Final Project
For my final project I created an outline of a social media campaign with overall tips for how to run each platform and then concluded with ideas for campaigns to be broadcasted on each platform. Here is the plan I have outlined for the organization Charity: Water
Social Media Plan For an Organization/Business
Charity: water
1. Develop voice
The most important thing is to have all of the social media accounts feel like they are an actual person with a personality that users can get to know. First you must define Charity: water’s personality and then communicate this personality consistently across all the different platforms. I suggest a voice that is serious about the issue, yet exciting and engaging about the work being done, also not too serious or professional because you want users to feel comfortable with this “personality” but professional enough to talk about the cause.
2. Pick social media platforms and tailor content to each of these platforms
Add a photo to each post, this has been proven to boost the number of retweets by 35% (Kevan Lee, bufferpost). Twitter is most frequently used between 7 and 10pm and another optimal time is between 1–3pm, so post the best posts in those windows but there should be about four posts a day. Two of those posts should be ones to inform people about the issue, these should have provoking pictures, statistics, and promote guilt in the users, bring the issue home to them. The other two posts should be about what charity: water is doing to solve the issue, make these uplifting, positive and encouraging. The account cannot only be negative or people won’t want to follow it, promote guilt and then give them something to feel good about so that they have a reason to get involved but then stay involved and feel good about it. Also, take advantage of clicktivism to promote the cause. Even if a retweet doesn’t get money directly, it puts charity:water on someone’s page who may donate and get involved. Make posts that make users feel as if they are doing something for the cause by retweeting. Use taglines and hashtags that bring the issue home, even though not having water is something hard to relate to for many people, tie it to something that makes it relatable.
Facebook should share videos that relate to the hashtags and taglines used on twitter. Facebook can also reach an older audience, while twitter is more likely to target millennials and has a mostly younger audience. Older people are also more likely to donate so make sure to have links that make it easy to navigate how to donate. These posts should have the same tone and the same format of two depressing posts about the cause to reel people in and then positives about what charity:water is doing and the amazing ways their donations are being used. The best times to post on Facebook would be between 1–4pm and 2–5pm
Instagram should be completely photo based, make sure the photos are well done and intriguing. No links can be posted in the photos so make sure to have a link to charity:water in the description. On Instagram you cannot take advantage of clicktivism so make sure these posts really pull in the user so that they are encouraged to follow charity:water on other forms of media and click the link to the donation page in the bio.
3. Make the issue trendy, urgent and prevalent
This is an important step to have on all platforms. It is key to make all the platforms convey these same ideas, while also following the chosen voice and personality. Even though a lack of clean water is a long standing issue, charity:water’s social media campaign needs to make this issue seem urgent and pressing in order to get social media attention quickly. Some possible campaign ideas to do this and pull users in, bring the issue home, and make them retweet:
a. An account of individual families that have been helped by charity:water. Each week allow users to follow a different person, family, or village that is being helped by charity:water. Include pictures on instagram that have quotes from the individuals in the photo’s description, video interviews on facebook, and pictures on twitter with a quick tagline/quote from the person and a link to the full interview. Make users feel like they actually know these people that are featured so that it brings it home to them and makes the issue seem real. Keep users engaged by changing up the people featured each week. Feature the same person/family/village for the entirety of the week so that users feel like they really get to know them throughout that time period. Also, the information on instagram can be longer as the week goes on and users become more interested in the person. Include stories of hardship and also insight into their personalities to make them likable and relatable. Through the photos give users an insight into their lives, pictures of them doing work, laughing, sitting in their homes, etc. The twitter taglines should be short throughout the week, but the instagram and facebook descriptions can get longer as the week goes on. Make sure the same picture is included on all forms of social media, just with different captions below so as to encourage users to follow us on all platforms to learn even more. Make sure to follow each of these with a hashtag of what this campaign is, possibilities include #realwaterreallives, #thefacesofcleanwater, #thelivesyousave, etc. Each post should have the hashtag so that if one of the posts is retweeted another user can click the hashtag and read about more of them. Any videos about the subject should be under 2 minutes, and minimize videos on facebook to one per week and on the other days stick to the same photo used for instagram with a story/quote below.
b. Take a preexisting hashtag and make it yours. For example, #throwbackthursday is used currently by many people to highlight pictures of them from when they were babies or from many years ago, usually funny and uplifting pictures. Highlight charity:water by creating a stark contrast to how this hashtag is usually used. Every thursday tell an account of what life was like from someone who has since been helped by charity:water telling what life was like before. A sample post would be: Grace remembers taking long frightening walks to get water, not sitting on the swings in the local park #throwbackthursday. These posts should be accompanied with pictures of course of either the speaker or the community being discussed. This has been used by a similar organization, Water is Life, with the hashtag #firstworldproblems and was extremely successful. The sharp contrast to what a user expects to see from the hashtag is powerful, and it also relates it to the user and creates guilt because they probably have used the hashtag but in a very different light.
4. Pick a young, devoted, team of moderators
In order to reach out to millennials on twitter and create a personality that millennials feel comfortable connecting with, make sure your moderators are in this age groups and are also passionate about the cause as the platforms will need to be constantly monitored and updates. Also, make sure to respond to comments and conversations on each platform.
