Hi I’m Julie and I’m responsible for the social media updates on our facebook, twitter and updating our website. I have been working at The Gingerbread Centre for 6 years now and my role is quite varied as I’m also PA to the Chief Executive, I support the Fundraiser where needed and I carry out a variety of administrative tasks. I have recently become a “Workplace Health Champion” so I’m also involved with promoting health campaigns, signposting colleagues to well-being information and support, organise activities and try to act as a healthy role model for staff – no pressure!
I like to find social media posts that are interesting and relevant to the families that we support, such as free local events within a reasonable travelling distance for our families. Most of the families we support do not have their own vehicles, so it’s important to find events that are reachable by public transport or within walking distance.
The local Stoke-on-Trent Council’s facebook and twitter pages are a great resource and it’s great when people also tag us into their events so that we can share these too. I also listen to the local radio stations for local events or anything in the news that might be relevant to our charity, such as benefit changes or new family services in the area.
Many new parents don’t know what benefits they might be entitled to, so I also try to share topics such as pregnancy and birth (e.g. your rights when working, time off and financial support) and childcare (e.g. how to find reputable childcare, financial support, child benefit, tax credits, etc.). GOV.UK is a great website to find an abundance of information on national government services, your entitlements and the law.
I also post advice on breastfeeding and healthy eating for the families staying at The Gingerbread Centre, including tips for weaning toddlers, how to cut down on your family’s sugar intake and recipe ideas on a budget. Public Health England and the NHS are other great website for advice for parents such as vaccinations for children, help to quit smoking, exercise and much more.
My colleagues also use our social media platforms to post current job and volunteer vacancies, thank people for donations and to inform the public of any fundraising events that we might be planning that you might want to get involved with. Please remember that all of our social media pages are not monitored 24 hours a day or at the weekend, however if you do contact us via these means, we will respond as soon as possible.
We are excited to announce that we have just set up an Instagram account and this is a whole new platform of social media for us to learn about, so we’re looking forward to developing this too for The Gingerbread Centre.