YPARD Asia is strengthening its Communications Service!

YPARD Asia has recently welcomed a young group of new interns from different parts of China, one of which is based in Taiwan. These trainees have been recruited by YPARD China, which has been offering a strong support to YPARD Asia, and they are in charge of collecting, publishing and publicizing news on YPARD Asia, as well as launching the Chinese interface. Considering that these interns have different backgrounds and professional expertise, they will play different roles within the team.

Before YPARD Asia trainees started to work, they attended this week an online training organized by YPARD Asia Coordinator/China representative, Bi Jieying, and delivered by Marina Cherbonnier, YPARD Web and Communications Manager via Skype. As most are web interns, the online training was about YPARD website and social media skills in order to launch the Chinese interface and its regular operation.

First of all, Marina showed interns how to manage the interface on a regular basis. Besides, she went through the steps for writing the blog post, posting events, etc. For translating the pages, different approaches should be taken correspondingly for static pages - “how to”, “who we are”, “what we do” - and content pages - ”blog post”, “news”, “events” -. She also mentioned the usage of the navigation bar, creation of new content, and differentiation of blog posts, news, events and opportunities.

How to write down a blog post?

The Web & Communications Manager talked about the writing techniques for a blog post. In general terms, the most important thing the writer should bear in mind is to keep always a reader-oriented and reader-friendly approach. Therefore it is advisable to use simple words and short sentences.

The beginning of a blog is critical. Thus it’s better to choose a catchy title that reflects the main idea as well, and start the first paragraph in an effective and lively manner. Moreover, the writer should be crystal clear about the key messages of his/her writing, which should be no more than three, as well as relate the content to a personal story to reach the readers.

Website Vs Social media

In response to interns’ questions, Marina clarified the specified roles of the official website and social media. YPARD official website is mainly to present news, events and other online sources, while social media spreads the information - create public accounts, organize groups and start public discussions-. Despite the most widely used social media networks worldwide are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, in our country we have our Chinese Twitter version (Weibo) and Facebook counterpart (Renren). As YPARD Web & Communications Manager mentioned, the YPARD Facebook page is an entity to promote branding by publicizing newsletters and increase global recognition, whereas the group talk is to create the sense of community and strengthen the connection among members.

According to interns’ feedback, they have learned a lot from this training and are eager to apply those skills acquired in work. Although YPARD Asia has just started its journey to further success, thanks to the support of YPARD China, Marina Cherbonnier, as well as the participation of interns, it is no wonder that YPARD Asia promises a bright outlook!

Picture credit: Traditional fishing Yangshuo, by NoffeL.