If you don’t realise how many people use social media on a regular basis, you probably spend your days rocking on the front porch, yelling “Get off my lawn!” at passers-by. Statista reports that nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide were regular users of social media, with that number expected to hit three billion by the year 2020. The majority of those users have personal accounts, but the number of businesses using social networking is soaring. For example, nearly half of all U.S. small businesses now use Facebook Pages or ads to interact with clients and potential customers – and that’s just one of the many platforms available. The ubiquity of social media presents businesses and individuals with an unprecedented ability to support their favoured causes and charities, both with direct appeals to friends and customers, with larger-scale campaigns which may even go viral. Below are some suggestions on how to go about it.

The “K.I.S.S.” (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach is often effective on social media, because users are deluged with posts and shares on their timelines. Most people scanning social accounts don’t have the time (or inclination) to read through lengthy stories and pontifications, even if they’re well-written and interesting. A detailed review of the latest Mission: Impossible movie, for instance, will receive much less social media attention and love (or hate) than a simple one-line post reading “The New Mission: Impossible? Tom Cruise was amazing…in the 80’s and ‘90s.”

However, keeping things simple doesn’t usually work when calling attention to a worthwhile causes via social networking. In fact, customers or friends may not even noticea brief request for support as they scroll through hours’ worth of posts and Tweets, even if the sender is a social influencer with thousands of friends and followers. A text message reading “Abandoned pets desperately need your help – click here to learn more” is likely to disappear in a never-ending flood of personal, political and spam posts. When making direct social media requests on behalf of a charitable cause, the goal is to grab readers’ attention and hold it long enough to convey the appeal. There are three key factors that matter when constructing such a request:

• A compelling visual – in our “pets” example, this would likely feature a photo or short video clip of abandoned pets.
• A brief, well-written line (or two) of text – “Your family’s new best friend desperately needs you to save him THIS WEEK – click before it’s too late” is just one possible choice.
• An effective destination site – this is a link to a longer, powerful appeal for support.

This type of social media post, whether it’s to benefit pet shelters, clean water programs or a GoFundMe campaign for a sick child, may trigger a brief increase in donations or support. It won’t create a long-lasting stream of revenue or support, though. There are more effective social networking methods for those purposes.

Marketers often talk about the “Rule of Seven.” Simply put, research shows that marketing material has to be seen at least seven times for it to be remembered and produce a desired action. The same holds true for charitable fundraising and cause marketing. A one-shot appeal has a minimal effect. The need for reinforcement fits perfectly with the commitment a business should be making on behalf of its chosen cause(s). After all, most of today’s companies understand how important corporate social responsibility is to their operations and success, and the major role that engagement with social media followers plays in their CSR. Continuing social media involvement which boosts education about – and awareness of – a good cause truly defines a firm’s support and maximises its effect. There are many ways to do this on social networking platforms:

• Creating social posts which trigger important positive emotional responses like happiness, satisfaction and inspiration – all of which have been proven to generate social shares.
• Posting or reposting stories, photos and/or links featuring the important work being done on behalf of the cause, without any overt solicitation of support or donations.
• Expanding the company’s social media universe to platforms like Instagram and Storify which encourage a sense of community through regular video and blog posts, and investing the time and effort necessary to build and maintain a lasting presence.
• Stimulating participation, engagement and content contributions from followers, readers and viewers, through open-ended questions or polls which encourage active involvement and commitment.

These methods are primarily “stand-alone” ways for companies (and individuals) to build support for a good cause. They can be extremely effective, but still can’t compete with a full-fledged cause-related marketing campaign.

The best cause-related campaigns involve much more than just social networking. They use all available marketing platforms, from television and print to traditional public relations outreach. These days, however, the social component is primarily responsible for widespread awareness and participation because well-designed cause marketing efforts often go viral. The attention and publicity created by viral social media campaigns can dwarf the awareness, participation and financial contributions generated through more traditional methods. One of the most startling successes in recent years was spearheaded by NFL star J.J. Watt. After Hurricane Harvey hit, he announced a crowdfunding effort to raise money for Houston disaster relief by releasing a challenge video on social media. Watt set a goal of $200,000, contributing half that amount himself – but the video went viral and it took only two hours to reach his initial goal. In just three weeks Watt’s Houston Flood Relief Fund campaign raised an incredible $37 million. His social posts, along with those of TV, music and sports stars who supported the campaign, were the primary drivers of the effort. But television, print and public relations coverage kicked in after the first video went viral, as did social media videos from hurricane victims, driving the campaign to record fundraising heights.

By contrast, some of the most successful cause marketing campaigns are backed by corporate sponsors. General Electric’s 2017 “Balance the Equation” program was sparked by statistics showing that women hold fewer than 25% of all technology jobs worldwide. The company’s efforts were designed to encourage girls to study STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects in school and pursue careers in technology. GE created a website (GE-girls.com) and a hashtag #BalanceTheEquation, encouraging girls and women to share their stories and interests in technology on social media and online. The company also built a multi-media marketing campaign celebrating Millie Dresselhaus, the 87-year old MIT professor who was the first woman to win the National Medical of Science in Engineering, and committed to a 50-50 male-female split among new tech hires by 2020. Recent corporate woes at GE may have short-circuited those efforts, but the cause campaign was a success and a social media hit. Finally, no discussion of cause-related marketing would be complete without a mention of the Ice Bucket Challenge, perhaps the most successful viral campaign of all time. The challenge raised more than $110 million in just one month for ALS research (the organization had only raised about $2.5 million the previous year), with well over two million people posting their challenge videos on Facebook alone. Meanwhile, awareness of Lou Gehrig’s disease, and the need for additional funding for research, skyrocketed. These examples stand as an impressive example of how imaginative use of social networking can benefit a good cause.

At Don’t Panic, we don’t just talk the talk – we’re busy walking the walk too. To see our work, click here, or if you’re after an attention-grabbing campaign of your own, click here.