of action

Upon reaching my target I had to change my goal. A huge part of the ICS programme is Action at Home, which means working withing your community promoting the message of Restless Development and sharing the experiences you have had (In a nut shell of course). As soon as you reach your fundraising target start laying the foundations for your Action at Home. Before I reached my target I promoted my Just Giving page, now I promote this blog, I do this because social media is one of my strengths and I want to build up a decent readership in order to share my experience with as many people as possible. A blog is a great tool for any glocal citizen! Not only has my goal changed but so has my plan of action, I try to limit my posts to two a day. One post will be a daily fact about Sierra Leone, the other will be an update on my ICS journey. My aim is to keep people interested but not overload them with too much information either, if you post too much or too little people will loose interest and may even withdraw their support altogether.

At this stage you should be very active on Twitter, your FaceBook posts will still be posted to your Twitter but you should also be engaging with organisations, businesses, media and individuals on Twitter. Follow as many people as possible, interact with as many people as possible and most importantly thank everyone who retweets, favourites or follows you.  Hashtags are also very important for connecting with others, whenever I post something to Twitter 99% of the time I will hashtag Sierra Leone and Restless Development so whenever anyone searched for either of these key words my tweets will come up. I have found many like minded people this way and it is not something to underestimated. On the other hand keep your hashtags to a minimum, do not tweet like this - #Hi #My #Name #Is #Denise - otherwise people will probably want to "kill you in the face" as my friend would say!

The most important thing to do when conducting a campaign using social media is to be yourself. Having access to real people and real personalisties is what attracts organisations and individuals to social media. I am in no way an expert in social media marketing but thought my experiences may be of some help to others.

If you need any help with using social media as a marketing tool I would be more than happy to share what I know and point you in the right direction when I don't know something.

Thank you for reading and my blog and I will see you in a weeks time!

The Story of Logistical Nightmares, New Friends and Honey Badgers!

" I look like a Honey Badger..."  Claire Doherty

Last Friday was my final day working at Regenersis and it was a day of mixed emotions. I was excited that I was finally breaking away from my old life and taking the first tentative steps into the new one, however, it was a sad day. I made a lot of friends there and learned some really important lessons and skills, not just from the customers but from my fellow staff members as well. I did not have much time to think as I made my way to Birmingham (my mother's birth place) for a training weekend with Restless Development.

It was a fantastic weekend which was expertly run by the lovely Rachael and the awesome Frank (See picture 1), their energy was infectious and really set the tone for the rest of the weekend. I have to commend them for their work because it takes a lot of energy to do what they do and still keep smiling, listening and laughing. While I was there I was staying with 2 other Sierra Leonean volunteers, Claire and Laura, we gelled immediately and spent most of the weekend talking about Honey Badgers and how we wake up most mornings looking and feeling like them! (See picture 2)  Meeting new people is always scary and you never really know if you will mix well, however, from my experience when you are afraid you judge people before you know them. It is natural to judge people when you first meet them based on your previous experiences, however, what I have learned is that people can surprise you. I think that was a lesson that we all learned during the weekend and will stand us in good sted for when we find ourselves in a different country, surrounded by a different culture and society.

On a more practical note, we found out that we will be teaching employability skills to the young people in Sierra Leone! I am so excited about this, it really plays to my strengths and skill set. We will be working in schools and youth centres, running employability workshops and support with CV writing as well as career fairs. We will be there for 11 weeks and be staying two to a room, with a western toilet and probably an outside shower. We will have a further 10 days of in country training when we get there and then be split off into 3 groups between Mikeni, Freetown and Bo. We will be carrying on the work of previous volunteers, helping to make this whole project sustainable and transferable through the local community and hopefully the following generations. For me that is what development means, it is sustainable, transferable and goal orientated. Most importantly it is not dictated by some leader in a far off "developed" western country. You can build as many schools as you like but unless you have people to fill them there really isn't much point.

However, I won't be going anywhere without being fully vaccinated! A word of advice to anyone doing something similar, get your vaccinations sorted ASAP because some need to be administered over a month and there will always be that one vaccine that is a pain in the backside to organise. For me that has been the Rabies vaccine, it has been the bane of my life for the last 3 days. Luckily I got it organised just in time and by the skin of my teeth, do not let that be the case for you as you  may not be so lucky.

I have a lot more that I would love to talk about but I like to keep these blogs as short and sweet as possible. To make up for this I have numbered some of the important things to keep in mind if you get choosen to be an ICS volunteer. If you want any more information on number 2 and how I set mine up get in touch and I will more than happy to help.

1. Sort out vaccines before anything else
2. Set up a social media web ASAP
3. Keep in regular contact with your organiser, do not always wait for them to contact you
4. Read up on your country - especially about the customs and societal expectations
5. Keep in regular contact with other volunteers, share ideas, resources and information

Have a good weekend everyone and my blog and I will see you in a weeks time!