An illuminating experience: reflections on a Digital Candle call
Having shone a light on Digital Candle for 2.5 years, I finally sparked up a match for myself!
One of my first tasks when I joined the CAST / Catalyst communications team back in February 2020 was to help publicise the newly-launched advice service, Digital Candle. The brainchild of Platypus Digital’s Matt Collins, Digital Candle was developed with assistance from SIDE-Labs’ Andy Bell — and launched in February 2020, with support from Catalyst.
The concept was (and still is!) beautifully simple: digital experts sign up to offer their advice free of charge; nonprofit organisations needing support post their questions on the Digital Candle site — and the Digital Candle matchmakers (aka Matt and Andy!) work their magic and connect the organisation needing advice with the expert best-placed to provide it.
The service was originally devised as a means of igniting interest amongst those charity leaders who were reticent about exploring the power of digital — but as lockdown hit just four weeks after launch, the nature of incoming requests changed almost overnight, as charities sought help with setting up remote working and moving services online at speed.
Since then, the types of requests have evolved, as charities have moved from plugging in urgent solutions, to considering how best to embed and maximise the potential of digital long-term. The wordcloud below shows a snapshot of recent Digital Candle topic requests — but there are no rules on what can be asked: no question is too big, small or unusual!
From the very start and throughout this period of flux and change, I have been consistently involved in publicising Digital Candle, via a range of comms activities — from creating animations detailing user testimonials and expert feedback, to setting up exclusive interviews, to writing headline stories for the Catalyst newsletter. And so I was well aware of the value of the service, but had never needed to use it myself — until last week!
I had logged on to Twitter Ads planning to set up a campaign (which, incidentally, was designed to publicise the Catalyst comms position: I am shifting into a slightly different role, so the job of promoting Digital Candle and all of Catalyst’s other fantastic services is now available!) — and found that the system I was so familiar with had undergone some changes.
I tried to navigate the new system myself, but ran into several challenges: I contacted Twitter support, who were as helpful as they could be — but what I really needed was someone to work through the system with me and talk me through the changes step by step. And I knew just where to find that ‘someone’!
I visited the Digital Candle site, asked my question — and within 24 hours, I had a match! I received an email introducing me to SEO copywriter and ads manager Abby King — and, a couple of quick diary-wrangling messages later, we’d arranged a time to connect online.
On the day of the call, I simply logged on to Zoom, shared my screen and talked Abby through my previous experience with the Twitter Ads platform — and the issues I was experiencing since it had changed. Abby outlined the rationale behind the changes (explaining that they had been brought in to ensure consistency with other social media ad platforms, which was useful to know) — and worked through each step of the ad creation process, throwing light on every issue and resolving it with ease!
We had set aside the standard Digital Candle session time of one hour for the call — but due to Abby’s efficiency and knowledge, we managed to work through everything in just 40 minutes. If I’d had to tackle the problem myself, it would doubtless have taken hours of searching online, going back and forth with the support team, and / or just running trial and error campaigns to find out what worked. Having a friendly, knowledgeable specialist by my (virtual) side at each step, clearly and calmly explaining what to do, saved not just hours of time, but lots of frustration too!
So I’d like to say a heartfelt thanks to Abby — and huge thanks too to Matt and Andy for nurturing the service and attracting such a varied range of specialists. Digital Candle is continuing to develop (from 100 experts and 20 matches at launch, it has grown to incorporate 500 experts, with well over 1,000 matches made!) — but the concept at the heart of the service remains simple: charities ask a question and are matched with an expert for an hour of free advice. No question is too big, small or unusual — and there really is no catch!
And it’s not a one-use service — if you need to ask a follow-up question or post a completely new request, you can. So, whilst I might not be ‘officially’ involved in publicising Digital Candle after the end of this month, I will very definitely be recommending it far and wide…and using it myself again in the future!
