Social media for Birmingham Community Matters

Since 2017 I’ve worked as an associate writer for Birmingham Community Matters (BCM) - a charity that supports people to set up, run and grow small community organisations in Birmingham. It was in abeyance back then, while BCM’s trustees considered how to take the organisation forward, and my role was to post occasional social media updates to retain people’s interest.

It was then that I started the BCM newsletter, which now has a mailing list of over 1000 subscribers. I also created a style guide to ensure consistency and clarity in everything BCM shares.

In early 2025, BCM is on its second round of Reaching Communities funding from the National Lottery and has a staff team of four - as well as several more associates to bolster the support we can offer. It’s small but hugely impactful - and highly regarded by community groups across Birmingham who’ve been able to get going, grow or get un-stuck thanks to the support and knowledge of our team and volunteers.

I make my one day a week at BCM stretch a long way, writing the monthly newsletter, the annual report, internal documents, resource pages, case studies and blog posts - many of which make their way into our social media feeds, which I also manage. I’m a huge fan of Canva and love using BCM’s colourful palette to create attention-grabbing banners and infographics to accompany our messages.

BCM currently has a presence on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. When our trustees decided we should stop posting on Twitter/X for ethical reasons, I wrote this blog post to explain our rationale, ensuring BCM left X graciously and in a way that reaffirmed our values.

“Marie has played a key role in shaping BCM's marketing and communications strategy. Her personable, warm, and friendly nature makes her a pleasure to work with, and she effortlessly adapts to the needs of our organisation”
- Becky Coley, Birmingham Community Matters
Read Becky’s full testimonial.