Darlington’s Commitment to Carers Social Media Campaign
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- Lead organisation
Darlington Borough Council
- Project contact
Sharon Bell
Digital Communications, Durham County Carers Support
Darlington’s Commitment to Carers mythbusting Social Media Campaign is being coproduced by members of Darlington’s multi agency Carers’ Strategy Steering Group to raise the profile of all groups of carers in Darlington, particularly those from harder to reach groups.
The intention is that all partners will deliver the same message in a coordinated format using our newly developed Commitment to Carers logo. It is hoped that this will result in more individuals self identifying as carers, as well as more organisations identifying carers with whom they come into contact. Once carers are identified, they will be able to access support from our Carers Support Services and other services as required.
- Partners
Members of the Carers Strategy Steering Group – Darlington Carers Support, Darlington Young Carers Service, Darlington Borough Council, Age UK North Yorkshire and Darlington, Alzheimers Society, Arcus, Carers, Darlington Association on Disability, CDDFT, Darlington MInd, TEWV, Healthwatch Darlington, Primary Healthcare Darlington, Macmillan Cancer Care, St Teresa’s Hospice, We are with you, Sharon Bell Digital Communications Durham County Carers Support
- Project duration
Commenced September 2023 with male carers. Further campaigns to be run in relation to the different groups of carers identified. Likely timescale is 1 year and then probably repeating based on learning from the initial time perio
- Key beneficiaries
All carers in Darlington, particularly those from harder to reach groups, including carers from ethnically diverse communities; LGBTQ+ carers; Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) carers; veterans; male carers and carers from socially excluded groups, including carers living in poverty and carers who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Darlington’s Commitment to Carers Social Media Campaign
Why we started this initiative
We set this up after a discussion in a Carers’ Strategy Steering Group (CSSG) meeting regarding how to target publicity at harder to reach groups of carers in a coordinated way by all partner organisations.
Our goals
Our aim is to see an increase in the number of carers identified/supported in the target groups. We haven’t run a campaign in such a targeted way previously and are hoping that it will enable us to identify more harder to reach carers.
How we’re implementing it
We made a decision regarding which groups to target and when, starting with male carers. The plan is to try to link the campaigns with national events where possible e.g. Pride in August. It is early days as yet as we have only targeted male carers to date and haven’t fully coordinated the campaign between partners. We need to improve our coordination and implement in a more planned way.
When we reviewed progress at our Carers’s Strategy Steering Group (CSSG) in February, we agreed our campaign for the next 4 months to include a more rigorous approach to implementation and collective monitoring of responses.
Learnings
This is a complex campaign to deliver and it is hard to coordinate, as it needs a clear lead with dedicated time who is able to liaise with all organisations. It also requires active buy in from all organisations, not just to the concept but also the practical implementation.
A clear plan/timetable needs to be set up and adhered to, which we did not initially have in place. It also needs to be kept under regular review and we have now scheduled this as an agenda item at CSSG meetings.
Ideally it would be coordinated by someone with an understanding of social media campaigns.
It is potentially a very effective and powerful approach but we haven’t maximised its potential as yet. However, we have plans to build on our successful first stages and learning to date. It is likely to be more effective with a specific dedicated resource with expertise in relation to both social media/marketing and carers. However, it can still be done without dedicated resource but it is more difficult.
24% increase in male carers registering with the service following the male carers campaign.