Creative Use of Social Media
MommaLuv Birth Project, the Netherlands & Liberia
In this blog, we will share the story of another inspiring project. This time, we put the campaign for the MommaLuv Birth Project in the spotlight. In this project, MommaLuv works together with Natalis to bring about change and to make sure every mom, wherever she may be, can give birth to her child in a safe and hygienic manner. The MommaLuv Birth Project offers pregnant women in the Netherlands the opportunity to support a pregnant woman in challenging circumstances by giving her a maternity package. With the products in this package, the child can be delivered safely.
MommaLuv is an non-governmental organization that provides maternity packages to mothers in nine different countries in Latin America and Africa. Natalis is an organization that gives similar packages to moms in the Netherlands. Together, they came to the idea of the Birth Project. They started their crowdfunding campaign to get a first pilot of the project started in Liberia. What convinced them to work with us for their crowdfunding campaign, is our belief in “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”.
The campaign for the MommaLuv Birth Project lasted for five weeks: in between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Our experiences have shown campaigns than run between four and six weeks are the most successful ones. Besides, as MommaLuv did, it is smart to pick an appealing, relevant period to start or finish your campaign. Campaigns that are online for a longer period generally are less successful. One of the main reasons for this the lack of urgency and pressure to make a donation.
In their five weeks of campaigning, they raised over €9,000. They were able to do this by creatively using social media. On the day of the launch, Mandy (the initiator of MommaLuv) did live sessions on Facebook and Instagram to attract people’s attention and throughout the campaign, she kept updating her followers in this way to keep them in the loop of what was happening. During the last week of the campaign, they did a countdown on the Instagram account. By posting creative, diverse messages, pictures and videos on social media, supporters’ and followers’ attention is continuously drawn to your campaign, without boring them with the same call for donations over and over again.
“During the campaign I updated my followers almost daily on Instagram stories and on Facebook with the amount of money that we raised already. That worked. Also I posted a lot of background stories from the developing countries illustrating the need of maternity packages and therefore the need for our campaign to succeed.” — Mandy, MommaLuv
Contributing the this campaign’s success, also were the already existing networks of both MommaLuv and Natalis. MommaLuv had access to a broad network of engaged, enthusiastic followers, and Natalis to a range of business associates. This was a valuable combination which paid off during the campaign. Where MommaLuv focused on activating followers and pitching the campaign at women’s network events, Natalis consistently called its business associates encouraging them to make a donation. Mandy, the initiator of this project, dedicated a lot of time and energy to the campaign during these five weeks. However, as she learnt, some actions and activities turn out to work better than others.
What didn’t work? “I did a radio interview and our campaign was printed in a local newspaper. It was a nice way of sharing our story, but there weren’t any donations coming out of it. I think people have to know you personally or via via, that works the best to get them into action.” — Mandy, MommaLuv
As Mandy indicates here, the best way she found to reach people and make them contribute is to appeal to them in a personal manner. In crowdfunding, we find that there are generally three main reasons why people make a donation: (1) the personality of the initiator, (2) the project itself, and (3) the rewards and gifts attached to donations. Different supporters get involved for different reasons, and as an initiator, it is important to realize this and respond to it.
What would you advice future initiators? “Stay high in energy during the entire crowdfunding period. It is tempting after the rush from the launch and with 3 more weeks to go, to take it easy. Don’t do that, but stay high in energy. Don’t think that people will get sick of your messages, it is only 1 month and they can choose not to read it right?” — Mandy, MommaLuv
All in all, the MommaLuv Birth Project was a success and their crowdfunding experience shows how, even with a rather small team, dedication to your campaign and faith in your project pay off!
