SOCIAL MEDIA

for social causes

By : Robin Low
what is… social media?

“Social Media is a group of online media

which has the following characteristics.”

1.Participation
2.Networks
3.Two-way communication
4.Connectivity
5.Open source
 traditional media is dead.
1. Supporters do not trust advertisements. (The
y would rather read a review on a blog or a webpag
e rather than corporate page)
2. Supporters are immune to interruptive mark
eting. (too many mediums, too many ads)
3.Suporters are informed, and information i
s readily available.
4. With a global business, it cost too much to reac
h out to everyone.
5. With social media, the cost is $0, no external co
mpany needs to be engaged.
“ AWorld
radical change has occurred in the
of advertising and marketing ”
Supporters are not listening anymore

Interruptive marketing has seen it’s day

Source: http://www.=.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf
 The Audience
is creating

Source: http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf
 The Audience
is selecting

Time Shift technology

Source: http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf
 The Audience
is changing

Source: http://www.iirusa.com/upload/wysiwyg/M1805/IIR_M1805_Seaton.pdf
 Importance of… social media
1. 2 way communication – allows feedback,
comments
2. Generate massive amounts of traffic – get
attention and links
3. Viral propagation – Word of Mouth
marketing (Invite friends to promote)
4. Networking – create community / supporters
5. Branding
6. Search engine visibility
 Importance of… social media

1. Low cost / high returns

2. Compliments marketing efforts – use with
advertisements and PR
3. Market research / customer feedback
4. Crisis Management – resolve things before
they become a crisis
5. New Communication Channel
6. Less effort with community sharing / help
 who should use social media?
• Non-profit Organizations
• Companies who want international
reach
• Artists, Photographers, Musicians…
• Entrepreneurs
• Large Corporations
• Event Organizers
• Cats?
social media for NFP
(not for profit organizations)
 why?
• FREE
• Create awareness and spread cause
• Facilitate word of mouth
• Get feedback and create dialog
• Engage the public
• Know your donors and supporters
• Extend your reach – Globally!
 “ Engagement is all about
making it relevant to the supporter.
”
James Speros, Chief marketing officer, Ernst & Young
The new paradigm

Attention Engagement
 the ultimate goal
Brand community!
• Build a non-marketing community outreach to deliver a voice for your
organization

• Use the buzz power

• Reach people where they regroup

• Leverage on word of mouth

the numbers
Facebook usage statistics by country - Dec 31st 2009
Rank Country Number of Facebook users 12 month growth % 6 month growth %
1 USA 101,303,240 140.80% 46.00%
2 UK 22,625,300 51.50% 20.90%
3 Turkey 16,943,780 113.60% 36.80%
4 Indonesia 14,681,580 1536.70% 126%
5 France 14,290,700 117% 32.60%
6 Canada 14,228,460 31% 19%
7 Italy 13,272,760 137.60% 30%

8 Philippines 8,387,560 2046.80% 208.40%

9 Spain 7,701,200 196.70% 33.40%
10 Australia 7,611,920 75.80% 25.70%
11 Argentina 7,387,120 227.50% 50.60%
12 Colombia 7,243,520 99.40% 25.80%
13 Mexico 6,505,040 351.50% 78.50%
14 Chile 5,808,020 39.90% 20.20%
15 Germany 5,799,520 361.90% 84.90%
16 Taiwan 5,490,300 4763% 701%
17 India 5,397,480 403.80% 66.80%

18 Venezuela 4,952,340 164.20% 38.40%

19 Malaysia 3,975,640 367.50% 99.30%
20 Sweden 3,066,180 80.70% 34.10%
 facebook statistics
  Usage vs. Country (Top 10 Countries on Facebook Dec 2009)

120,000,000

100,000,000

80,000,000

Usage 60,000,000

40,000,000

20,000,000

0
USA UK Turkey Indonesia France Canada Italy Philippines Spain Australia
Country

Asia - 10.5% Users, fast growing Market

Singapore > 1.1 million users
http://www.nickburcher.com/2009/03/facebook-usage-statistics-by-country.html
1 in 4 Facebook Users Come
From Asia or the Middle East
internet penetration
internet users
 internet penetration (Singapore)

