What is Vine?

Vine is a free app available on iPhone (it’s not currently available for Android although they are working on this) that allows you to loop six second videos either continuously or frame by frame which are then stitched together.

Hi @crawls18 - we madeyou a little video… Keep it going! #thankyouvine.co/v/b5tnVIVjt2M

—
Diabetes UK (@DiabetesUK) January
25, 2013

Dom Hofmann, General Manager of Vine describes the serviceas being about abbreviation: “Posts on Vine are the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life.”

Not convinced? Well this is where it gets smart. Twitter, who recently bought out Vine, allows you to embed Vines (a Vine video) into your tweets. Vine doesn’t have a play button so content is automatically streamed when scrolling through your Twitter feed. Bingo! Your audience are engaging with your videos without even having to consciously decide to. Now that’s clever.

How does Vine work?

Vine has been specifically designed with simplicity in mind, therefore allowing users to concentrate on their content. To create a Vine:

• Press the record button.

• Your camera will become activated. Touching the screen will start recording and you’ll see a green bar at the top of your screen indicating the six second time frame.

• To stop recording simply stop touching the screen. This allows you to prepare for your next frame. If you aren’t filming a continuous six second stream then you can continue this start/stop process until you have reached the end of the six seconds.
• Once you have finished filming, your Vine will be previewed to you. If you are happy with it you then have the option to add a caption, hashtags, a location and share to Twitter and Facebook.

How are Vine and Twitter linked?

Videos created through Vine are only accessible via the app. This means that in order to share your Vines on your blog or website, you have to share them to Twitter.  Doing this creates a link and allows you to embed the Vine into a web page.

Vines have a powerful effect when shared on Twitter because the platform is so well-established and already has an engaged audience. Equally, because Vines are video content they help to create better engagement. This means the two platforms work really effectively together and effectively create ‘enhanced tweets’.

What’s the point of Vine?

Vine exploded virtually overnight and soon both individuals and brands alike were busy filming and uploading to Vine but what’s the point? And more importantly is it worth your time and resource? Video is an incredibly successful form of content for engaging users as we already know, but often the creation of this content is time consuming. The main selling point of Vine however, is how quick and easy it is to create video content. Its appeal is the raw, DIY feel that allows you to creatively tell a story or share a small moment from your world that your audience wouldn’t usually see. This insight into reality allows you to showcase the true personality of your organisation. Most importantly, Vine’s key feature of automatic streaming means your audienceis inadvertently digesting your content allowing you to quickly get across keymessages.

How can charities use Vine effectively?

Tell a story

Six seconds might be short but if you have a clear message, creating a Vine can be a good way of communicating that to your audience. The Welsh cancer charity Tenovus demonstrated this well. They communicated the great work their four year old mobile cancer unit had achieved by simply using a map, a toy truck and a pen and paper!

Our Mobile Unit is 4 today! We’ve achieved so much with your support. Let’s hope we’re celebrating more later! #readyvine.co/v/b1O0QqBdPFx

— Tenovus (@tenovuscancer) February 2, 2013

Have one point and make it clear

To effectively utilise the time available in a Vine it’s crucial you have a very clear message. The Vines that have been successful or gone viral are the ones that make it very clear what point they are making. Stick to one idea and make sure it’s easy to understand. Diabetes UK did a fantastic job of this by using magnetic letters to help raise awareness of their 4Ts campaign– the four symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.

Everyone should be aware of the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes - #the4Ts. Recognise these in a child? See your… vine.co/v/b5TIXPwmn35

— Diabetes UK (@DiabetesUK) January 25, 2013

Humanise your organisation

Your audience have a personal affiliation with charities and seeing the people who do all the hard work can only add to that. You could easily use Vine to introduce your team members, show the person who is busy replying to all those Facebook messages or who came up with your latest campaign. Diabetes UK, who was one of the first charities to utilise Vine, did this really well by not only showing their team but engaging with their audience by thanking specific users for their donation.

Hi @roddyriddle - thank you vine.co/v/b1Lqr7xV1He

— Diabetes UK (@DiabetesUK) February 4, 2013

Fundraising

Charities are always looking for new and innovative ways to fundraise online and get their supporters to donate. BBC Children in Need created a really simple Vine showing how easy it is to make a donation online.

