Post by millerma on Oct 2, 2014 21:54:35 GMT -5
Though not strictly speaking only a health non-profit organization, UNICEF is the leading non-profit organization protecting the rights- including health, wellness and wellbeing- of children and women across the world. As an organization that’s significantly older than any of the non-profit organizations we’ve looked at during the course of the class- getting it’s start all the way back in 1946 to provide for children and women in war ravaged countries at the end of World War II- having social media is obviously not the source of their popularity. However, well-established or brand new, non-profit organizations rely on donations and, in this day and age, those donations are driven through social media so it remains crucial to examine how successful a non-profit’s social media is.
According to Shannon Good at SavvyPanda- a marketing consultant agency- one of the main strengths of UNICEF on Facebook- their main social media platform- is their visual storytelling, connecting relevant photos to their (in my opinion) singularly well-written lines. UNICEF is also strong in user engagement for both positive and negative feedback and in staying up to date in relevant social media trends. All in all, according to Shannon Good and SavvyPanda’s analysis of their social media engagement, UNICEF essentially ticks all the boxes for what we deemed in our class as ‘best practices’ for social media.
Although I’ve commented before on the quality of visual storytelling from non-profit’s we’ve looked at, I share the opinions from SavvyPanda that UNICEF really sets itself apart with visual storytelling. What makes what they do so distinctive and clever is that they weave the stories of the children in with telling the story and the goals of UNICEF. Using storytelling in that way serves to more immediately connect helping UNICEF by donating to helping the children their visuals help to make the audience care about.
Despite largely positive views of the organization’s social media engagement, there was, however, also a rather sharp critique of one of their campaigns from Laurel Papworth- a recognized social media consultant- as being strategically ‘short-sighted’ for their social media presence. The campaign was critical of slacktivism, reminding UNICEF’s audience “Likes don’t save lives. Money does.” Essentially, she argued, while the campaign may be smart short term, it effectively shames people for liking or sharing or participating in general with UNICEF’s social media, which will have the obvious consequence of driving down social media engagement long term.
In a broad sense, however, I think that UNICEF has a strong social media presence and, in my opinion, has actually been more risky- for better or for worse- in it’s social media than many other organizations that I’ve seen in our course and I think being willing to risk making their audience feel bad to get them actually participating in meaningful ways shows their commitment to their cause and to activism in general.
According to Shannon Good at SavvyPanda- a marketing consultant agency- one of the main strengths of UNICEF on Facebook- their main social media platform- is their visual storytelling, connecting relevant photos to their (in my opinion) singularly well-written lines. UNICEF is also strong in user engagement for both positive and negative feedback and in staying up to date in relevant social media trends. All in all, according to Shannon Good and SavvyPanda’s analysis of their social media engagement, UNICEF essentially ticks all the boxes for what we deemed in our class as ‘best practices’ for social media.
Although I’ve commented before on the quality of visual storytelling from non-profit’s we’ve looked at, I share the opinions from SavvyPanda that UNICEF really sets itself apart with visual storytelling. What makes what they do so distinctive and clever is that they weave the stories of the children in with telling the story and the goals of UNICEF. Using storytelling in that way serves to more immediately connect helping UNICEF by donating to helping the children their visuals help to make the audience care about.
Despite largely positive views of the organization’s social media engagement, there was, however, also a rather sharp critique of one of their campaigns from Laurel Papworth- a recognized social media consultant- as being strategically ‘short-sighted’ for their social media presence. The campaign was critical of slacktivism, reminding UNICEF’s audience “Likes don’t save lives. Money does.” Essentially, she argued, while the campaign may be smart short term, it effectively shames people for liking or sharing or participating in general with UNICEF’s social media, which will have the obvious consequence of driving down social media engagement long term.
In a broad sense, however, I think that UNICEF has a strong social media presence and, in my opinion, has actually been more risky- for better or for worse- in it’s social media than many other organizations that I’ve seen in our course and I think being willing to risk making their audience feel bad to get them actually participating in meaningful ways shows their commitment to their cause and to activism in general.
