Value:Client:Source:Date:

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Whizz Kidz

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Third Sector (Main)03 November 2009

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1913357311cm2

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Why social networking is so useful

Rob Dyson

Whizz-Kidz

argues that online communities are a great way for small charities to make an impact

hen Whizz-Kidz designeda new poster toencourage

City workersto take part

in the ParisMarathon earlier this year, the charitywanted a second

opinion. So it showedthe poster, which featured a youngwoman looking seductivelyover her

shoulder, to its followerson social networking websitesTwitter,

Flickr and Facebook.The results, according to RobDyson, the charity's PR manager,were enlightening. "Potentiallysexist, and can't see how fits withWhizz-Kidz,"commented one user."I think Freud would have a fieldday with the poster," said another."And the Fundraising StandardsBoard logo appears to

be approvingthe good lady's posterior."

Dyson says the Whizz-Kidz events

team took on board some of the "constructive"feedback, but went aheadwith the poster. It was designed by anall-female team and meant to be ironic,he says, and the comments camefrom

charity PR and marketing professionals

rather than the campaign'starget audience. However, the episodehas provided some important lessonsfor future campaigns, he says."I really value the feedback, whichis generally supportive and sometimesDyson Askedfor feedback about poster (inset)insightful," he says. "Itmakes

sense, if you are a smallcharity with fewer resources for advertising,to use all the free channelsavailable to promote your work."Dyson first started to see the benefitsof social networking when he setup a group on

Facebook for charity press officers and soon realised thetechnology could be used to benefithis charity. "It occurred to me that

Whizz-Kidz really had to be in thespaces where our supporters alreadywere,"he says.Social networking is particularly usefulfor smaller

charities, he says: "Interms of more traditional

media, it remainsa challenge to make an impressionon a national scale for a smaller,rather niche organisation."Despite the potential of social networking,

Dyson says, there are dangers."The audiences are very diverseand immediate with social media, soit's important to be thoughtful andtargeted with replies,"he says."It's invaluableto