Social media for cause-related marketing

‘Lives on the line’ aims to change current government policy which excludes full compensation for those wounded between September 2001 and April 2005. The campaign encourages people to sign a petition at the Prime Minister’s Office website and write to their local MP to generate awareness and support.

Phoebus created the visual identity for the social media campaign, which has nearly four thousand members and the support of the Daily Telegraph.

If you wish to become engaged in a social media campaign here is a brief outline to start your strategy:

1. Tools
   Social media tools include:
• Forums and online communities e.g. Wikipedia
• Blogs and microblogging e.g. Twitter
• Social Networks e.g. Facebook
• Multimedia Sites  e.g. FlickR, Youtube, Slideshare
• Social Bookmarking e.g de.lic.ous
• RSS Feeds
  
  
2. Strategy
• Google Alerts – Sign up to Google Alerts so you are aware what is being said about you and where.
• Start dialogue – Comment/respond on what is being said about you or comments that relate to your products or industry.
• Collaborative Tools – Offer people the opportunity to share with you by providing them with the tools to do so e.g. a comments section on your website.
• Connect – Create a profile for your brand on social networks and participate through these.
• Communicate – Tell people about upcoming events, campaigns, office parties, new products on facebook, twitter, forums and blogs.
• Community – create user communities to test products and help develop services.
• Create buzz – by engaging with influential bloggers/tweeters about products and events
• Create conversations – by posting treads on popular/relevant forums
• Transparent – Be transparent, respond to/learn from critical comments DO NOT delete them.  Being transparent builds trust in your brand, demonstrates your brand values and shows your brand personality. It is easier to like and trust a person than a corporation.
• Use every tool appropriate
• Test different creative, messaging and timing
• Monitor effectiveness.
  
  
3. Are you effective?
• Alerts: check Google alerts, how much Buzz have you created?
• Analytics: Monitor traffic to your sites, the quantity and quality of comments, links to your pages
• Asking: Ask people what their perception of your brand and products are, monitor how this changes