Post by donajelli on Oct 2, 2014 12:56:05 GMT -5
Charity: water is not your ordinary charity. They believe in spreading their message and obtaining donations through more creative means. Long gone are the days of direct mailing and taking swarms of people out to fancy dinners in order to receive donations. They do not pay for ads and do all of their work in house with a small creative team lead by the Director of Digital Paull Young.
One such example is their campaign “$10k on 10/1 Social Media-thon”. According to socialmediathon.org, the purpose of this event was to raise $10,000 for a location in India in 24 hours starting on October 1st, by using Google Hangout in particular but also spreading messages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Now here’s where the money comes into play. Charity: water had the idea of creating 30-minute Google hangouts hosted by leading entrepreneurs starting at 12 a.m. on October 1st until midnight of the following day. Each session had a maximum occupancy of 8 with a price of $45 per seat. The purpose of these hangouts for the public was to pick the brain of these intellectuals and inquire about leading business propositions. The target market for these hangouts was not necessarily focused towards the general public, but more towards entrepreneurs and other inquisitive minds. On top of the hangouts and social media posts, water: charity also showed a live video feed from their headquarters in Massachusetts to give the social media population a more personable insight behind the event.
This campaign was successful for a few different reasons; the first being a small perk, but its importance cannot be understated. Charity: water gives you a gps tracking code so you can be reassured that your money is going to directly to the town of Orissa in India, and being put to good use. Too often have I heard complaints regarding other non-profit donations and how the money is disbursed among employees and the non-profit itself. Another reason for the campaigns success was the convenient and personable approach of the Google hangouts. They gave people the ability to gain useful and otherwise unobtainable business information by asking direct questions to the host. $45 is a nominal fee for an entrepreneur looking to get the inside edge in business. Finally the last reason this campaign was successful was how well it was planned mixed with the simplicity of the campaign. From the facilitators aiding in the Google hangout all the way to the GPS money tracking capability, this campaign was executed very well.
Other nonprofits have had success on social media as well. Water is Life came up with #FirstWorldProblems on twitter to put in perspective just how petty our complaints are in America compared to Africa. Their goal was to encourage donations by using this hashtag and they even made a video, which is extremly powerful and only makes me feel worse for complaining about simple things.
While both campaigns were successful, they affected their audience members differently. Charity: water was only a 24-hour event so it obviously limited the number of people who were exposed to the event. The best part about the campaign though was the 2-way communication in the google hangouts, which was not present in the Water is Life campaign. Water is Life had much more time to spread their message and after it caught on #FirstWorldProblems was and still is being used regularly. Even though the content may change, every time a person uses that hashtag it reminds them that somewhere someone is living a less fortunate life than they are.
One such example is their campaign “$10k on 10/1 Social Media-thon”. According to socialmediathon.org, the purpose of this event was to raise $10,000 for a location in India in 24 hours starting on October 1st, by using Google Hangout in particular but also spreading messages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Now here’s where the money comes into play. Charity: water had the idea of creating 30-minute Google hangouts hosted by leading entrepreneurs starting at 12 a.m. on October 1st until midnight of the following day. Each session had a maximum occupancy of 8 with a price of $45 per seat. The purpose of these hangouts for the public was to pick the brain of these intellectuals and inquire about leading business propositions. The target market for these hangouts was not necessarily focused towards the general public, but more towards entrepreneurs and other inquisitive minds. On top of the hangouts and social media posts, water: charity also showed a live video feed from their headquarters in Massachusetts to give the social media population a more personable insight behind the event.
This campaign was successful for a few different reasons; the first being a small perk, but its importance cannot be understated. Charity: water gives you a gps tracking code so you can be reassured that your money is going to directly to the town of Orissa in India, and being put to good use. Too often have I heard complaints regarding other non-profit donations and how the money is disbursed among employees and the non-profit itself. Another reason for the campaigns success was the convenient and personable approach of the Google hangouts. They gave people the ability to gain useful and otherwise unobtainable business information by asking direct questions to the host. $45 is a nominal fee for an entrepreneur looking to get the inside edge in business. Finally the last reason this campaign was successful was how well it was planned mixed with the simplicity of the campaign. From the facilitators aiding in the Google hangout all the way to the GPS money tracking capability, this campaign was executed very well.
Other nonprofits have had success on social media as well. Water is Life came up with #FirstWorldProblems on twitter to put in perspective just how petty our complaints are in America compared to Africa. Their goal was to encourage donations by using this hashtag and they even made a video, which is extremly powerful and only makes me feel worse for complaining about simple things.
While both campaigns were successful, they affected their audience members differently. Charity: water was only a 24-hour event so it obviously limited the number of people who were exposed to the event. The best part about the campaign though was the 2-way communication in the google hangouts, which was not present in the Water is Life campaign. Water is Life had much more time to spread their message and after it caught on #FirstWorldProblems was and still is being used regularly. Even though the content may change, every time a person uses that hashtag it reminds them that somewhere someone is living a less fortunate life than they are.