Will the term ‘social media’ become as passé as ‘information superhighway’? Are charities going to work together more to share resources? Will communications departments become more valued?
Here are our predictions for the future of charity communications.
1. Charities will need to find new ways of delivering their news directly to users. Print media will wither further. Newspaper websites will almost definitely start charging, which could mean a whole new generation of independent news websites for charities to target.
2. Online video is going to become more and more common – meaning boundaries between web and TV will blur further. This could open up a whole new supporter base for charities.
3. Charities will have to find a way of managing their brand in the social media world. Social media works both ways. People expect interaction – supporters want to offer criticism, and demand results instantly. Charities that engage with social media have to be open to having a genuine conversation with supporters.
4. For the best charities, the content of communications will become even more important. Charities still need great words, however they intend to deliver them. The challenge will be to avoid becoming too preoccupied with how to deliver messages (Twitter or Facebook? e.newsletters or online videos?) at the expense of what charities want and need to say. We still need to hone our key messages, keep them striking, simple and to the point.
5. Charity communicators will need to think creatively about how to engage the ‘digital dispossessed’ – people who can’t afford, or choose not to have smart phones, digital cameras or an internet connection, who may feel increasingly left out of the communications loop. Charities that are thinking about making communications materials ‘download only’ must remember that this automatically alienates older, poorer, less tech-savvy people who don’t own a computer – possibly their own service users.
