Post by robinsona2 on Sept 29, 2014 23:08:21 GMT -5
For my discussion answer, I decided to analyze the American Red Cross’ social media strategy on Pinterest for two reasons. First, they are a household name that I feel users would hold to a higher standard. And second, the Huffington Post referred to the organization as a non-profit that is doing Pinterest the right way.
As I previously stated, the American Red Cross is an extremely well known organization. Due to that fact, I was a little surprised that they only had 4,736 followers. However, they are categorized as an unofficial account so I had to cut them a little slack. Followers interact with the brand by posting their pins or vintage America Red Cross paraphernalia. Repinning from their followers and other users allows them to form a connection and increase brand awareness. They have 10 boards, which I appreciate because I felt that meant they kept things simple. However, 2 of their boards seemed outdated. One of the older boards was about the World Cup and another involved a 2013 holiday gift guide. They do have one board dedicated to non-profit information in the media and not specific to them. I found that interesting because in my social media strategy thoughts I listed that an organization shouldn’t only post information that is specific to themselves.
The Pinterest account of the American Red Cross differs greatly from the non-profits we have discussed throughout this class. Most of the organizations we have come across do not use their Pinterest accounts because they are more concerned with Facebook and Twitter, perhaps Instagram. That could be related to less usage than those sites and the fact that Pinterest has a very targeted demographic of dominantly women. Surprisingly enough, the American Red Cross does not draw much attention to their Pinterest account, which is made clear by their unofficial account. It is extremely difficult to find their social media buttons on their website. I attribute that to them wanting to keep attention on their cause. Although when I did find their social media buttons, Pinterest was not one of them.
Overall, they seem to do a fairly decent job but not a noteworthy social media presence on the platform. They do keep their finger on the pulse of technology because they have a blood donation phone app according to the San Francisco Chronicle. If they dedicated a little more time to Pinterest, I think they could have a large following in no time.
As I previously stated, the American Red Cross is an extremely well known organization. Due to that fact, I was a little surprised that they only had 4,736 followers. However, they are categorized as an unofficial account so I had to cut them a little slack. Followers interact with the brand by posting their pins or vintage America Red Cross paraphernalia. Repinning from their followers and other users allows them to form a connection and increase brand awareness. They have 10 boards, which I appreciate because I felt that meant they kept things simple. However, 2 of their boards seemed outdated. One of the older boards was about the World Cup and another involved a 2013 holiday gift guide. They do have one board dedicated to non-profit information in the media and not specific to them. I found that interesting because in my social media strategy thoughts I listed that an organization shouldn’t only post information that is specific to themselves.
The Pinterest account of the American Red Cross differs greatly from the non-profits we have discussed throughout this class. Most of the organizations we have come across do not use their Pinterest accounts because they are more concerned with Facebook and Twitter, perhaps Instagram. That could be related to less usage than those sites and the fact that Pinterest has a very targeted demographic of dominantly women. Surprisingly enough, the American Red Cross does not draw much attention to their Pinterest account, which is made clear by their unofficial account. It is extremely difficult to find their social media buttons on their website. I attribute that to them wanting to keep attention on their cause. Although when I did find their social media buttons, Pinterest was not one of them.
Overall, they seem to do a fairly decent job but not a noteworthy social media presence on the platform. They do keep their finger on the pulse of technology because they have a blood donation phone app according to the San Francisco Chronicle. If they dedicated a little more time to Pinterest, I think they could have a large following in no time.
