Tai Tarian gets creative to share money advice with tenants
Tai Tarian is using traditional press and the latest social media trends to share support, advice and talk directly with tenants about the cost of living help available to them.
Tai Tarian’s quarterly newspaper has become a key cost of living resource for its 9,000 tenants this year. In addition to sharing the latest local news, Stephanie Davies, from housing association’s financial inclusion team, has stepped into a new role as a columnist, to talk directly to tenants about the different support available to them.
Q: How did you feel when you were first asked to be a columnist?
Stephanie: I felt really excited to be given a platform to share our advice with all tenants. Having done this work for many years we know how difficult things can be for tenants and with costs spiralling it felt like a really important time to highlight the work that our team do.
Q: Not all housing associations publish and post newspapers to tenants - why does Tai Tarian still feel it’s an important method of communication?
S: Post Covid-19, our communications team reviewed how tenants found out about all things Tai Tarian. Face-to-face interactions had been limited because of the pandemic and there had been a big reliance on social media. The team made the decision to launch Cartref, a brand new quarterly newspaper as a way of reintroducing ourselves to tenants, allowing them to hear directly from us on a regular basis on the things that matter.
Q: What is your plan for the next column?
S: We are just signing off the Autumn edition - that recaps on all the support that is currently available for households and the criteria for each payment. The key message is for tenants to get in touch with our team if they are struggling with the cost of living and follow us on social media as we will be sharing content there over the coming months.
Q: What feedback have you had from tenants and your colleagues about reading your advice and tips?
S: It’s been really positive, lots were quite surprised that we go over and above to support our tenants with not just raising awareness of funding but helping tenants apply for benefits, benefit appeals, accessing grant money and even food and baby bank vouchers. We have also been using internal communication channels to share information with colleagues which they are then passing onto family and friends.
More information
Email financialinclusion@taitarian.co.uk
Tai Tarian staff have also turned into social media influencers to share quick videos on cost of living support. In a bid to engage tenants on the platforms they already enjoy, the housing association’s financial inclusion team are keeping tenants and others in the community up to date on available support. Rachel Gardiner-James, communications officer, tells us more about how and why they created these videos with staff as the faces of the campaign.
Q: How did you decide what topics to cover in your videos?
Rachel: With the cost of living crisis causing real worry for so many, our financial inclusion team was keen not only to promote how they can help but to highlight the financial support available, stipulating key criteria and expected payment dates. While some focus in the videos is on the work the team do to support our tenants, lots of the content created is relevant to a much wider audience, using short form video as the hook.
Q: Why was it important to have staff presenting these videos?
R: Our in-house team are so passionate and knowledgeable about the work they do it was really important that they were the faces of the campaign. We have also been able to share the content with colleagues, highlighting that we are much more than ‘just a landlord’ and providing them with this important support information too.
Q: What advice do you have for other housing associations who want to create social media videos?
R: Your people are your biggest asset, get them on board, use their knowledge and have some fun.
Q: Tell us about the feedback you’ve had from tenants?
R: It’s been positive, people have found the videos produced so far easy to digest and nice and informal. We’ve had people double check if certain benefits fit with certain criteria so it’s been great to have those common questions come through which other people could also be wondering about. Using platforms like TikTok means the biggest engagement has been from non-tenants sharing their own insights about receiving the various pots of money, changes to benefits impacting on claims and frustrations that the money won’t go far enough.
Have any questions or would like further information on how this scheme was set up? Email Rachel.gardiner-james@taitarian.co.uk
Visit Tai Tarian’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter pages to see some of their videos to date.