Very often when we think of social media we aim for eyeballs and reach for the brand by posting content on a page. When it comes to using social media for a charitable cause it can get trickier since you have to balance between staying true to the need and promoting the brand.  However, when we tap the collective power of employees the social responsibility impact gets amplified.
Here are some perspectives to help your community social media campaign go places.
Be clear about your objectives: Every campaign needn’t be about fund raising. You can also raise awareness about your brand’s effort or recognize your employee volunteers who have gone over and beyond. This could be an opportunity to reinforce your culture and values – how they relate basis your community engagement. Be sure of the channels you will host the campaign on. Have an anchor page, such as Facebook to launch the campaign and continue reposting via other channels such as Twitter and Linkedin.
Get ‘social’ internally before you go live: There is no better way than getting feedback on your campaign from a sub-set of your audience.  Seek out your most committed corporate social responsibility volunteers and ask if your campaign has merit and it will generate the interest and focus you need.
Be open to changing course mid-way:  Sometimes, the campaign may not find favour with your followers. Either the theme isn’t attractive or they aren’t actively engaged to take action.  If you hear that the campaign isn’t working be willing to take a detour and revisit the objectives.
Gather your community and social champions: Your best social and community champions, I believe, are within your organization. They can tell you the pulse of the community like no one else can. Have them seed the campaign and maintain momentum as you move ahead.
Verify your #hashtag before using: You can never know what the hashtag was used for earlier! So, do check before you begin using. For example, while I ran a social media community campaign I discovered that the hashtag I planned using had received negative publicity from disgruntled activists of a renowned brand. It suffered irreparable reputational damage due to the hashtag and the campaign.
Images and daily posts work best: When content is posted along with images they tend to attract the most attention vis-à -vis plain text.  Create an event on Facebook – that usually gets a lot of attention. Tweet images from events or create banners which can get shared via your social media channels consistently.
Optimal duration for the campaign: Keep a campaign running too long and it may lose momentum. Keep it too short and it may not gather steam. You also need to balance the duration with the amount of content you have to sustain interest.
Have leaders pitch in: I have noticed how employees get energized when leaders pitch in on community campaigning. Simple comments or feedback on the progress of the campaign can do wonders for the morale of volunteers supporting your community effort.
Report out often: Excite followers online on the impact they were making through regular reports stating the reach, impact and outcomes. For example, you may want to share which charity will receive the funds you are raising or the final beneficiary of the funds you have collected.
Ignite conversations: Ask followers what they think of the campaign, how can they contribute, what they can do more. Bring in an element of fun – post a photograph and invite captions. Or, continue a discussion thread on their most memorable moment of the campaign.
Reinforce the campaign internally: Keep the tempo up by talking of key conversations that are taking place online and seeking your employees’ opinions on the campaign. Increase their participation by requesting them to share onwards among their network. You can build pride and garner more support for your community effort if you are inclusive.
Run a similar community social media campaign and got results? Keen to hear your views.