• 3,370,000 Internet users as of Sept/09,

72.4% penetration

• 1,003,100 broadband subscribers as of

June/09

• >1.1 million Facebook Users as of Jan 10

how?
understand social media
4 pillars of SOCIAL MEDIA
Tips to grow your influence
 Existing Networks Measure Success
Join Forums Build Relationships # of reply
Create Networks
Join Groups Reply to forums # of RT
Blogs
Wikipedia Post value # of clicks on links
Articles
Twitter Twitter Follow Track influence
Groups
Comment on Twitter reply Sales ROI from
Forums
blogs links
RT
Pages
Benchmark with
Start Events
Twitter competitors
eHow
YouTube
Podcast
 know what you want to accomplish

Develop a social media marketing plan

for a specific goal or purpose.

This will help you pick which site to use

and how to measure success.
 decide on purpose of social media and

organization’s position

Social media is not just to get

donations, decide on what your
organization would want to use it
for.

Your social media presence is more

for online branding, educating your
customers and engaging the public.
 decide on which platform to use
There are many different social media
platforms to use, which one fits your
company best?
Find where your niche and audience are
located and which platforms they are on
and engage them there.
Tip: Engage in 3 – 4 platforms. Cross
marketing between the platforms
creates multiple touch points.
Nonprofit Technology Blogs

techsoup.org
decide on how your social media will be managed

Who will be in charge of the Twitter

account and Facebook Pages?
Find out the rules needed for
management to be comfortable.
Find different roles for people with
different comfort levels and skill sets.
 develop social media policies

Decide on what can be said and what

can’t be said and integrate it into your
HR policies.

Set up staff training around your social

media policy to create awareness
amongst all staff.
 market passively

Social media folks are not used to

aggressive marketing, and will be
turned off by it.

Aggressive marketing may bring

negative results.
 add value
Be sure you provide many great
reasons to follow you.
Keep content interesting and
varied.
Always have your audience in
mind.
 be consistent

Consistency is key.
Devote a few hours a week to
monitor your social media progress.
Consistently be part of a community,
not there only to market products.
Participate in conversations and do
not leave conversations you started.
respect copyright and reference source

There are codes and ethics you nee

d for follow, and in social media, ther
e is no exception.

Referencing source, adding links ad

ds credibility to your blogs.
 golden rules

• Communication in a 2 way street -- speak,

listen and learn
• Other people are allowed to have opinions
• Give before receiving
• Be truthful with your messages
 be helpful and approachable
Do not just broadcast your own
messages.
RT (Re-tweet) interesting news and
information to your audience.
Reply to comments.
Answer questions you know the
answer to that appear in your feeds.
Participate in conversations.
 look for experts to help
• Look around your organization or
community for someone who has
experience with social networking.
• It might be a young staffer, an intern, a
volunteer. Get that person involved so you
won't be starting from 'scratch.‘
• Note that social media there are
differences between personal use and
organizational use
 focus on quality rather than quantity
On Twitter and Facebook, focus on
quality interactions, and build deep
relationships.
Convert fans into Evangelists and
hope they can promote your
organization through word of mouth.
Numbers may mean more chances of
spreading message but DOES NOT
GUARANTEE that.
 post your best content
• Social networks are at their best when
people are passing the viral content
around and they will only pass yours
around if it is creative.
• Come up with interesting profile names,
use video or Flash animation. If it does not
make you think 'Cool!' then it is probably
not going to be viral.
cross promote and share messages
There are applications that allow you to
update status on LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook. If they are the same
message you want to update for all your
mediums, simply use Hootsuite.
It is ok to update your new blog post on
all your different channels and no
reason why you should not do that.
who’s got time?

www.lolnptech.blogspot.com
 find and invite your current supporters
• If you have emails of your supporters,
good! Use it to get your initial supporters
to join your Facebook Groups and Twitter
account.
• Search for supporters who talk about your
organization. Thank them if they have
written something good.
• Invite supporters to be volunteers for your
social media or find passionate interns
 activate your supporters
• Get supporters to ask their friends to join.
• Make sure your social networking pages
always feature lots of opportunities to get
involved.
• Be specific when you do ask your friends
to do something for your organization.
• Always let people know what happened at
an event or with a campaign even if they
did not participate. They might get involved
the next time.
 run events
• NOT ALL EVENTS NEED TO BE
FUNDRAISERS
• Show a human face behind that blog
• Use free social media tools to organize
events and post photos and videos of the
events for supporters to tag themselves
• Show supporters who cannot attend to fun
they missed.
• Facilitate networking
 be in for long haul

Building relationship and trust takes time.

