Lights, Camera, Inclusion: All Wales People First’s TikTok Journey

This blog is a case study from our DigiCymru service, which offers free, short, 1-to-1 support to third-sector organisations in Wales. The Venture is just one organisation that has contacted the service to ask for advice and help to find solutions to their problem.

What is All Wales People First?

All Wales People First is an organisation for and by those with a learning disability. The organisation describes itself as the ‘united voice of self-advocacy groups and people with learning disabilities in Wales’.

What problem did All Wales People First face?

All Wales People First approached ProMo Cymru for support via DigiCymru.

They wanted to create a TikTok account but didn’t know where to start. Their staff and volunteers didn’t have any experience creating video content. They didn’t know much about how TikTok worked or important considerations like privacy settings and safety precautions when using the app.

They needed expert advice without the price tag so turned to our free digital support service to get started.

Learning how to create content whilst on Zoom

Lucy Palmer, ProMo Cymru’s Communications and Engagement Officer, met with All Wales People First on Zoom.

After understanding their issues, Lucy, who has created lots of short-form video content for ProMo, shared how she uses the app. She gave step-by-step instructions to create and edit a video by mirroring her iPad screen to those on the Zoom call. They could see how to create and edit a video in real-time using TikTok. Lucy also recommended CapCut, another editing tool. CapCut is a video creation and editing tool that can link to TikTok. It provides a wide range of free, fun and engaging templates that can be used to create videos quickly and easily.

Being safe on social media

Organisations often worry about the dangers of social media, and whether they should engage on a these platforms.

The good news is that most social media apps have tools to help protect those engaging with it from harm. Lucy gave best practice tips, including the pros and cons of some features and how to mitigate risk. We used our own experience to illustrate points, sharing our learning from the Cardiff Pride: More Than a Month awareness campaign.

The campaign involved sharing videos of young people interviewed at Pride Cymru on TikTok. One video, in particular, became viral, resulting in over 3.5 million views. Whilst this was a huge success, it also resulted in a flood of negative and homophobic comments.

To protect the young people involved in the campaign and our audience, we used TikTok’s comment filter to sift through comments. We decided chose which comments were approved manually. We also learned to set up filters which would automatically block specified words from appearing in the comments.

Outcomes

As a result of All Wales People First’s DigiCymru sessions with us, they created a TikTok account. They set up a comments filter for added control over comments and to protect people involved in their videos.

To create content, they utilised events they were going to as opportunities to film clips of what was going on and interview people who attended. They could practice the skills that they learned in their DigiCymru sessions.

Head over to see the All Wales People First TikTok here and give them a follow.

This case study is funded through Third Sector Digital Support, a National Lottery Community Fund project to support the Welsh Third Sector with digital. 

To find out more about how this project can support your organisation, click the link or contact andrew@promo.cymru