Converting Facebook followers into CampaignersJames White, Campaigns Officer, Guide Dogs

Who am I?• Campaigns Officer at Guide Dogs since

February 2011

• Used to work in sales, so I like targets

• I attended Spark 2011, after which I started to think about creating a widget

• I am not a programmer!

The Campaign• Talking Buses

• Audio Visual next stop and final destination announcements on all buses across the UK (like on new trains, trams, London Buses etc)

• Campaign started in 2009

• Decided to focus on Norman Baker in March

What were we doing?

• We would post a message on Facebook about our Talking Buses Campaign.

• We were then asking people to leave Facebook and complete the following on our website…

Why wasn’t this working?• People would prefer not to leave the

comfort of Facebook.

• Even if they did, the form was fairly boring to look at, and there are lots of fields to fill in.

The case against• Cost?

• Most people on our Facebook page seem to just like cute dogs!

• Easy? Time to create? Not that many working examples to learn from

• I am a keen user of technology, but not technically minded

The case for• Not actually that expensive

• There were around 9,000 people who “Liked” our page on Facebook

• Overcomes the problem of people having to leave Facebook to take an action

• Eye catching/New/Shiny/Exciting

• Try anything once!

How did we do it? • Worked with our Social Media team and a

third party design company

• Quickly settled on a design

• Worked out which fields were vital to us

• Showed the design company how to access the Engaging Networks stylesheets.

• Job Done!

What to do with it…

• Very simple to add it on Facebook as a tab down the left hand navigation so it is there all the time

• Usual mentions in the Newsfeed

Spreading the word• @guidedogs included a bit.ly link in

Tweets about Talking Buses/party conferences etc

• Other charities placed it on their own Facebook pages – thanks to Whizz Kidz, Action for Blind People, Action on Hearing Loss and others.

Results (as of 14/10)

• 281 people have completed the widget in a couple of months.

• 247 were brand new (87%)

• 125 are happy to be contacted in future (44%)

Improvements?

• We weren’t allowed to put it here…

Improvements?

• We haven’t used it as the landing page on Facebook (so it would be the first thing people would see).

Improvements?

• We haven’t asked people to tell their friends/participate in other actions etc.

Contact Details

• T: @tweetfromchaff

• M: 0755 443 8268

• E: james.white@guidedogs.org.uk

• Facebook: Guide Dogs Campaigns

• Any questions?