Do not give up after trying out for one
month. Relationships are not built
overnight.
Social media can increase your profile and
open many opportunities if you try.
 don’t allow it to consume your time

If not managed properly, social media

can be a distraction if you just have
conversations in small groups.
Make sure your efforts are not in the
way of getting things done.
 prepare to lose control

• Facilitate, not dictate

 measuring ROI

“A direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the

ability to know what it is we want to measure before we
engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a
tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our
goals and objectives.”

-- Brian Solis, author and principal of the FurtureWorks agency

Brian Solis’s ROAD
 observations
• As the number of channels increase,
overall engagement increases at a
faster rate.
• Engagement differs by industry.
• Financial performance correlates with
engagement.
• It Provides ” Multiple Communication
Touch Points” 
http://jeffbullas.com/2009/07/21/report-reveals15-best-practices-of-social-media-implemented-by-the-top-100-brands/#comment-2005
 measuring ROI

“A direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the

ability to know what it is we want to measure before we
engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a
tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our
goals and objectives.”

-- Brian Solis, author and principal of the FurtureWorks agency

 Case study
isabella stewart gardner museum
 case 2
catalog / cat welfare society mashup
 catalog magazine
• Storm Lion and CATALOG MAGAZINE
love cats. And we give two paws up to the
Cat Welfare Society for their efforts in
improving the welfare of community cats in
Singapore. They believe that there are
humane, effective ways to control the
population of community cats - that is,
through sterilisation instead of culling.

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=213827&id=120508340762&ref=pb
 grow influence
• Listen to public
• Understand how each channel provides a
different dimension of engagement
• Centralize coordination
• Spread engagement to employees /
volunteers beyond the social media team.
• Engage in new channels where people
already are
 grow influence
• Open the platform to anyone and
everyone. Encourage employees to tap
into social media to get work done
• Support engagement as an extension of
the company culture.
• Be conversational from the start.
• Make social media part of the job, just
like email
 grow influence
• Modularize and synchronize content
across channels
• Emphasize quality, not just quantity.
• Hold events to facilitate networking.
• Post interactive messages to encourage
responses.
• Give “prizes” to encourage participation.
 doing.gd
Doing Gd is a social movement that will
consolidate social and sustainable
enterprises, socially responsible
movements.

1. Promote Social Entrepreneurship

2. Promote Sustainability
3. Consolidate online social activities for
sustainability and social
entrepreneurship
 doing.gd
Problems
• Charities and social movements in Asia
are fragmented.
• Social enterprises, sustainable products
are hard to find.
• Causes / charities have limited marketing
budget and resources.
• Not enough products to sell online
 doing.gd
• Doing Gd wants to provide free consolidated
social media on a single site, users can find
causes that concern them, socially conscious
gifts, and sustainable products.

• Partner with charities and other responsible

companies, Doing Gd will also hold events that
consolidate socially responsible efforts for
causes and help promote fund raising efforts.
 doing.gd
Features: (Phase 1)
Blogs for socially responsible organizations
Online Forums to discuss causes
Article / News submission
Intelligent online store for sustainable
products and social enterprises with social
media plugins
Twitter / Facebook page to promote partnering
organizations
Event Calendar
 doing.gd
Features: (cont)
Wiki for causes / organizations
Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Flickr Feeds
Widgets and links to partnering sites
Consolidated traffic, Search Engine
Optimization
Reviews and recommendations
Events / Conventions / causal meetups
 doing.gd
Features: (Phase 2)
User’s social media and search engine
aggregation (User can access Twitter /
Facebook Feeds on doing.gd)
Smartphone / iPhone apps
Getting regional products, consolidating
orders for cheaper shipping
Expanding reach to overseas
Getting donations for causes online
 doing.gd
Features: (Phase 3)
Empowering entrepreneurs to join and be part
of doing.gd by franchising online stores to
physical locations
Sales training and free marketing online for
people who want to sell sustainable and social
enterprise products
Create doing.gd membership and rewards
system
jump on the social media bandwagon

now!
Twitter: robin_low
Blog: http://life-in-boston.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/socialhub