#howto donate to #CiNvine.co/v/bXzETvtE01t

— BBC Children in Need (@BBCCiN) February 27, 2013

You can also create a simple call to action to inform your audience what you’d like them to do. Tenovus did this by informing their supporters they needed clothing donations and asking them to donate.

https://vine.co/v/bJjr50PBH2p

Engage with your audience

Because Vines are so easy to do, why not encourage your audience to create their own Vines inspired by yours? Asthma UK blogged about their involvementwith Vine and encouraged their supporters to create a Vine video detailing whatthey’d do if a cure for Asthma was found. This fitted nicely into their wider marketing strategy for their #AsthmaCure campaign.

http://asthma.org.uk/vine

Create content that is genuine, compelling and engaging

Like any content you produce for your charity, the focus should be on quality not quantity. Vine will only be successful if the messages you put across are genuine and you aren’t just creating Vines because it’s the new ‘on trend’ thing to do. Ensue your Vines have a point or a clear call-to-action like this one from the Dogs Trust:

Need a friend? vine.co/v/b5UAMMaxdbY

— Dogs Trust (@DogsTrust) January 25, 2013

Keep it simple

Successful Vines are the ones that are simple. Ask yourself what the purpose of creating the video is and what you want your audience to do with it. Is it to communicate a message? Are you asking them to donate? Make it clear what you want them to do. Marie Curie released a Vine on Valentine’s Day showing a heart being made out of daffodils. This was a great idea as it was topical but they also made it clear that the purpose of the video was to remind supporters to donate.

Roses are red. Daffodils are not. #Donate1hr and collect A LOT! vine.co/v/brAjK9Dh9Kmmariecurie.org.uk/daffodil

— Marie Curie (@mariecurieuk) February 14, 2013

Embrace DIY

The whole point of Vine is that it looks rough around the edges. Sure, there are some amazing Vines created by animators and designers but don’t feel you have to compete with them. Embrace the DIY aspect of the tool and spend the majority of your time focusing on the message you want to get across rather than making those six seconds as slick as a TV ad.

Should your charity use Vine?

Vine is undoubtedly a quirky and exciting tool but ask yourself, does quirky represent what your brand is about? Rather than thinking “Argh another tool I have to use” start thinking about the different social media platforms as a range of tools you can pick and choose from. You don’t have to use them all; you can simply choose which ones are the right fit for your organisation. With Vine, ask yourself whether it will allow you to get across your key messages; will you be able to create good quality content; will it fit in with the rest of your marketing strategy; and, most importantly, do you have the time and resource to put into creating Vines? If the answer is yes – then start getting creative!

Has your charity started using Vine? Leave your links below – we’d love to see what you’ve created. What do you think about Vine? Will you be giving it a go? Do you think it’s just a fad? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comment box below.

Got a project you’d like to talk to us about? Then get in touch! Whether you are after a new website or need help with content management, we can help you figure out what it is you need and how best to build it.

Remember when you were a kid and you’d rip out pictures from magazines and spend hours sticking them in a scrapbook? Well Pinterest is the virtual equivalent;  it’s a visual platform that allows you to ‘pin’ images you like or feel inspired by. Rather than being limited to one scrapbook however, you are able to create themes around your images by pinning them to titled boards. Pinterest isn’t just a fun tool for scouring nice images though; it is being harnessed as a powerful marketing tool and can help drive traffic to your website whilst really engaging your target audience.

As a marketing tool Pinterest is perfect for charities and not for profit organisations. It allows you to reinforce your key messages and campaigns using compelling images. After all – a picture tells a thousand words – and Pinterest allows you to create narrative through the use of images.

There are plenty of great resources online helping you get up to speed on how to use Pinterest, but how can you ensure your organisation really benefits from it?

In this blog post we explore how.

You might think Pinterest sounds great, but before you decide to start using it and include it in your social media strategy – stop and evaluate whether this is the right tool for your charity. Firstly, do you have the time and resources to dedicate to Pinterest? The tool itself might be free, but in order for it to be truly effective it will require regular time spent updating and managing it.

