Charities ‘Doing It Right’ Through Facebook Promotions

Promoting a charity has become much easier in recent years

Thanks to social media and the far reaching possibilities such as Facebook Promotions it has created. With just a small and cost effective campaign, awareness can be raised by more than 100%, with some non-profits seeing as much as a 600% boost in participation.

It is this potential that has led other charities to begin looking into their own social media campaigns. But before you start your own promotion, you might want to see a couple of examples of organizations that have had success in the past. These five charities have, without a doubt, gotten it right.

Breast Cancer Awareness

You might remember the infamous “bra color” status updates of two years ago, or last year’s “I like it on the (blank)” hangbag updates. This was not just a random game. It was actually part of a massive media campaign by Breast Cancer Awareness.

It works. Hundreds of thousands of people participated by putting it as their status, with many getting female friends on board. Those who played along found it fun and interactive, and it caught global media attention.

While there are some who are cynical enough not to believe it did any good, it brought a lot of awareness to the organization, and so the cause. Just the implications for sponsorship and corporate donations is huge, as a result.

Facebook Promotion – Target

Though a multi national corporation, Target had taken part in a number of charitable events through the years. They host a great deal of these through Facebook, where they have become well known for their social media campaigning.

What they do right is the simplicity of their promotions. They give frequent updates on their wall, and otherwise have a little tab on the side that will take you to the latest event. That links to a third party off of Facebook, where you can get more details and participate.

They have that same simple format with their sweepstakes.

Greenpeace

Greenpeace set a new goal last year after Facebook announced the opening of a new super center, which they claimed would be more “energy efficient” and eco friendly. But the whole thing would be run on electricity, which burns coal in massive amounts. As coal is one of the most dangerous substances to the environment that can be used, it caused a lot of concern.

So, they put their campaign on Facebook itself, and amassed a huge amount of support. More than 100,000 users liked the page, with an overall 500,000 member participation effort on some level.

Facebook has since announced that a number of their centers will be solar powered for both electricity and heat. This has not yet expanded into their super centers, but it is a positive step forward that probably wouldn’t have happened with social media pressure.

Facebook Promotion – ASPCA

This US based non-profit for the protection and kind treatment of animals has been a center point for responsible pet ownership. They have an active Facebook page that has gathered a great deal of interest over the years, which currently have over a million likes.

One of the things that they do that is so effective is provide a constant stream of pictures of dogs and cats currently up for adoption at the ASPCA centers around the country. They also have regular updates, feel good animal stories, stories of tragically abused pets that you can help and more.

Facebook Promotion – It Gets Better

It Gets Better is an incredibly successful ongoing campaign, working as a positive message to LGBT teens in response to the recent surge in gay teen suicides around the world. The message is simple: however hard things seem now, they get better.

A huge number of celebrities and high profile people have taken part in this, such as Ellen Degeneres, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The Facebook page utilizes these recorded messages for easy sharing, and has over 230,000 likes.

Conclusion

When promoting a cause on Facebook, it helps to see how other charities have been able to find success doing it? These five provide fantastic examples that we can learn from, in different areas and in different ways.

Are you aware of any other examples of successful Facebook promotions or campaigns? Please let us know in the comments!

[main image: photostock]

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