Post by evanflynn on Oct 1, 2014 11:15:46 GMT -5
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization in the United States that arranges joyful experiences that they call “wishes” for children with life-threatening medical conditions. The remarkable organization started in 1980 when U.S. Customs Officer Tommy Austin befriended a 7 year old boy battling leukemia. This boy boy was named Christopher James Greicius, and he wanted to be a police officer. Tommy Austin was able to facilitate this child's dream, and Christopher spent a day as a police officer. He received a custom police uniform, was sworn in by patrolman, and he even rode in a police helicopter. Sadly Christopher passed away shortly after this, but his strength and bravery throughout it all catalyzed the creation of the world’s largest “wish” foundation.
Today Wake-A-Wish operates as the premier organization in its field. Unlike most medical sector non-profits, Make-A-Wish does not seek to provide medical treatment or medicine. Instead they focus on giving those with life-threatening illnesses a chance to live well. Joy is their medicine and happiness is their treatment. There work touches thousands of children and families every year and they continue to grow and gain popularity.
For nearly 30 years Make-A-Wish relied on word of mouth and traditional media for exposure, however in last decade they have waisted no time implementing social media into their operation. At the top of their website one will find a “social” tab which brings users directly to all their social media platforms. Make-A-Wish maintains a solid presence on 7 platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Throughout all of these mediums Make-A-Wish provides news, happenings, and chances for people to get involved. They overlap a lot and offer a lot of information on each. I will discuss Twitter further as I believe it is an example of how to correctly use such a medium.
Currently Make-A-Wish has 174 thousand followers, and all of them have been acquired since July of 2009. They have produced 18.2 thousand tweets in that amount time which equates to 5+ tweets a day. In addition to regular posts, they have riddled their page with content ranging from wishes granted to volunteer opportunities. In their photos you will find nearly 400 pictures including images of Oprah assisting volunteers and Dereck Jeter playing catch with a “wish kid”. They are able to invite casual visitors into their organizations day-to-day operations with microblogs and pictures very well. You or I could volunteer in an instant. More importantly visitors see the results of their hard work; pictures of terminally ill children smiling are all over. All of this is done with class, and their page remains uplifting and positive.
Recently Make-A-Wish has used Twitter to accomplish one child’s wish in the San Fransico Bay area. In collaboration with the Clever Girls Collective, San Fransico transformed into Gotham in order to make 5 year old cancer fighter Miles’ dream of being batman come true. Using #SFBatKid, this organization was able to have tens of thousands of supporters lining the streets as “BatKid” responded to a real life bat signal, stopped the Riddler’s bank robbery, and thwarted the Penguin’s attempt to kidnap the SF Giant’s mascot. This elaborate and amazing effort generated an estimated 1.7 billion social impressions including shout-outs form First Lady Obama and imposture Batman like Val Kilmer and Christian Bale.
The true brilliance of this campaign is seen in Miles’ smile as he is wears a bat suit. This joy alone would have marked a success but the creativity and the short time period in which these organizations were able to put this event together is a testament to social media’s potential. To quote them, “Thanks to social media, “regular” people also added voices to the chorus of support for Miles, and created an electronic outpouring of emotion...”. #SFBatKid was such a success that Make-A-Wish and Clever Girls Collection our currently nominated for a Shorty Industry Award.
Here is the step by step process they followed in order to achieve this great accomplishment. I think all of us could learn from their work.
Step 1: Social Media 101 set-up We made information easy to find and understand, including a Facebook page, and detailed blog post distributed through a single URL. We used the official @sfwish Twitter handle for real-time information and the @penguinsf "villain" to amplify the narrative.
Most importantly, we established #SFBatKid as the official hashtag, and set up Simply Measured social media listening tools to monitor and measure activity. Event organizers were involved from the get-go and everyone was enthusiastic about what would happen, how, and when.
Step 2. The script Much "day of" activity was unscripted and off-the-cuff, but the entire scope of social media support was planned well in advance. Using Batkid's itinerary, we wrote a Twitter script identifying key points, photos, and videos to include, and when.
Step 3. Staffing We had a dozen people on-point, starting at 6 a.m. One team traveled with Miles, reporting and photographing goings-on, and supporting Tweets from @sfwish, including the photo retweeted by President Obama. A second team pushed scripted Tweets to the #SFBatKid hashtag. Dedicated staff watched news feeds and Tweet streams to stay on top of the story as others were telling it, adjusting ours as needed, and responding to the many high profile tweeters.
Hugely important? Every member of the Clever Girls team was empowered — and encouraged! — to engage. A successful social campaign requires authentic, in-the-moment interactions to resonate with people and bring the story to life.
