Wikimedia Foundation/Communications/Resource center/Capacity building/10 things you can do to improve your communications
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Communications Resource Center
Sharing knowledge on Wikimedia communications — Please add!
Building a communications strategy
1. Conduct a communications audit edit
- Review goals for past year
- Assess press coverage and impact
- Assess media channels
- Assess marketing efforts and impact
- Identify common narratives or questions
- Opportunity to identify focus areas for upcoming year
2. Develop a communications plan edit
- Timeline
- Channels
- Audience
- Smart goals
- Evaluation
- Team
3. Focus on building relationships with 2-4 specific media outlets edit
- Identify media outlets
- Identify your primary message
- Reach out appropriately and consistently
- Request to meet with editorial board
- Discuss your planned "big news" events in advance
4. Explore new communications channels (Be bold!) edit
- Review social media
- Which are most popular in your area?
- Consider media outlets not previously contacted
- There is more than TV and newspapers
- Education focused magazines
- Technology blogs
- Radio stations
- Podcasts
5. Utilize movement-wide resources edit
- Wikimedia Blog
- Community Digest
- Events
- Volunteer profiles
- Affiliate milestones
- Social Media
- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
- Facebook group: Wikimedia Foundation Social Media Huddle
- Communications Committee
- Wikimedia Communications Department
6. Build communications resources that will be frequently used edit
- Press kits
- Template press releases
- Answers to frequently asked questions
- Check Communications Resource Center for help
7. Organize a communications team edit
- Helpful to spread the work
- Empowered group that can respond to media inquiries
- Clarity on who is "managing" social media channels
- Contact people for Wikimedia Foundation Communications Team
- Helpful to have a group email mailing list
8. Collect stories for future use edit
- Collection to pull from for media inquiry
- Written
- Video
- Photo
- Graphics
- Audio
9. Talk to your audience edit
- No need to be a mind reader!
- Begin dialogue on:
- What they want communicated
- Where they want it communicated
- When they want it communicated
- Begin to collect stories
- "What does Wikipedia mean to you?"
- "Why do you edit?"