Bears, Likes and Memes, oh my!
How an ad-hoc Facebook campaign led to a surge of support for WWF Romania
In this article, Alexandra Dumitrescu, Digital Fundraising Coordinator for WWF Romania, shares how thinking creatively and moving fast in response to a crisis can lead to incredible results. Read on to learn more about the conversation battles that are waged online and the importance of online reputation in the digital age.
In recent months, WWF Romania has actively worked to overturn an Environmental Ministry order that would have allowed the hunting of large carnivores in the Carpathian region. This policy would have endangered thousands of bears, lynxes, wild cats and wolves, which are otherwise protected by the EU directives. As a conservation team, we raised our voice and mobilized to collect over 30.000 signatures in support of overturning the ministry order in only two days. This effort was instrumental in changing the decision of the Environment Ministry. With this said, our vocal opposition managed to touch a sensitive issue that affects a community of local hunters.
As you might or might not know, trophy hunting is an easy way for local hunters to make a profit. With only a simple google search for “hunting in Romania” you will be able to find quite a list of options, like the ones below.
Fighting for Conservation, on Facebook?
In the digital age, Facebook has become an effective way to build community and actively communicate with people who share common interests. This too is true for Hunters in Romania, who are very active in a Facebook group, called Vanatoarea in Romania. As we began to collect signatures in opposition of the proposed policy, the hunters Facebook group members decided it would be a good idea (haha) to launch a virtual attack against WWF Romania by inviting the people in the group to rate our Facebook page with 1 star. This proved to be an effective tactic for them, as our rating quickly dropped from 4.6 to 3.4 in a single night.
How we responded:
After waking up and seeing the negative ratings on our page, we set out to quickly respond. Here’s what happened, step by step:
Step 1: We took a screenshot of the negative reviews and posted it on our Facebook page to let our community of supporters online know what was going on.
Step 2: We saw that the hunters deleted the original post in their group.
Step 3: Our followers and extended network started to react to our post, giving us positive reviews and good ratings that helped create a surge of new visits to our page.
Step 4: Some of the hunters began to retaliate by creating and sharing photo memes in their group that attacked the director of WWF Romania, and started to “troll” the comment section of our post.
Step 5: In 4 hours, our page rating boosted up again to 4.9, with over a thousand people giving stars and reviews through this effort. People in our office even started to receive calls about what was happening online, and supporters asked questions about the spontaneous digital campaign that we were running.
Step 8: The hunters started researching who from our organization entered the group, blocked access to them (including myself!) and changed the group visibility to private.
What happened next
Through this situation, the WWF Romania Facebook page reached 3.1k reviews and 4.9 out of 5 stars! Needless to say, this situation demonstrates the power of online communities and digital activism. It also showed us that negative intentions can be turned around to drive positive impact with a little creativity and quick action.
What do you think?
- Do you think this was a good reaction from our part?
- How might we leverage this positive reaction from our Facebook community to drive deeper engagement with our efforts?
- Should we thank the hunters for the string of reviews that we otherwise would not had received?
We’re eager to hear your thoughts. Before you move on, check out this new video of bear cubs that were rescued by the only bear orphanage in Europe. Thanks to our campaign to overturn the policy, thousands of bear cubs like these will be saved from hunting.
To support the efforts of WWF Romania and learn more about this spontaneous social media campaign, email Alexandra (adumitrescu@wwfdcp.ro) and Adriana Trocea, External Communication Coordinator (atrocea@wwfdcp.ro).
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