Secondly, you’ll need to consider whether your organisation lends itself to a visual platform. For example if you work with young people or ex-offenders you might struggle to take inspiring pictures of your work as most of your clients will want to remain anonymous. If after evaluating the tool you think it can add value to your organisation then there are some great ways that charities can engage with Pinterest to get the most from it.

Inspire & Engage

Aim to inspire your audience and encourage people to engage with your organisation.

You can do this by pinning eye-catching images that focus on the positives your charity has helped create. A great example of this is from Age UK who has a board entitled ‘People’. Rather than focusing on the stereotypes of the elderly – they’ve show another side, a more positive side. This image of two ladies laughing, for example, speaks loudly. It’s emotive and attention-grabbing and stands out on its own.

Image Source: Age UK

Using powerful images that work independently is important with Pinterest. The majority of people will see your images on their own, not in the context of your boards. This means they are either viewing your image in their feed or it has been displayed for a search they have entered. Not every image has to have the wow factor – but it’s worth considering when choosing images to pin.

Create a Dialogue with Your Audience

Someone has liked and repinned your image – great! But the conversation doesn’t have to end there. Perhaps you could link your images to blog posts on your website? Or provide useful resource links in the description? Not only does this create another form of traffic generation but it continues to engage your audience and make them more likely to get involved and support your organisation. Rather than simply being a charity they support, you are now a resource of useful information.

Tell a Story

Narrative might not be as obvious with images, but it gives you the space to be creative and inventive. Perhaps you can use images to showcase the great work your charity does? Or help tell a specific story? Charity: Water does this really well by sharing a photo a day.

Image source: Charity:  Water

Use Facts, Figures & Interesting Statistics

Infographics or simple data visualisations can really stand out on Pinterest and allow people to immediately understand the message you are trying to convey.

Image source: Mind

What’s more you don’t need to hire an expensive designer in order to create powerful infographics. There are now plenty of free infographic tools available online that will allow you to present your data in a visually appealing way.

Use it to Fundraise

Pinterest has a great feature that allows you to communicate an item is for sale by showing a $ or £ in the corner of your image. This could be a great piece of functionality to encourage people to click to donate.

Image source: Operation Smile

You could even create a specific fundraising board with custom made images that allow people to donate £5, £10, or £20 and that takes them through to your donation page.

Don’t forget you can also make use of the description box. Try asking provocative questions or statements such as “Save a Child’s Life Today.  Donate Now.” Apply the same call to actions you would for your website copy.

Be Inventive!

You don’t have to be conventional with the images you choose to pin - so try and think outside of the box.

Inspiring quotes can be really powerful - either by editing an existing image or perhaps using interesting typography that stands out.

Image source: Save The Children

As well as images, PInterest also allows you to pin videos that can be played directly within Pinterest without the user having to click through to another page.  Video is a great way of feeding your audience a little bit of extra content.

Image source: Action Aid

Think About Context

Your Pinterest campaign doesn’t need to be thought of as a separate entity from the rest of your social media campaigns. Campaigns that work on Twitter for example, could also translate to Pinterest. A great example of this is Operation Smile’s campaign “ChangeForever”. In order to spread the words about the positive stories of the lives they have helped, they created the hashtag #changeforever. On Twitter this campaign focuses on the outcomes – how positive change made the children feel or act e.g. “Ngan can now walk down the street feeling confident #changeforever”. Pinterest, which also uses hashtags, can help reinforce this message using visuals and showing positive imagery. Using these two social platforms together makes the message Operation Smile want to convey much stronger.

Image source: Operation Smile

Don’t Just Push Content – Engage With People

Like any social media platform, in order to really engage your users you don’t just want to be pushing content out – you want to be engaging with your audience.  On Pinterest, this is actually very simple. Like and repin other images you think are relevant to your audience. Follow other people or charities similar to yours and, if you can, leave comments. Not only does this help to create a sense of community on Pinterest, but it is also likely that those same people will like, repin and engage with your images.

