By Milton Butterworth, Director of Development and Community Relations at Blue Ridge Community Health Services
Here at Blue Ridge Community Health Services we work hard to tell the FQHC story at every opportunity and Facebook has become an important part of how we do just that. In the midst of a capital campaign last year, we needed to engage our community quickly to increase their awareness of the national issues facing FQHCs as well as the importance of supporting their own CHC, Blue Ridge Community Health Services (BRCHS) right here in Hendersonville, NC. While Facebook alone may not be an effective strategy for advocacy or community relations, it can be outstanding as a compliment to other activities, like press releases, lunch and learns, petitions, and community presentations. Some examples of how we have used Facebook include:
- Recognizing employee achievements such as our monthly Star Performer award winner who demonstrates excellence by going above-and-beyond in customer service
- Promoting upcoming events and fundraisers, like our third annual “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” benefit for our school health program;
- Posting links to media coverage that shows off our work:
- Spotlighting board members work in the community;
- Our CHC’s history;
- Don’t forget the fun stuff! Showing your staff having fun, like dressing up at Halloween increases human interest in what we do and tempts folks to look closer at us and hopefully even talk about us over the “water cooler”;
- Facebook can also be a great place to reach folks about Advocacy efforts by pointing them toward relevant articles, calls to action, and encouraging them to share issues facing CHCs with their friends;
To get a better idea of how we use Facebook, check out our page and while you’re there, be sure to ‘Like’ it!
Got an idea for a good blog post? Send it our way at mclemens@nachc.org