Social media experts gathered at the Bond Conference in London on Tuesday to reflect on their favorite global development-related social media campaigns in recent years and to offer lessons learned for raising the profile of an event, cause or organization.
Covering a variety of the most successful campaigns to date — from a hashtag promoting pride in British aid to an effort to engage with online trolls — they share a personal focus, expressing the individuality of the organization or its target audience even when playing defense.
The grassroots organization Help Refugees formed in response to the rapid growth of “The Jungle” refugee camp in Calais, France. It relies on a rotating team of volunteers to deliver food and clothing to the camp’s population of more than 5,000 refugees. Early in the organization’s life, one of its founders stumbled on a catchy hashtag, after one of her friend’s referred to her heritage as having “refugee genes.”
About the author
Molly Andersmollyanders_dev
Molly Anders is a former U.K. correspondent for Devex. Based in London, she reports on development finance trends with a focus on British and European institutions. She is especially interested in evidence-based development and women’s economic empowerment, as well as innovative financing for the protection of migrants and refugees. Molly is a former Fulbright Scholar and studied Arabic in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco.
