The Social Media Mermaid

Today I will examine a non profit organization that is actively using Pinterest to get their message across. While there are quite a lot of non profits to chose from, I chose ‘Make-A-Wish America‘ for today’s case study. I know about this organization mostly through the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The book tells the story of two teenagers with cancer and during the book, one of them uses their ‘wish’ to go to Amsterdam and visit the author of their favorite book.

Anyways, I think this foundation is great and has a touching goal. According to their Pinterest profile, they explain their mission as follows:

 We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

On Pinterest they have 3283 followers, which is not that much if you think about the amount of wished they grant every year. According to their website, it is around 14.000 wishes every year- which is about one every 38 minutes. They only follow about 122 other users, mostly other charities across the USA, other non profits and businesses that are related to their cause. While this does make sense for them and is helpful for users to maybe discover other charities worth supporting, it does not help to create a community of followers. Given the sensitive topic of cancer and the fact that a lot of kids that have been granted wishes might not be alive anymore, I think it is especially hard for them to create this kind of community- On the other hand, I also think that there could be an extraordinary sense of community among ‘participants’, especially because the bonding possibilities are so much greater than in other charities that support the rainforest for example.

They have 17 boards at the moment, and I think they make good use of them. There is one called ‘About Make-A-Wish’, where they combined touching pictures of their kids with text to explain who they are and what they do. Then they have a lot of boards for various events (mostly with hashtags, so its transferable to other platforms such as Twitter!), news stories about them, a board for products that will help them grant wishes and other boards just for inspiration. A board that I think is almost the most important is called ‘Wish Stories’. This pretty much does not need explanation- it shows pictures of kids that have been granted wishes. They are all shown with their ‘wishes’, which ranges from a visit to Disneyland to being a National Geographic photographer. It is a very sweet and emotional board but definitely helps to get their message across. The children look so happy in their pictures, it is hard not to share their joy and want to support the foundation.

In general I think that they are doing a pretty good job promoting their cause on Pinterest, all they need to do is keep posting and being engaged!

Pinterest can be a great tool for businesses. It is basically online scrapbooking, but not limited to that. It has over 70 million users and if used right, can become a great tool to build a community and connect with your consumers/customers/followers. A lot of people use Pinterest for recipes, workout tips, fashion or travel inspiration, but it businesses can take advantage of it even if their business is not related to these areas. The great thing is that any pin can be linked to a website, which is great for driving traffic to your website. Pinterest is the best platform to do this, even better than Twitter and Facebook!

Not only has Pinterest a great guide for businesses on their website, they also have a extensive FAQ as well. It shows you how to get started, gives advice on how to start pinning and how to use the free web analytics. They also have several case studies to explain how other companies are using Pinterest, which is a great start and full of inspiration!

Here are just three general tips to consider when thinking about including Pinterest in your online presence.

1. Even if your business or organization is not all about visuals or if you don’t have products that are easily pinable, you can still create your own visually attractive pictures that will lead to your original content. (Look at this example from this great article) Make it easy for people to find your pin and content!

2. Go with the flow- be creative and incorporate seasonal things to your pins! Giveaways for Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas will always be ‘in demand’ and a trending topic, so take advantage of that!

3. Even on Pinterest you can get engaged with your community. Don’t just follow people that are following you, but answer comments underneath pins, reach out to fellow organizations or your local community and you will create a great relationship with them.

An example of how Charity Water uses their Instagram account! (from here x)

 

In the last post I talked about things that non profit organizations should consider when using social media. The conclusion was that social media is useful for everyone if done right and so today I would like to talk about Instagram.

Yes, Instagram is probably mostly used by teenagers and tweens to show off their lunch, kittens or feet, but it can also be used to promote your business.

The fact that Instagram can only be properly used on your phone is something that definitely adds to the spontaneity of it, but that does not mean you can’t also plan it strategically.

It ties very neatly in to Facebook posts or even Twitter, which makes it perfect for non-profits that are visually oriented.  Not just that, it also allows you to be very creative and raise awareness of your company. Instagram has over 130 million users that are easily reachable if you do it ‘right’.

