How to: Region's About page

Region About page

The first onboarding step is to create your region About page to be published on Make Works:

• Sign up to Make Works

• Complete your individual profile with basic information

• The Make Works Coordination Team will make you a Region Champion, and give you access to your region's About page, which they will have set up empty

• Populate and edit your region About page with an introduction, about information, what is unique to your region, funding and partners

Check out an example: https://make.works/regions/derby

More information can be found at "How to: Use make Works"

Deliverable & Next Steps

Once you've completed your region About page and the Make Works Coordination Team has published it, you may use it to start approaching networks, stakeholders, funders and partners, etc.

At this point, you can make the most of this Handbook content, which includes our process to visit factories, create listings, officially launch your region, set up a communication strategy and keep it up and running.

FAQ

• What level of engagement / editing of information is required to keep the region updated and relevant? Depending on the networks your region is already in or needs to establish, will inform the amount of engagement and editing you need to do to keep things relevant and updated. It is important to plan phases of activity for your region, including researching and creating listings and hosting events, and to have an achievable content strategy. For example Make Works Scotland aims:

  • for 3 social media posts per week

  • for 4 Stories per month

  • for 3 listings per quarter

  • to seek opportunities to host events within other fairs, festivals, etc.

  • to hold regular annual social events at which to connect with the core local audience

  • to attend and speak at a number of conferences per year in line with the availability of the team and resources

• How are Make Works regions promoted locally? How do they get the word out? This will depend on what the motivation is of the region, the factories they are listing, the users they intend to reach and whether they are independent or part of a bigger project / initiative. You can look at regions' online presence beyond their Make Works region, including their social media channels, and read some of their Stories. We would also happily introduce you to those running Make Works regions. We also have sample events that Make Works regions have tried and tested that we can share with you.

• How are other regions funded and sustained? All regions are different. The way(s) they fund and sustain themselves are relevant to what their motivation was to set up their region, who their users are, their partners / funders and the type of organisation / charity they are / are a part of. You can read the regions About pages to find out more about how they do it and who with. The Make Works Coordination Team can signpost you to sample proposals and budgets and assist you with information, e.g. stats, example stories, for any pitches you want to make or funding applications you wish to submit. You can also read Funding & Budgets.

• What do engagement numbers look like in other regions? Are people using the platform - is there evidence of benefit to local economies? Once you have access to the website you will be able to access all the web statistics and see what engagement levels look like across listings, Stories, regions, etc.