What is your charity’s name and Mission?
We are the RSPCA, registered in England & Wales (Charity no. 219099) The RSPCA as a charity will, by all lawful means, prevent cruelty, promote kindness to and alleviate suffering of animals.
Name
Sarah Gallagher – E-Marketing Communications Assistant
How long have you been using Twitter and who's idea was it?
We really started to get to grips with Twitter in March 09, although our account had been set up for a little while before that. Coincidentally, I started my role in the e-Marketing team in March, so the idea was already on the team’s mind and I filled the gap of chief twitterer.
What have you enjoyed so far whilst using Twitter?
I know that Twitter is not all about the number of followers you have, but as it turns out, there is nothing more rewarding than knowing that so many people out there in the Twittersphere support your cause. Every day, when your follower count increases, you know that the result will mean more people hear about you and what your trying to achieve.
Has there been any incidents of followers doing something wonderful for you?
We’re learning new ways of engaging with supporters every day with Twitter, and one of the things we’ve come to appreciate is that followers really want to support us, and talk about the work we do. What they don’t want is direct asks for money, and so we rarely go down this route (instead we try to direct them to a campaign information pages). That’s why, when one of our supporters living in Canada saw a story on the Sky News website, we were delighted to hear that she wanted to send a donation for one of the RSPCA animal hospitals featured – an action that she has since repeated. I never imagined that a simple twitter conversation in bursts of 140 characters would result in donations from over seas. It’s exceeded every expectation that we had.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Honestly, finding the time to devote to Twitter. I’d heard that you didn’t have to spend all your time on Twitter in order to make it work for you, and this to an extent is true. What I have found is that because of the breadth of work the RSPCA carries out, I do not always have the knowledge to answer queries. If the answer is not on our website, I have to approach colleagues in other departments for the answer… and then get it to make sense in 140 characters or less! We have to be absolutely correct in what we say, especially on scientific issues and legal ones alike, and to get our message across in such a short tweet can be difficult. But, every day is different, and one tough twitter day can be followed by a more straight forward one. It all depends on what’s in the news, what programmes we’ve been featured in, and what’s on the minds of your supporters on any given day.
Do you have a Twitter tip for other charities?
I’d just say get on it and give it a go. It starts out a little daunting, but you soon learn what works and what doesn’t. When I first started posting tweets, I was trying to be the official RSPCA twitter voice, but soon learnt that we needed a more human element. My biggest response from followers to date was when I tweeted “It's been one of them days… I need cheering up! Why not take a piccie of your pet & post it to TwitPic so I can see how fab they all are :-)”. I couldn’t believe how many people tweeted back wanting to bring a smile to my face. I built many new twitter relationships that day, and I value every single one of them.
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