If you are new to Instagram, a good first step would be to show your (future) followers who you are and what you do. Posts that show why you do it can also inspire people to do the same and join your cause.

Getting people to follow you is not much different than in Twitter for example. Find like minded people and follow them, get engaged, leave comments and also encourage participation in your own posts. Instagram is not all serious, so it is allowed to have fun while showcasing your work or statistics for example.

Mashable wrote a great article on how non profits companies are using Instagram for their  purposes. All of these organizations are using Instagram to visually show off what they are up to.

Julia Campbell also explained how non profits can use Instagram. An important fact that she mentions is to show the impact that your organization is having. She says:

You are changing lives, saving the environment, finding homes for animals, preserving historical buildings, saving children. Whatever your mission, make sure that some of your Instagram photos show this impact – whether it be a smiling face, a cleaned up beach or an empty food pantry after the holidays.

 

I think that this is a great advice for any non profit organization. Show the actual work that you are doing day by day and people will definitely be more likely to get involved.

Non profit organizations probably have more difficulties being on social media. They are not selling a product, they are trying to get people involved. People are already quite apathetic to many causes, even the very important ones.

Lyndsey Hrabik wrote a very interesting article about the whole issue and argues that non-profit organizations were always thought of as something that have never stood a chance on social media. However, this is not true and she gives great examples of campaigns from non profit organizations such as Water is Life and UNICEF. Those campaigns worked because they were bold, straight to the point and well planned.

To build an online and social media presence for your non profit organization, a website is a no brainer. Facebook is a great place to share this content and keep followers up to date on what you are doing. With its more than one billion users, you get the best chances of exposure. Twitter is becoming more and more important, it has evolved in to a network that can start a revolution like in Egypt and is very fast and “in the moment”. Here you can share updates about an event, share Instagram photos or link to your Facebook page. Pinterest is another great tool, especially in terms of pictures. It is the leader when it comes to website referrals. Websites get a lot of traffic when they are linked to a pin, way more than in a tweet or a Facebook post. Blogging in general is of course very powerful, too. It all depends if the social network fits with the message you want to send. Sometimes it’s better to just focus on one network at a time.

While this applies to most organizations or businesses, there is something that non-profit organizations should be aware of:

In the last post, I talked about how it is important to have a clear voice when starting to build your social media or online presence. Having a clear voice to present your message is ambigious in itself- can you be funny and serious at the same time? Or do you have to decide- there are a lot of questions and there is no simple answer. The infinite number of media outlets online have made it more difficult to express your message in a clear manner. Every social network or platform has its own rules and it is only beneficial for you if you know those rules and engage in the platform accordingly.

Therefore, there are just as many things you can do “wrong”, which can hurt your (business) reputation.

1. Don’t respond

Not responding to a customer comment on your Facebook page or ignoring a complaint on Twitter for example can hurt your reputation the same way- social media is exactly what is says- it is social. So when you have all your social media identities set up but just leave them like that, you will never properly engage with your customers. Same goes for negative publicity or comments- No one wants to deal with a company that ignores their customers’ problems. By engaging with your customers you are definitely more in charge of your online reputation and have good chances to influence it in a positive way.

2. Unprofessional or inappropriate content

This probably goes without saying, however there have been quite a few incidents of well known brands/businesses that made this mistake. Chaleigh Glass mentions the example of GAP: They took advantage of the popular hastag #Sandy during Hurricane Sandy to promote their online shop. Not only does this make them look like they are completely unsympathetic to what was going on, their true purpose as a business was way too clear. Even though making money is clearly their main purpose, it should not be publicised like this.
In general you should avoid getting involved in current news unless they are relevant to your business- but don’t try and force your saled with that news event.

3. Spamming

Forcing your sales should be done in a certain way on social media networks. Users do not want to constantly be bombarded with your products or news regarding the company. Keep the amount of new posted at a good level so no one gets bored too quickly and unfollows you. Social media is about keeping in touch with your followers/customers, not about annoying them or pushing the product too hard.

Jet wrote a great article about several other does and don’ts regarding social media use for your business. He has included various faux paus of companies, which are a great illustration for his examples.