Step 4. Measure the impact From November 5 until about 5:00 PM on Saturday, November 16, Clever Girls Collective has tracked over 500,000 individual tweets using the official #SFBatKid and the unofficial #batkid hashtags, generating over 1.7 billion impressions.
Citations
Make-A-Wish® America. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2014.
twitter.com/MakeAWish
#SFBatKid. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2014. industry.shortyawards.com/nominee/6th_annual/te/sfbatkid
Today Wake-A-Wish operates as the premier organization in its field. Unlike most medical sector non-profits, Make-A-Wish does not seek to provide medical treatment or medicine. Instead they focus on giving those with life-threatening illnesses a chance to live well. Joy is their medicine and happiness is their treatment. There work touches thousands of children and families every year and they continue to grow and gain popularity.
For nearly 30 years Make-A-Wish relied on word of mouth and traditional media for exposure, however in last decade they have waisted no time implementing social media into their operation. At the top of their website one will find a “social” tab which brings users directly to all their social media platforms. Make-A-Wish maintains a solid presence on 7 platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Throughout all of these mediums Make-A-Wish provides news, happenings, and chances for people to get involved. They overlap a lot and offer a lot of information on each. I will discuss Twitter further as I believe it is an example of how to correctly use such a medium.
Currently Make-A-Wish has 174 thousand followers, and all of them have been acquired since July of 2009. They have produced 18.2 thousand tweets in that amount time which equates to 5+ tweets a day. In addition to regular posts, they have riddled their page with content ranging from wishes granted to volunteer opportunities. In their photos you will find nearly 400 pictures including images of Oprah assisting volunteers and Dereck Jeter playing catch with a “wish kid”. They are able to invite casual visitors into their organizations day-to-day operations with microblogs and pictures very well. You or I could volunteer in an instant. More importantly visitors see the results of their hard work; pictures of terminally ill children smiling are all over. All of this is done with class, and their page remains uplifting and positive.
Recently Make-A-Wish has used Twitter to accomplish one child’s wish in the San Fransico Bay area. In collaboration with the Clever Girls Collective, San Fransico transformed into Gotham in order to make 5 year old cancer fighter Miles’ dream of being batman come true. Using #SFBatKid, this organization was able to have tens of thousands of supporters lining the streets as “BatKid” responded to a real life bat signal, stopped the Riddler’s bank robbery, and thwarted the Penguin’s attempt to kidnap the SF Giant’s mascot. This elaborate and amazing effort generated an estimated 1.7 billion social impressions including shout-outs form First Lady Obama and imposture Batman like Val Kilmer and Christian Bale.
The true brilliance of this campaign is seen in Miles’ smile as he is wears a bat suit. This joy alone would have marked a success but the creativity and the short time period in which these organizations were able to put this event together is a testament to social media’s potential. To quote them, “Thanks to social media, “regular” people also added voices to the chorus of support for Miles, and created an electronic outpouring of emotion...”. #SFBatKid was such a success that Make-A-Wish and Clever Girls Collection our currently nominated for a Shorty Industry Award.
Here is the step by step process they followed in order to achieve this great accomplishment. I think all of us could learn from their work.
Step 1: Social Media 101 set-up We made information easy to find and understand, including a Facebook page, and detailed blog post distributed through a single URL. We used the official @sfwish Twitter handle for real-time information and the @penguinsf "villain" to amplify the narrative.
Most importantly, we established #SFBatKid as the official hashtag, and set up Simply Measured social media listening tools to monitor and measure activity. Event organizers were involved from the get-go and everyone was enthusiastic about what would happen, how, and when.
Step 2. The script Much "day of" activity was unscripted and off-the-cuff, but the entire scope of social media support was planned well in advance. Using Batkid's itinerary, we wrote a Twitter script identifying key points, photos, and videos to include, and when.
Step 3. Staffing We had a dozen people on-point, starting at 6 a.m. One team traveled with Miles, reporting and photographing goings-on, and supporting Tweets from @sfwish, including the photo retweeted by President Obama. A second team pushed scripted Tweets to the #SFBatKid hashtag. Dedicated staff watched news feeds and Tweet streams to stay on top of the story as others were telling it, adjusting ours as needed, and responding to the many high profile tweeters.
Hugely important? Every member of the Clever Girls team was empowered — and encouraged! — to engage. A successful social campaign requires authentic, in-the-moment interactions to resonate with people and bring the story to life.
Step 4. Measure the impact From November 5 until about 5:00 PM on Saturday, November 16, Clever Girls Collective has tracked over 500,000 individual tweets using the official #SFBatKid and the unofficial #batkid hashtags, generating over 1.7 billion impressions.
Citations
Make-A-Wish® America. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2014.
twitter.com/MakeAWish
#SFBatKid. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2014. industry.shortyawards.com/nominee/6th_annual/te/sfbatkid
