PRESS RELEASE 22nd January 2014 *******************************For immediate release***************************** British Hen Welfare Trust scoops South West social media award Alistair Gleave of Gleave Media Ltd, Richard Missen of Charles Stanley stockbrokers, Jane Howorth Founder of the British Hen Welfare Trust and Jackie Dawkins of Shine Recruitment. Taking the time to hatch innovative ideas for daily tweets and Facebook posts has paid off for South Molton based national hen charity, the British Hen Welfare Trust, who were announced the clear winners of the 2013 GrowMyCharity Charity Social Media Award and presented with a £500 donation and trophy on 16th January. GrowMyCharity’s 2013 South West Social Media Award was sponsored by Charles Stanley stockbrokers and open to entries from any South West based charity which were able to demonstrate how social media has become an integral tool in their marketing strategy. The panel of judges concluded that the BHWT were worthy winners thanks to the clarity of their messages, great visuals, genuine engagement and sense of humour which is why they have over 3,300 Twitter followers and 7,500 Facebook likes. They also noted how the charity clearly understood how social media helps them to achieve their strategic objectives, how it forms an integral part of their communication strategy, encouraging everyone on their small team to be involved. In the last two years the charity has embraced the rapidly growing trend of social media and the whole organisation uses Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest on a daily basis to actively educate and engage with their supporters, re-homers, volunteers and wider communities. Re-homers are encouraged to post photos of their hens to Facebook and their videos to YouTube. Jane Howorth who founded the charity in 2005 said ‘We were delighted to be recognised for our hard work in this way, particularly as we are only a small team of 10 in the central office. I cottoned on to the fact that many of supporters were using social media channels to chat to fellow hen keepers and I wanted my team to take control of the online conversations. It is a wonderful platform for charities to build relationships with supporters but also to access new audiences, gain celebrity support and raise funds’. If you would like to adopt some hens, or find out more about the charity please visit www.bhwt.org.uk, call 01884 860084 or email [email protected] ----------------------------------------------------Ends-------------------------------------------Notes to Editors: The charity was established in 2005 and has so far re-homed over 400,000 hens from 30 volunteer locations around the UK. For jpegs of photos and to arrange interviews: Email: [email protected] Tel: 01884 860084 British Hen Welfare Trust Hope Chapel, Rose Ash, South Molton, Devon EX36 4RF Registered Charity No. 11473556 Company No. 8057493 www.bhwt.org.uk