Image source: Operation Smile

Measure, Analyse and Reassess

Once you’ve been up and running on Pinterest for a few months – have a review. Has it been effective? Are you getting repins and likes? Are your audience engaging with Pinterest as much as your other social media platforms. Above all else,  using Pinterest for your charity should be giving you a return from your time and as a result it’s important you measure the success of using the tool. Tools like Pinreach can help you easily analyse the success of your campaigns.

Is your charity or not-for-profit organisation on Pinterest? Leave a link to your page in our comments box below so we can connect with you.

What tips have you found useful in helping to create a successful campaign? Or perhaps you’ve been apprehensive about joining Pinterest - what’s stopped you? We’d love to hear your comments.

There are thousands of agencies taking this approach towards web design, treating a website not just as a piece of software development but as a whole project with real world concerns such as accessibility, usability and marketing.

If you compare a commercial company to a charity or not for profit, they all share the same goal when starting a project or campaign, to get people to part with their disposable income for a product or service they provide. The only real difference between them is their cause.

Commercial companies spend a lot of time and money on trying to get the user experience right to ensure visitors get the most out of the website, so the question is, are charities getting left behind?

The answer may very well be yes, but it doesn’t have to be. We see charities who are charged extortionate amounts by agencies just because the charities don’t know any better. Charities looking to create a new website or a specific campaign site need to do their research into what kind of web strategies work the best, and get a feel for how much websites should cost.

Designing for charities

For charity websites that want to pull people in for them to either donate or sign up for a membership there are some key design factors that can really make all the difference.

Clean layout

The site (especially the home page) should not over complicate things by making a user have to think about what they want to do. It should have clear and meaningful headings such as; Home, Join, Help, Donate, Contact, etc. Users will immediately know which section does what without having to search to find what they are looking for.

Clear call to action

If you are providing a call to action on the site such as ‘join’ or ‘donate’ it should be prominent on the homepage. This should be informative about exactly what a user is donating / subscribing to, how it will help and an ongoing tally of the total donations or members you have received so far. If you are aiming for a target make sure this is clear.

Page content

Imagery is key here, do not use stock imagery as users will know and won't necessarily connect with your cause. Instead use images of the subject of your charity, preferably this should be of the people you are helping - make sure to gain consent to use these images. On the home page try to summarise the work the charity is trying to do as simply as possible. This links back into the call to action of what you are donating to. If you want users to go to different sections of the website you should use questioning copy such as; “How many children suffer from malaria a year?“. This will help to promote curiosity and people will be interested to find out more.

Donation alternative

Bullet point all of the ways that people can assist where they don’t necessarily have to pay. This may be as simple as ‘tell your friends by sharing this link’ and will give people who are not able to donate another way to help you.

Newsletter

People might not want to donate or sign up at the time but may want to be kept informed of news, etc. A simple newsletter form should always be present to expand who you are able to market to. Consider sending out a monthly digest of information but make sure you offer the ability to unsubscribe.

Social Media Basics

Mostly everyone who uses the web utilises some sort of social media in some way. During the planning stages of a project and in the initial discussion on web strategy, charities should think about if they have someone who can spend some time each week engaging with social media and incorporate it into their role. Something small like a Facebook ‘like’ button or a ‘Tweet’ button on your website would mean you could grow a ‘fan list’ that you could put out content to, similar to a newsletter. The benefit of this over a newsletter is that you can put out one post at a time, rather than worrying about collating data to produce a fully fledged newsletter.

Social Media Advanced

Social media can be utilised further by creating interactive sections of a website that can be shared. A survey / poll could be used e.g. ‘What's my carbon footprint?”, and when a user receives their results it could be shared via Facebook or Twitter. The post would contain a link back to the charity website which friends of the user may click on and generate you more traffic. And let’s not forget that more traffic with a good user experience leads to more donation conversions. There are some massive examples of social network campaigns that reward users for getting their friends involved such as the Greenpeace campaign, VW Darkside. The rewards from this are not only virtual, i.e. turning it into a competitive game, but also physical rewards such as t-shirts for recruiting a certain number of people.

At Electric Putty we offer a broad range of services appropriate to charities from help with your web strategies to designing and building your website whilst taking all you and your users needs into account.

It's been quite a year both on and off the field, here are just a few high lights.

