Set up to protect, preserve and maintain one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most important heritage properties, the Terrace Station Charitable Trust wanted help sharing a very special place with the public.
Located near Hororata in Canterbury, Terrace Station was the family home of John Hall, a prominent 19th century New Zealand politician who led the parliamentary campaign that won women the right to vote in 1893. Today his descendants live in the homestead with the garden and farm buildings open to the public and historic tours offered from spring through autumn.
Terrace Station volunteer Caroline Speight approached the Community Comms Collective for help promoting Terrace Station to potential visitors and supporters.
Experienced collective volunteer Briar McCormack was first on the case, tasked with developing a communications plan for the trust with a particular focus on enhancing its social media presence.
“Caroline had made a great start, putting together a comprehensive plan and drafting a newsletter. With a clear idea of what they wanted to say, I was able to offer a few suggestions on how they could define the audience, identify the best ways to reach them, and map out content opportunities that would be achievable over 12 months,” says Briar.
“We set measurable objectives for what the social media and content strategy would need to achieve – to grow the community and raise awareness, increase social media engagement and drive traffic to the website by cross-promoting stories and content created for the newsletter.”
With website traffic now in their sights, a second collective volunteer, Bernadette Keating was tasked with undertaking a web usability assessment.
“This involved meeting with Caroline to understand what they did and didn’t like about their current website then going away and reviewing what could be done to improve their home page and design, navigability and written content without compromising on their voice, values and rich heritage,” says Bernadette.
Caroline says Briar and Bernadette made a massive difference in how Terrace Station is presented to the world through its social media channels and on the website.
“Previously we had help from willing friends who had insufficient skills to enable our messages to reach a wide audience. Our website had been added to from time to time but didn’t follow a consistent style. We’ve already had positive feedback about our improved website. Our followers have increased, and engagement is more active too.
“It’s given us more confidence in how we are sharing the Terrace Station stories and treasures.”
Briar and Bernadette were equally taken with those stories and treasures.
“It was easy to catch their enthusiasm,” says Bernadette. “The passion Caroline holds for Terrace Station was infectious. Through this project, I really enjoyed hearing about the unique story of Terrace Station and being able to put myself in their shoes.”
“I just fell in love with this story from the moment I read the brief – it is virtually impossible to say no to a project like this,” says Briar. “A rich family history, beautiful gardens, politics, a link to Kate Sheppard – and an opportunity to help share their story through a social media strategy.
“I actually think I got more out of this project than Caroline did. Which, I suspect, is the key strength of the Community Comms Collective!”
Terrace Station at Hororata is steeped in history and is one of New Zealand's most important heritage properties. Extensive lawns, winding pathways, magnificent trees, beautiful shrubs and mass planting of bulbs and perennials, all provide you with a magical place to visit at any time of the year.
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