Give and get
Christmas is a time of giving, through gifts of goods, money or time. But not all good deeds are purely altruistic. Does it matter if people help causes and communities because of enlightened self-interest – which, according to Wikipedia, is “a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong), ultimately serve their own self-interest”?
I spend some of my time outside of work volunteering for local community projects that matter to me. It’s great to share my professional skills and experience for good causes that can’t afford to pay for this kind of support. And it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, which is a lovely feeling to have!
Incentivised campaigns
Moving on from this example of real life engagement we turn to engagement of an online nature. Although six out of 10 Britons don’t want to engage with brands through social media, 90% of consumers are actually happy to interact with incentivised campaigns and 48%, while they may initially opt-in to a brand for the incentive, end up staying to pay attention to the brand message. Consumers will engage with brands on social media providing the brand gives something back to them in return.
Are the commercial and NFP sectors that different?
I’m not much of a consumer, and don’t often engage with consumer brands, but I do like to support good causes and realise that the learnings from the commercial world I’ve noted above can be applied to the NFP (not for profit) sector to great effect. This month alone I have supported:
UNICEF: Own a colour and help save a child’s life. This campaign started with a simple but BIG idea. Sell the 16.77 million colours that exist in a computer display to help save children's lives around the world. I found the favourite colour of my youth, and now I own it. Colour #5110a2. On the day the campaign launched around £50,000 was raised. This figure has now topped £85,000.
The Royal British Legion: Shoulder to shoulder with all who serve. The Poppy Appeal raises funds to provide care and support to all members of the British Army. I wanted to show my support and wear a poppy but as a cyclist I didn’t pass the usual collectors in London’s train stations. Instead I bought a virtual poppy and stood shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other supporters, and spread the word via Facebook and Twitter. So far the 2011 Appeal has raised £16,680,450.
50/50 - Make or Break: #fuckfamine Swear Jar. One of the 50 projects created in 50 days to raise £1 million for famine relief in East Africa. Track your swearing on Twitter and raise funds for UNICEF. I’ve been swearing on Twitter because it’s all for a good cause! £885 raised so far.
Digital innovation
Yes I care about the causes I donated to, but I was initially drawn to these digital campaigns because of the innovative interfaces with which I able to interact. I now own a winning colour which I named Cosy Nostalgia. I wore my poppy with pride, albeit online rather than IRL (in real life). I was even granted permission to f***cking swear on Twitter!
Social pull
In our ever evolving digital world charities, as well as consumer brands, are using the traditional marketing pull concept in a new way for social media marketing. They have found a pull, or a reason, for an individual to go to their site or online channel. I discovered Own a Colour, Shoulder to Shoulder and Swear Jar through Twitter, and duly tweeted them forward and shared them on Facebook. A year ago I wouldn’t have believed I’d behave in this way. But hey, this is bold new behaviour for a brave new online world.
They say it’s better to give than to receive but I think we can have it all.
P.S.
I owe £3 to my swear jar for tweeting “awesome” which, along with “synergy” and “epic”, has been added to the Swear Jar for those not so keen on swearing in their tweets!
Sources
Majority of Britons do not want to engage with brands via social media, Thu 10 Nov 2011
Incentives aid social media engagement, Thu 17 Nov 2011
Links
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