Cause marketing, social media and your small business

I know you are avidly reading these and probably don’t need a reminder, but in case (like me) you are over forty and forgetful, let me remind you that two weeks ago we discussed why Cause Marketing is just a great thing to do for small business, and last week we discussed how you can promote your cause marketing campaigns on your website.  This week… combining cause marketing and social media.  

We will get to some specific examples but first let’s chat about why I think this is such a good idea.

1. As a denizen of the world of social media you know that you have a constant need for new content to feed the machine. You also know that you can’t use these channels to sell, sell, sell.  Social media gives you a way to talk about your organization in a softer way.
2. Cause marketing social media campaigns give you a great mechanism to induce social media engagement.
3. Cause marketing social media shows the softer, more humane side of your business.

Now, as promised, let’s see some examples of this in action.

Since we spent a bunch of time looking at Secondipity, the site I considered my third child at my pre Spring Insight job, let’s take a look at how they promote their involvement with Donor’s Choose.  Not only do they encourage people to visit their website to participate in the process by voting on a project to support…

  

they also display the thank you messages they receive from individual class rooms.  Can you think of a more good news message to share with your customers?

    

IKEA used Facebook to drive online customers to their store with this clever campaign. They donated $1 to Save the Children for every friend that came to the store on given day in January.

A common practice is to donate a certain amount, or a specific item in exchange for a like or a follow. (See sample from my friend and colleague Hilary Berman at Popcorn & Ice Cream below.)  A couple of caveats about that practice.  First, you aren’t necessarily finding the most relevant customers for your business.  Second, be sure you cap your potential donation. If your promotion goes global you don’t want to be on the hook for more than you can afford to pay.

Want to work with Spring Insight on creating a cause marketing social media campaign for your organization? Get in touch!

~e