Kleenex Gets Punk’d: Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits

By: Kathleen J. King (View Profile)

  • Make newsletters personal. Greenpeace has a picture of the same representative at the end of each newsletter, so users can email him and truly get to know the organization.


An offline event is another way to reach your core audience. Greenpeace did a “Save the Whales” campaign by encouraging communities to run their own campaigns. Potential participants had access to everything they needed via the Web (it was all downloadable) and were even sent whale cookie cutters, too! They made cookies and invited their friends to their homes to sign petitions.

But unlike a typical campaign, the Greenpeace audience approached Greenpeace, asking how they could get involved. What motivated them? It all goes back to the Kleenex video …

When Greenpeace blasted thousands about the Save the Whales campaign, they strategically placed the Kleenex video in the email, too. Users enjoyed the video so much that they responded by embedding it in their pages, blogging it, and, as a result, asked Greenpeace how they could get more involved. Greenpeace responded by requesting that they start their own “Save the Whales” campaigns. Greenpeace was able to respond directly to those most interested in their mission. Such tactics take bumper stickers to a whole new level!

How else can you take your message to new audiences? In addition to YouTube and MySpace, there are resources that appeal to slightly older communities as well, such as Gather.com and Citizenspeak.org, and yes, DivineCaroline.com!

For training resources, the workshop suggested:

Echoditto.org   

The Progressive Exchange

Nonprofit Congress

To learn more, the workshop suggested that nonprofits do a Google search for “nonprofit technology” or “nonprofit social media.”

Related Story: A Day of Leadership and Collaboration: Nonprofit Boot Camp

 

 

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Comments
posted: 12.03.2008
Connie Lou
Thanks for featuring this article. It is not only a good marketing venue, it also creates a "job" for a tecchie savvy volunteer. People want to belong, and all they need is a place to feel comfortable. This is a perfect place for the shyer types.
posted: 07.03.2008
Arlene Cruz
The online world really is an avenue to any kind of organization, may it be profit or non-profit. With <a href="http://www.widecircles.com">social media marketing</a>, their websites can easily get recognition in the online community.
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