Jeremy Bogen, Senior Social Media Strategist at Blossom, on social media as a catalyst of social change. Let’s dive in!
Is social media still a relevant tool for social change and positive impact? The short answer: absolutely, even if times are shifting. It’s certainly been a wild ride so far, but there’s no denying the profound impact social media has had, and continues to have, on driving social change around the world.
For the humanitarian world, the difficult truth is that reaching and engaging audiences on social media has become a hell of a lot harder, and for some, prohibitively expensive. Today, showing up in an audience’s feed and making people care requires a well-oiled social media team able to craft workable strategies, captivating storytelling, eye-catching content and targeted outreach.
Social Media is dead. Long live Social media!
Even though some say differently, we are not in a post-social media era. That’s a far-fetched idea and nowhere close to the reality of the world we live in. Social media plays a huge part in our everyday lives.
It’s where we get our news, how we communicate with friends and family, and what allows us to comfortably isolate ourselves while feeling connected at the same time.The discord surrounding a post-social media era is just another topic “experts” use to predict what’s coming next, what the latest trend will be. But claiming to know the next big thing is tricky, even for the people who sit in executive meetings in the C-suites of X, Meta, TikTok, Google or Linkedin.
Sure, there’s always something new in the pipeline, like the recently launched Threads. Maybe it will take off or maybe it will be the next Google+. It’s always so interesting to see which new platforms have the impossible to predict power to make people change their digital habits.
The most exciting part about the “next big thing” is that we don’t see it coming. We rarely ever do.
New challenges
Social media communications for international ORGs and NGOs used to be a much simpler job when it was truly social; let’s call this the “pre-monetization era.” Organic growth and engagement were earned, not paid for. Social media strategies were driven, first and foremost, by actually being social and creating engaging storytelling via micro-narratives.
Today, the landscape for international ORGs and NGOs is tougher and requires expertise in strategy, creativity, production, media buying, channel management and project management. We’ve also become slaves to algorithms, which ultimately determine the content of every user’s feed.
GREATER OPPORTUNITIES
The good news, however, is that social media remains a powerful medium where people connect, share information, and tell stories that can mobilize activism, inspiring small individual actions that make real differences.
The gold standard for covering social issues via social media is New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to write social media posts, Kristof is one of the best because of his authenticity and direct engagement with his followers.
He once wrote about a woman whose life was torn apart after photos of her appeared on PornHub without her permission. The situation escalated until she lost everything. Kristof didn’t write the story to solicit donations, but his post spurred enough people to contribute that she was able to restart her life. Plus, the outrage caused by the article created significant backlash towards PornHub, which changed its policies as a result.
What’s the lesson to be learned here for an NGO? No story is too small, because you never know who’s listening. And, even if it’s just a few people, they can still make a real difference. Be a storyteller for the people you support, even if it’s just a text post. Do it with compassion and respect for the subject. When your audience comments, tell them how they can help. Always respond, even in cases where there’s no specific action they can take.
Impact for good on social media doesn’t need to be defined by millions of views or thousands of engagements. Yes, algorithms on Facebook and Instagram make it more difficult to reach large swaths of existing audiences, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.
Let’s get to work
A common topic that comes up when we talk about strategy with clients is: “What’s trendy on social media right now? What should we be doing?” No matter the trends or what the new tools are, the focus needs to be on content and narrative to raise awareness and engage.
Nine-step Social Media campaign
-
- 1) Set realistic and meaningful objectives and determine if social media is the right platform to achieve those goals.
-
- 2) Map your audience, meaning:
- – Define your key target audiences
- – Set a campaign objective for each audience group
- – Identify the best channel to reach each audience
- – Decide what type of content will best reach and engage each audience group
- – Establish the KPIs for each target audience (i.e. number of video shares by partners, etc.)
- 3) Based on the results of Steps 1 and 2, craft a creative campaign that will resonate with your audience, develop the topline key messages, and, of course, a hashtag.
- 2) Map your audience, meaning:
-
- 4) Design your content strategy based on a narrative that will boost and maintain audience engagement.
-
- 5) Plan an editorial calendar and determine the assets you will need to execute it.
-
- 6) Decide if a paid promotion strategy will be necessary to achieve your campaign objectives. If so, define the budget, channels and content that will be prioritized for paid promotion.
-
- 7) Build out a strong list of supporters, partners and influencers who can amplify your campaign reach.
-
- 8) When the production of assets is complete, create a toolkit for partners on your amplification list.
- 9) Launch, measure, adjust and… enjoy the ride!
Good VS. Evil
Today, a lot of attention is given to the harmful impacts of social media: divisive and hateful political discord, bullying, fraud, fake news, etc… The list is long. But if an NGO is credible and its messages are concise, factual, and backed by solid data and information from reliable sources, it can handle the risks.
For instance, let’s say a climate-focused NGO is running an awareness campaign about the need to stop the use of coal. Algorithms tend to behave as follows: people who agree with the NGO’s messages will see the content, and if it’s compelling, they’ll engage and the algorithms will reward the account/posts with more visibility.
If a pro-coal group sees the campaign’s organic visibility success, chances are they’ll create a counter campaign rife with false messaging about how harmless coal is. They might even invest in a media content boost…
And voilà, the social media Good vs. Evil battle is on.
What can an organization do? The NGO just wanted to increase awareness about a key contributor to climate change, and now they find themselves in a fight to defend the truth. Rather than attacking the other side or responding negatively or emotionally to comments, the best strategy is to reply politely and professionally. Craft a boilerplate, fact-based response that includes relevant links to the source of the data-backed evidence. An unemotional tone is crucial: don’t attack the messenger, just address the false message. And don’t forget to report any posts that violate the platform’s policies regarding fake news and false information.
In it for the long haul
Social media has to be thought of as a long game where we need to stay active, present and responsive. Most importantly, be disciplined: an effective content strategy must provide consistently compelling and relevant content. If a post is designed only to inform a few stakeholders, then email is probably the best channel. Long-term commitment to this approach will pay off in many ways, especially for the positioning of the NGO’s brand identity.
Emerging trends
One trend we are currently seeing is the result of user dissatisfaction with algorithms curating their feeds. Many people have decided to take matters into their own hands by going “old school” and spending more time in groups and smaller communities. Even Mark Zuckerberg has talked about how people are changing their social media habits. According to Facebook, more than 1.4 billion people are active in groups every month.
Telegram and Discord channels have become hugely popular with groups and are gaining ground with people following news in real-time much like they do on Twitter (X).
For humanitarian organizations, this is good news because they can connect directly with their audiences by building groups that will grow organically through their most engaged followers.
Of course, Facebook groups for social change is no new phenomenon. There’s no better case study for social impact than the Fridays for Future movement started by Greta Thunberg. The decentralized campaign strategy was genius and effective. While Greta was the main voice, she made the viral power possible by encouraging individuals in communities around the world to organize hundreds of Fridays for Future local Facebook groups.
Thanks for reading and… see you online, maybe in the next Facebook Group!
–
Jeremy Bogen
