Secrets to social media megasuccess: Lessons from (RED)

For the first time, Twitter changed color: Its layout turned red and those who used #red or #worldaidsday saw their tweets go red. Meanwhile, Facebook encouraged users to have their profiles don red avatars. That’s what happened on World AIDS Day 2009, in support of (RED)’s campaign to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Africa. The following year, a world map developed by Ushaidi and (RED) went red for every tweet that included #turnred. So what would it be this year? “We’re in the middle of planning our activities for this December 1, so stay tuned,” Chrysi Philalithes, chief digital officer at (RED), told Devex in an email sent late in August. (RED) is an economic initiative benefiting the AIDS fight in Africa. It partners with globally known companies such as Apple, Dell and Starbucks to create (Product) RED services and products. A portion of the profits then goes directly to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. According to (RED), the initiative has generated more than $170 million, helping more than 7.5 million people. (RED) is in a league of its own when it comes to social media following. As of Sept. 15, it remained the only organization with more than 1 million Facebook likes and more than a million Twitter followers. Most organizations in international development struggle to gain 100,000 Facebook fans or 10,000 Twitter followers. In this exclusive interview, Philalithes shares the secrets of (RED)’s social networking success – Twitter-style: in less than 140 characters. She also discusses the different ways social media can benefit development organizations beyond fundraising and advocacy. What are the main reasons for your success on Twitter and Facebook? Social media is key for (RED)™. We have a strong presence with over a million followers on Twitter and a million likes on Facebook. One reason for (RED)’s success has been our approach and strategy, which we’ve defined in 140 characters. It is: PARTICIPATIONNOTPROMOTION. DIALOGUENOTMONOLOGUE. EMPOWERINGNOTEXCLUDING. INSPIRINGNOTFORCING. INNOVATINGNOTFOLLOWING. Engaging people is key. We make sure we ask questions, involve the community and recognize people for participating. We’re constantly communicating and monitoring what content people engage with the most. It’s an ongoing process, and we’re always experimenting with new tools and features and continually learning what works and what doesn’t for the (RED) community. Why did you find it important to have strong social media presence? (RED) has grown up in the social media age. (RED) launched in 2006 – the same year Twitter launched. Social media epitomizes the most powerful form of marketing – word of mouth recommendations and information from your friends – people you know and trust. Having people carry the message for us is critical to drawing attention to our mission (especially given our limited resources). Social media allows us to build an audience of supporters who we have an ongoing dialogue with – they provide us with feedback, share their sentiments about issues, help amplify all the ways people can be (RED) and be involved with our mission. As our audience has grown it has become one of the most significant sources of support for the (RED) brand. Describe the cost-benefit of your investment in social media: What has it allowed you to do that you may not have been able to achieve otherwise, in areas such as fundraising, building support, partnerships et cetera? The myth is often that social is free and if you built it they will come. That’s not the case. While we don’t have hard dollars to spend on ads, it does require resources to “power” our efforts – both internal resources and external experts to lend a hand. The cost is low relative to other forms of awareness building and the hard work mentioned above has allowed us to create a community of 2.5 million that we talk with on a daily basis. Social is much more than a Facebook page or a Twitter account. You can integrate social in to your “off-social network” campaigns to help spread your campaign and message. For example – one of the most simple and successful campaigns we did last year is the (RED) “badge” campaign where we gave away free (RED) physical badges for people to wear and show their support for the cause to help spread awareness. People signed up for a badge on our website (and were asked if they wanted to join the (RED) email list) and we integrated Facebook and Twitter social plugins into the page so that people could tweet and share messages such as “I can’t wait to get my free (RED) badge. Get yours here.” That sharing function became our media to promote the campaign and the results of how quickly it spread were unbelievable. In just three days 6,000 people had signed up to receive a badge. What do you see as untapped new areas of social media usage for development organizations? The great thing about digital and social is that the cost to participate continues to fall as there are more and more free/low-cost tools that allow organizations to do more online. There’s Meetup for organizing locally, survey tools to ask information, photo sharing and more. Google is a fantastic partner that offers several free tools for nonprofits to use. For instance, they provide a special YouTube channel for organizations to showcase their mission and progress via video. Google Analytics provides a way to measure impact of our efforts. Additionally, Google allows organizations to work with their mapping tools to create interesting and unique mashups. We see this as a very important area for organizations to consider as it provides a great way to visualize both the issue your organization is up against as well as the progress being made around this issue. The web is a very visual medium and leveraging tools like an interactive map, a compelling video, slideshows, blog posts, etc. – all help connect supporters in a deeper way to the issue. With additional resources, your organization can not only gain more supporters through sharing, but those supporters will have a better understanding of where the help is needed most. The other interesting trend to note is that the shift towards advocacy and online fundraising is happening more and more from the grassroots level as seen with tools such as Crowdrise where users can self-organize around an issue they care about and do creative things (donate birthdays, run marathons, etc.) to raise awareness and funds for the nonprofit organizations. What do development organizations, whether bilateral and multilateral, nonprofit or corporate, need to know about social media and how it can help them? What are they doing wrong? Never forget the most important aspect of social media – being social. Social media practitioners need to move away from the traditional broadcasting model and create dynamic, engaging content – both at a strategic level and a tactical one. Social media has changed the dynamic in which messaging is no longer the complete domain of the organization. Social media users are your best resource, because they are not only distributors, but also creators of great content. Pass them the torch (with direction) and they will spread your mission much further than any organization can do alone.