New team member

Without doubt the biggest news is that founding partners Malcolm and Mel had a baby back in October. Mel is currently away on maternity leave and little Viggo is certainly keeping her very busy, but she's still very much involved in Putty business and will be back a few mornings a week sometime in the new year.

Website launches

Our biggest project of the year was the redevelopment of the Army Cadet Force's website which we launched in October. Continuing our successful partnership with charity branding agency Spencer Du Bois, we developed a exciting new site aimed at raising their profile and boosting recruitment. Initial statistics suggest the project has been a great success.

In September we also launched a completely redesigned Reading Sight website, a project we originally worked on back in 2009. The new site went on to be nominated for the 2011 Jodi Awards where it picked up a commendation in the Digital Access Online category.

Technology

Our work with the ExpressionEngine content management system was recognised when we were accepted into their Pro Network, an exclusive list of companies who have displayed expertise in using the system.

We have also released our first commercial product, the Better Workflow add-on for ExpressionEngine. We initially developed this to fulfil the needs of our clients but quickly realised it potential. Since it's launch in October we have received some fantastic feedback from users and it has been nominated for Extenstion of the Year on the Devot-ee website.

Happy Christmas

We will be locking up Putty Towers for the holidays at the end of next week, but with Mel on maternity leave and Robin braving the north winds (he's going to Scotland) I'll be on my own for a few days. As the year draws to an end I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone we've had the pleasure of working with. Here's wishing you a very merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Best wishes,
Malcolm, Mel and Robin

P.S. We've just learnt that Better Workflow was awarded ExpressionEngine Extension of the Year 2011. We'd thrilled to bits of have won and want to thank everyone who has helped throughout year. A great way to round of 2011!

The Jodi awards are given by the Jodi Mattes Trust whose mission is:

"to promote the cultural equality of disabled people through the use of accessible digital media; the provision of accessible information and learning content; the involvement of disabled people in the process of creation, design and evaluation of digital media."

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of code which websites leave on your computer. They help websites remember things about you so when you next visit your experience can be personalised. Say you set your location on the BBC's homepage so you got the right weather, that information would be stored in a cookie so when you went back, even months later, it would remember where you live.

Cookies have been around since the dawn of the internet and, in almost every case, they are used completely innocently. However, the new law requires that every website asks their user's permission before setting cookies and whilst the UK has given 12 months grace, website owners will need to take some action to avoid breaking the law.

Dose this effect me?

Regardless how your website is build it is extremely likely that it uses cookies in one form or another; less that 10% of websites don't. Any website which collects statistics using Google Analytics is setting cookies and if you have accessibility controls or a 'remember me' feature on your login, chances are you these will use cookies too.

What should I do?

Along with many of our industry peers our advice is don't panic. That's not the same as don't do anything, but the fact is there is a great deal of confusion about exactly what this law means and what action you need to take.

The Information Commissioner's Office (IOC), the orgnaisation responsible for enforcing the 'law', has lead by example and put a large 'opt in' box at the top of every page. This box stays visible until you click to confirm you are happy to accept its cookies (ironically this action will itself set a cookie so the website doesn't need to ask you again). This approach is still very much the exception and only time will tell whether this type of intrusive notification becomes the norm.

For now the best advice seems to be ensure you have clear information about what cookies are and exactly how they are used on your site on your Privacy Policy page. You should be able to link directly to this page from anywhere on your site. If you use Google Analytics you should mention this explicitily and also make your users aware that they can opt out of your statistic collection using Google's Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Further reading

• For more information about exactly what cookies are you can visit the Wikipedia page (be warned, it gets geeky very quickly)
• If you want to learn about how you can view and delete cookie take a look at www.allaboutcookies.org
• You can also read the ICO advice on new EU cookies law press release

The whole thing explained perfectly in 2.5mins

This is an in-house position and we are looking for a versatile developer, someone not afraid to try new things and step out of their comfort zone. As well as green field development the role will involve servicing our existing clients and working with a proprietary CMS.

We use ExpressionEngine for most of our website project, are members of the EE Pro Network and are currently developing an EE Add-on. Experience and understanding of this and the CodeIgniter framework would be a bonus but is not essential. In fact we're not looking for anyone who relies too much on frameworks; using jQuery is great, but we need someone who understands things at a deeper level and is able to 'roll their own' when the situation demands it.

