Post by georgelowden on Oct 9, 2014 20:51:22 GMT -5
So I did my assignment on the American Red Cross, a non-profit organization that helps with national, and over-seas, disaster relief. As of most recent they helped with the Haiti earthquake disaster back in 2010 and they are still there helping out today, providing medical assistance to the locals who were effected. The Red Cross began drawing attention to the crisis over their Facebook page where they posted updates about the damage and what the donations people were sending in were doing. Their Facebook page blew up, accumulating a large 202,000 likes in a matter of months. They used their social media outlet to quickly send updates on their progress and to keep people informed.
The Red Cross also puts a huge emphasis on blood donations. As anyone who has donated blood to the Red Cross, they are very helpful and informative when it comes to their blood drives. They also have an amazing follow up. I for example donate once a year or so and they persist to call me almost once a week to see if I am available to donate. They try very hard and for good reason. According to their website, blood donations at high school and college blood drives account for as much as 20 percent of donations during the school year. That's a huge number all things considered, but it's good because much like a lot of the work they do it helps millions of people who are critically injured who lose a lot of blood.
Now while I agree that the Red Cross is very helpful and their persistence in acquiring donations through social media is a little too much. Gloria Huang from FEMA made the excellent point during our Google hangout on Wednesday that social media really should only be used to learn more about the organization itself, not to ask for donations. That's more of the organizations main website's job. However, they do use social media effectively when it comes to building relationships, which is such a great thing to use social media for like what Sarah Milston from The Spark Mill said on Monday. They use social media to connect people to the disaster in Haiti or they tell you how your blood donation is saving a child's life. If they focused on the relationship building and less on the donation and asking for money and time, people would probably want to help out any way, there would be no need to pressure them.
Sources:
www.insidefacebook.com/2010/08/24/facebook-red-cross-fundraising-disaster-relief/
www.redcross.org/news/article/The-Importance-of-Student-Blood-Donors
The Red Cross also puts a huge emphasis on blood donations. As anyone who has donated blood to the Red Cross, they are very helpful and informative when it comes to their blood drives. They also have an amazing follow up. I for example donate once a year or so and they persist to call me almost once a week to see if I am available to donate. They try very hard and for good reason. According to their website, blood donations at high school and college blood drives account for as much as 20 percent of donations during the school year. That's a huge number all things considered, but it's good because much like a lot of the work they do it helps millions of people who are critically injured who lose a lot of blood.
Now while I agree that the Red Cross is very helpful and their persistence in acquiring donations through social media is a little too much. Gloria Huang from FEMA made the excellent point during our Google hangout on Wednesday that social media really should only be used to learn more about the organization itself, not to ask for donations. That's more of the organizations main website's job. However, they do use social media effectively when it comes to building relationships, which is such a great thing to use social media for like what Sarah Milston from The Spark Mill said on Monday. They use social media to connect people to the disaster in Haiti or they tell you how your blood donation is saving a child's life. If they focused on the relationship building and less on the donation and asking for money and time, people would probably want to help out any way, there would be no need to pressure them.
Sources:
www.insidefacebook.com/2010/08/24/facebook-red-cross-fundraising-disaster-relief/
www.redcross.org/news/article/The-Importance-of-Student-Blood-Donors