Communicating Your Message

Communicating Your Message

Local Publications | Local Websites | Create Your Own Website | Local Media | Using New Media to Reach New Audiences

Whether you are an individual or a group it can be important to get you message across. We are lucky in Ampthill that we are well covered with publications and websites that provide you with the means to do this. However, without the knowledge of who to approach in communicating your message this can be difficult to achieve. This webpage aims provide you with those vital contacts:

Local Publications

The following publications accept articles from groups in the town:

Local Websites

  • Around Ampthill Forum - www.aroundampthill.org/forum/ - post you messages on this popular site that is regularly trawled by local newspapers for stories and is read by the 'powers that be' in the town!!
  • Ampthill.Info - please submit articles and pictures to this site as this is 'your site' and will only evolve through your input. Contact: Mark Smith at info@ampthill.info or ring 01525 402560.  

Create Your Own Website

  •  Community Website Builder - this allows registered charities, non-profit making organisations and volunteer led groups to build and maintain their own website free of charge. You can set up a easy-to-edit website in just 5 minutes. Website: www.communitykit.co.uk
  • Mr Site - this website has been created using Mr Site. It can be done for as little as £35 and allows you to choose your own domain name. Website: www.mrsite.co.uk

Mr Site Takeaway Website. Build a professional website in minutes.

Local Media

Using New Media to Reach New Audiences

The New Media Trust has just produced a booklet entitled 'How to use New Media' that is available to download from http://digbig.com/4ydqs. The booklet shows how voluntary and community groups can use the following examples of new media in reaching new audiences:

Social Networks - (www.facebook.com, www.bebo.com and www.myspace.com). Why not create a page for your organisation and as these networks are built around the idea of 'friends', you may find the 'friends' of your organisation increasing dramatically, especially amongst younger members of the community.

Blogs - (such as www.wordpress.com, www.blogger.com and www.typepad.com). Blogs are online narratives that your organisation could use in highlighting or reporting on particular issues or events. They can also be interactive in that those reading your blog can comment on the entries you post, so you can really engage with your audience (that may include volunteers, users etc).

Forums - (such as www.forumotion.com). Setting up a forum could really benefit your organisation in that they allow a discussion between users. Once set up they are cheap to run, encourage the exchange of ideas and build up an online community for your organisation.

Flickr - (www.flickr.com). It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The Flickr site allows you and your supporters to upload images to the site where your organisation can create a Flickr group around your group's issues. The images are then free to view and can be an effective means of promoting your cause.

Wikis - (www.wikispaces.com). You may have heard of Wikipedia (a collaborative encyclopaedia that anyone can contribute to). Well Wikis essentially offer a giant whiteboard, where individuals from an organisation can add articles and pages and in the process amass lots of material that can be connected and made searchable. In essence the result will be an organisational encyclopaedia that everyone can get involved in and everyone can view.

Online Video - (www.youtube.com). The growth in cheap video cameras, particularly cheap mobile phone cameras, the availability of free video-editing software and in particular the explosion in sites that allow you to store, share and then embed videos in other sites, has meant we can all make films that promote our organisations.