What I use for…?

COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT PLATFORMS FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

In this modern world, one can easily get lost in endless information. There are so many platforms that a NGO can use for internal and external communication. Here is a quick comparison of the main ones.

Internal Communication

1. Facebook

Advantages:

• Most people have a Facebook account. Therefore, they don’t need to sign up to a new platform.
• It’s easily accessible from phone and computer.

Disadvantages:

• Work-related messages can easily get lost within private messages.
• People don’t usually associate Facebook with working. For a typical person, Facebook is about funny videos and cat pictures.
• Facebook can distract from working because one can easily find something else that is interesting and not pay attention to working anymore.

2. Slack
Advantages:

• You can create a new channel for every NGO you’re a part of.
• You can have many different chats within one channel. For example, one channel for sharing files, one for work-related talking etc.
• You won’t get distracted from working because there is no option to scroll a feed of cute animals.
• You can connect it to different apps, for example Google Calendar, Google drive and Dropbox.
• You can use it on a browser, as a desktop app and an app on your phone.
• It doesn’t take much time to understand how to use Slack.
• It’s free.

Disadvantages:

• On the free plan, you can only view 10K of your most recent messages.

• A lot of people don’t have an account on Slack, so they’ll have to sign up and download an app.

3. SnapComms
Advantages:

• There are many different ways you can send notifications: alerts, tickers, newsletters, questionnaires, screensavers, wallpapers.
• You can choose which types of notifications you want to purchase.

Disadvantages:

• It’s not free and probably quite expensive for most NGOs.
• It’s more for big businesses than NGOs.
• A license is required for each user which means it’s more difficult to add new members.

4. Beekeeper
Advantages:

• It’s meant for NGOs.
• It can be used on desktop or as an app on your phone.
• It’s very user-friendly.
• It’s possible to confirm that you have read a message with the push of a button.
• You can customize the app.

Disadvantages:

• It’s not free.
• It’s very similar to Facebook Workspace.

5. Google Suite
Advantages:

• You have Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Calendar and Gmail all in one place.
• You can use it on any device.

Disadvantages:

• There is no desktop app.
• Offline editing is only allowed on Google Chrome browser.
• Can take more time learning to use it.

6. E-mails
Advantages:

• Effective if you need to send the same information to a largegroup of people.
• Also effective if you need to talk back and forth with only oneperson.

Disadvantages:

• Most people don’t respond whether or not they have received the information so you don’t have an overview.
• Receivers cannot react to your e-mail with the push of a button.
• E-mails can end up in the spam folder or one might just ignore them.

External Communication

1. Facebook
Advantages:

• Most people have a Facebook account, so you’ll be able to reach a lot of people.
• You can get instant reactions from people who like your page or are your followers.
• It’s very easy to post.
• You can schedule posts directly on Facebook or alternatively use another platform to do so.

Disadvantages:

• It can be hard to get people’s attention as most people just use FB for scrolling their feed.
• Your posts may not reach all of your followers because Facebook doesn’t show posts cronologically but more based on what the user is more interested in.

2. A blog (Blogger, WordPress, Wix etc.)

Advantages:

• It is easy to post.
• Most blog platforms are very user-friendly.
• When people want to see all of your posts in one place, they don’t have to search for your page on Facebook but can directly come to your blog.

Disadvantages:

• You’ll have to put a lot of effort into your posts so people will open your blog.
• Your blog has to be good enough that people remember theaddress by heart but this can be hard to achieve.

3. Advertisements
Advantages:

• You can also reach the people who haven’t heard about you yet.
• You can choose which type of advertising to use: a commercial, flyers, post in the local newspaper etc.

Disadvantages:

• Advertising is not cheap.

4. Public speaking
Advantages:

• The people who listen to public speakers are usually people whoare interested in doing something to improve. This means youcan get active people interested in your NGO.
• You can offer yourself to speak at schools or events.
• Usually you don’t have to pay for it and if you’re lucky, instead you will get paid.

Disadvantages:

• It can be hard to find a good public speaker.
• If the public speaker doesn’t do their job well, people will remember it and not be interested in your NGO.

You definitely don’t have to only choose one tool for internal and one tool for external communication. Having the NGO’s internal communication makes it more clear for everyone since everything is in the same place and people don’t have to waste their time trying to find something from several different platforms. On the other hand, having several external communication platforms is more effective since you can reach a bigger audience and get more people interested in your NGO. After all, it is up to you to choose which tools work the best for you and get the results you are looking for.