Times of crisis generate the most donations in social media. The Red Cross received 20 million dollars worth of donations using their ‘causes’ page on Facebook and text messaging after the earthquake in Haiti last year. That figure doesn’t include their own personal website donations. People respond to a crisis, as we are seeing now in Japan. But nonprofits can’t fabricate crises or disasters to grab the attention of people. This video discusses nonprofits detailing personal stories through social media to attract people in the community, potential donors and as a form of branding themselves.
Promoting the nonprofit organization’s mandate and value through personal stories about the organization’s programs, projects or even clients is a way of connecting to other people. People in the community feel engaged when they connect on a personal level to issues they are passionate about. Or even when they see parts of themselves or their past in the work of a nonprofit organization. Finding those connections with people is key to nonprofits.
Social media can build relationships and connections like no other medium. This video also speaks about trust between peers on social media. Cause recommendations, a type of advertising, are 72% more likely to be trusted when coming from a peer than a TV advertisement or Internet ad. This means there is huge power and potential when people share causes with their peers using social media. Because the level of trust is so high between peers, nonprofits need to be telling their stories through social media.
Finally, this video speaks about the power of many. This is the one to one interaction that comes with social media. When one person shares information it travels to all their Twitter followers and Facebook friends. If even one of their friends or followers passes it on to their friends and followers the message could reach dozens of people in only a few clicks. The power of many means information from trusted peers can grow and spread at a very fast rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment