This week, in partnership with Zoe Amar, we held the sixth Top 30 Charity CEOs on Social Media awards in association with JustGiving. You can find out all about the awards by following that link.
A few things struck me about the evening and the awards in general that I wanted to share.
1. People follow people
When we started the awards, we wanted to show how individuals are doing digital well, not just organisations.
We’ve heard people gaining a lot from following winners on Twitter the whole year round. We think this is unique to these awards.
2. The awards mean a lot to winners
We honestly didn’t think they would. But we’ve heard of people putting winning an award in their organisational plans for next year, tearing up during their speeches and frantically checking their nominations have been received.
That shows how much people care about them. Which is amazing to hear.
3. The awards push digital forward in the charity sector
All winners are happy when they get an award. But more than one winner has told us that the award has given them an internal boost, a new sense of external recognition, and authority that their digital agenda is meaningful.
Once again, we love hearing this. It means that the impact of the awards spreads wider than just the winners.
4. The awards reflect the best of social media
The fact that so much of the awards is social media based leads to a real sense of community.
Nominees are genuinely supportive of each other. The big ups and smiles are genuine. Social media can be a lovely supportive place and translate that feeling into real life.
Congratulations to all the awesome winners, and thanks so much to our lovely sponsors JustGiving, Lightful, and TPP. We love you guys!