Job overview

• Title: Web developer
• Duration: 3 month starting in August 2011
• Location: Working from our office at the Werks in Hove (some flexibility may be available)
• Salary: Based on experience

Job Description:

• Bring ideas, imagination and creativity to the development process
• Take a lead role in the development of content managed websites and applications
• Work on maintenance and development of existing websites and applications
• Work closely with technical director and front-end developer
• Participate in internal meetings

Skills

• Demonstrable experience working with Content Management Systems
• Advanced PHP and MySQL on Linux based servers
• Advanced JavaScript
• Excellent problem solving and learning ability
• Excellent organisational and communication skills
• Great attention to detail

Experience in any of the following would be nice to have:

• CodeIgniter or similar PHP framework
• Classic ASP
• jQuery
• Standards compliant HTML / CSS
• git version control system

How to apply:

Please apply to malcolm@electricputty.co.ukwith:

• CV
• A covering letter detailing the ways in which you fulfil our requirements
• Five URLs of recent work clearly stating for each your role on the project
• Salary expectations.

No agencies please

A new report by Race Online called 'Survive and Thrive' makes some interesting reading and gathers together some case studies that illustrate the point. They say that some of the benefits of moving services online are to;

• Cut costs
• Raise more money
• Build communities
• Increase your reach
• More vividly demonstrate your impact

Recently we have found more organisations and businesses are coming to us to help them take offline processes and turn them into online applications to realise some of these benefits.

One recent project was for Villiers High School. They wanted to streamline the application process for their 6th form, cut down on the administrative overhead and at the same time encourage more students to apply.

We have created them a step by step online application form with lots of help and instructions to help guide students through the process. They can save their application in progress and submit it when they have completed all the required details. Validation on the form means there are less mistakes and therefore less work for the Admissions team. Requests for references are sent by email through the system with referees completing a simple form with their reference. All this online; replacing a ton of paperwork and the accompanying to-ing and fro-ing between students, the Admissions team and referees.

Obviously you need to weigh up the cost of developing your online tool against the cost savings you are going to make but it's also worth considering the longer term benefits and the social return on investment too.

We always interested to help you think through the potential of any ideas you have so do please get in touch to discuss your project.

I haven't done any public speaking for a long time (I think the last time was 2004) but I'm really excited about this event. We've been working really hard on the Better Workflow Add-on and believe that it will be a really useful addition to ExpressionEngine. I know it's something our clients will really appreciate.

January and February saw us working in partnership with Spencer Du Bois on a new website for the international charity Plantlife. We were also helping Fairbridge re-brand with a front-end overhaul to their website and well as getting the Ambulance Leadership Forum up and running with some collaborative tools to help them manage their internal comms.

As the snow melted and that long, hard winter finally came to an end Rob Hodges walked into our office - quite literally. We were looking for someone to join the Putty family and Rob's experience and skills fitted the bill perfectly.

The summer saw an exciting opportunity to work with the Design Council on a very high profile project. It turned out to be one of our largest project to date and was a technical challenge, but the client is delighted with the results. The site will be launched in the new year and we'll certainly let you all know about it as soon as we can.

2010 saw a lot of repeat business and in September we launched a new searchable resource for the One World Trust, an organisation we had worked with back in 2009. We were really pleased that OWT came back to us, we take it as a great compliment to be invited to do more work.

In October I went to Leiden in the Netherlands for the Expression Engine conference. It was an inspiring couple of days and I met some really interesting people from around the world. We have been developing custom add-on for EE to meet our clients needs for the last few years and are currently working on an add-on which we will be launching as a product in the New Year. Watch this space for more information.

As the year came to an end we launched two sites in close succession; the Association of Lawyers for Children, a membership organisation for lawyers working in family law, and Vitalise, a large national charity who provide short breaks and other services for disabled people, visually impaired people, and carers.

We're just about to close the office doors for the last time in 2010 so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone we've had the pleasure of working with over the last 12 months. We hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and we look forward to seeing you in 2011.

Very best wishes,

Malcolm and the Electric Putty Team