De Paul House is an organization that helps families who are experiencing homelessness to find a permanent home. Melissa Britten works for De Paul House as their Receptionist/Administrator whilst juggling their social media accounts.
When Digital Marketing school NZIE visited De Paul House to volunteer, they offered Melissa a place on the Social Media Strategy course to help boost her digital marketing efforts.
Melissa was thrilled with the opportunity, as Google could only get her so far in social media training. She was interested in taking this social media course because she was self-taught and “not qualified”.
“This is honestly the best job I’ve ever had. While I did social media for a couple of hair salons; that was my very small background on it, but it’s crazy how much I’ve learned since starting [at De Paul House]. This course was a game changer.”
We chatted to the lovely Melissa about how NZIE’s Social Media Strategy Course enabled her to boost De Paul House’s online engagement, reach donors in times of need plus appeal to a younger audience they had not yet been able to reach with traditional marketing.
Convenient Learning Experience
Melissa found the course very convenient as it was on Tuesday evenings, as she is “pretty busy outside of work”. She appreciated the fact that the course allowed her to ask questions, and the instructor, Steve, would answer them right there and then. The classes were also recorded, so she could refer back to it at any time.
Improved Social Media Engagement
After taking the Social Media Strategy course, Melissa found De Paul’s social media engagement had increased. She learned how to research and understand their buyer personas and to target their posts accordingly.
Melissa had previously been posting on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn without really understanding the latter platform’s purpose. By learning how to use LinkedIn to tag other businesses and organizations, Melissa noticed a significant improvement in engagement. Furthermore, the course taught her to research similar organizations, understand their social media strategies and the differences in the frequency and types of posts.
“Doing the research was very eye-opening. Learning more about our buyer persona, was a big shift. I’ve noticed since the course our likes have gone up a lot. And we’ve got a lot more followers on Instagram.”
Facebook Live Success
As one of her assignments on the course, De Paul House held a Facebook Live session – which was a huge success! It received a reach of 4,400, 2,600 views, 21 shares and an engagement of 967. Melissa attributed this success to the knowledge gained from the NZIE’s Social Media Course, which enabled her to create effective content and marketing strategies. She also appreciated that her managers was pleased with the results.
“It was super simple. But it was wild, the amount of engagement that we got! We were shocked. That was a fun experiment.”
A Solid Introduction to Social Media
Melissa found that the Social Media Strategy course gave her a solid introduction to social media, including significant concepts like understanding buyer personas, social media analytics, and creating effective content. She said that the course enabled her to learn the bigger things she had previously missed.
Growth at De Paul House
Melissa is proud to play a key role in watching De Paul House grow, and believes social media plays a key role in reaching their target audience.
“We’ve had a lot of growth in the last two years on social media. And the organization itself is grown a lot as well. A lot of people are learning about [us via social media], which is huge for a charity, because how else do you get to the younger generation these days? They are not often reading the church newsletters or checking the mailbox. [Social media] is the only way to reach them.”
A Positive Experience
Melissa’s experience shows how NZIE’s Social Media Strategy Course can benefit an organization, particularly a non-for-profit. She found the course informative and practical, and the knowledge she gained helped her to target De Paul House’s audience better.
She learned how to use different social media platforms effectively and how to research similar organizations to improve engagement. Melissa’s success in the Facebook Live session is an indication of how valuable the course was for her and De Paul House. She hopes to study more Social Media Marketing Courses with NZIE.
