CharityComms

Keeping your reputation spotless

PROTECTING YOUR REPUTATION DURING

HARD-HITTING CAMPAIGNS

David Bowles

Emily Munford

Agenda

• Our reputation

• How we manage it

• When it works…and when it doesn’t

• Key learnings

Questions

• What do you think of the RSPCA

• Do you think people dislike us?

Reasons why people like us

• Active – we are the “Government” body helping animals

• Trustworthy – what we say is correct

• Professional – 190 years of saving animals

• Pragmatic – providing solutions such as Freedom Food

Reasons why people dislike us

• Authoritarian – we prosecute

• “Political” campaigning – hunting, badgers

• Bureaucratic – slow to respond to calls

• Frustration – why can’t you remove that animal and lock that person up?

Summary 2013 TOTAL MEDIA COVERAGE

Summary 2013 TOTAL MEDIA COVERAGE

Summary 2013 TOTAL MEDIA COVERAGE

Summary 2013 NEGATIVE STORIES CONCENTRATED IN CERTAIN PAPERS

Summary 2013 NEGATIVE STORIES CONCENTRATED IN CERTAIN PAPERS

CLICK TO EDIT MASTER TEXT STYLES

Digital Review & StrategyFebruary 2012

NB: Insert

more positive

RSPCA

person and

animal pic

from

photolibrary

So how do we manage our reputation?

PeopleONLY AS GOOD AS THE PEOPLE YOU’VE GOT

• Press/Digital/Call centre/Frontline staff

• Strength in external partnerships

• Statements prepared and approved (1 or 2)

• Director involvement, if needed

• ‘On the ground’ liaison officer, if needed

Tools and productsSEO, SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING, REPORTING

Using SEO

• Language being used – linguistic profiling, keyword research

• Content on our site reflects both the issues and the language

being used – content gap analysis, copy optimisation

• Content is in the line of sight of those who are discussing

the issues – blogger outreach, article syndication, social links

• Outcome = search engines see us as being relevant and

authoritative; we rank highly; people find our content when

searching

…we appear above DEFRA

Our badger campaigns page is, on average, two positions higher than the DEFRA page on the same subject for the search phrase badger cull on google.co.uk

Social media monitoring

• Create queries that monitor topics that are relevant to our work

• Use the results to ascertain the opinion of both the public (Facebook, Twitter etc), press (news sites) and special interest groups (forums) and use this intelligence to inform marketing, PR and press activity

• Monitor the perception of the RSPCA brand, specific topics as well as measure the level of coverage per campaign

Processes

• On call rota and comms

• Social VIPS

• Major Incident Group (MIG)

• Crisis fundraising appeals

Processes ONGOING CONTENT AUDIT, SECTION BY SECTION

• Major Incident Group

• Social cover email group

So what happens in practice?

Sometimes it works…SEALS STORM SURGE

• 108 pups in one month – usually 120 in a year – quick reaction, sell in to TV, put out request for help, regional releases

• Great photos and story – 80% released

• Stay ahead of the complaints

Seals

• Get photos, say what yolu are doing

• Sky, BBC, ITV all covered release

• Celebrity endorsement

• 4,000 retweets on one update

• Raised £110,000

Sometimes it doesn’t work so well…

ONE FATEFUL WEEKEND IN DECEMBER…

• Article saying we are ‘sinister and nasty’ –

sensitive as we are seen as Goliath

• Inundated with queries about a disabled dog

• Alarm about horses in flood plain

• Seal stuck in a pool

Escalation of sensitive cases

• Statement to press and social; rally the troops

• MIG established; information chain set up

• Regular updates; repetition of message

• Used photo and facts to counter accusations

• Engaged with horse complainer offline

When we have all the pieces in place…

• End non-stun slaughter

– 56,000 signatures

• Badger cull

– 304,112 signatures

– biggest e-petition

-

Huge increase in reach and engagement

In summary

• Importance of education/awareness raising

• What we can and cannot do; what we will do; show we care

• Need evidence and partners at the ready

• Speed and agility but readiness to disengage

• You can’t win every time!

Any questions?

EMILY.MUNFORD@RSPCA.ORG.UK

DAVID.BOWLES@RSPCA.ORG.UK

Thank you