Charity campaigners must treat social media in the same way as any other campaigning tool, according to Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb.

Speaking at the NCVO’s Campaigns Conference this week, Robb said one of the biggest challenges facing campaigners at present was the government’s new localism agenda and how to exploit it.

He said it poses particular challenges to national campaigning bodies used to lobbying a select London elite of media, politicians and policy-makers: “Many of them lack the capacity and knowledge to genuinely understand how to motivate and engage local activism and bring about local change.”

Robb went on to say that “whenever you ask organisations how they are going to respond to this challenge, they say social media. When you ask them what their strategy is for social media, they say ‘We are on Facebook and our chief executive does Twitter’. 

"That’s not a strategy – my 12-year-old daughter does both of those things. It does not mean she is going to be able to stop the government’s reforms of the NHS.”

He said social media has to be treated in exactly the same way as any other campaigning tool: “It needs investment, planning, aims, objectives, evaluation tools.  It is not any easier or simpler than getting on the ten o’clock news – in fact it’s probably harder.

“Social media in itself is just one element of the answer to facing up to the challenge of localism, alongside a local press and PR strategy based on localised policy work and research alongside an organisation-wide understanding of how local government works and makes decisions, alongside an integrated donor and campaigner messaging programme.”