There is a decent amount of "good" going on through social media.
About the Author
JD Rucker is Editor at Soshable, a Social Media Marketing Blog. He is a Christian, a husband, a father, and founder of both Judeo Christian Church and Dealer Authority. He drinks a lot of coffee, usually in the form of a 5-shot espresso over ice.
There is a decent amount of "good" going on through social media. Changes, revolutions, and innovations happen on and as a result of social media every day. And yet, for every good action, there are thousands of neutral or negative actions that occur that wash the benefits out with noise.
How should we really be using this amazing technology?
Those of us who grew up without the internet can (potentially) remember a world where we needed to check our mailbox (that thing on top of the pole outside of your house that seems to have an endless flow of junk mail in it replenishing magically every day) to see if there were any new pictures of little Timmy sliding into third base. Today, we simply go to Facebook.
The wealth of content and sharing has given us a playground through which we can communicate with friends, family, and strangers across the world with minimal effort and even less time. When will the real benefits of social media start to manifest? When will playtime be over?
Charities are dropping the ball. There are hundreds of ways that social media could improve the world more rapidly and efficiently than it is today. Let's explore what they're doing and what they should be doing.
After looking at the ten largest charities in the the United States and checking out their Facebook pages, one thing is clear. People aren't supporting them there and for the most part, these charities don't know what to do with their pages or social media presence in general.
There are currently 901,568 people liking these 10 pages combined. That number includes admirable efforts by the Red Cross (335k) and the American Cancer Society (249k) which account for more than half.
Compare that to Ferrero Rocher, a chocolate company, that has nearly 13X as many Facebook likes as the top 10 charities combined.
Perhaps worse than the exposure aspect is the fact that only 2 of the 10 pages we looked at had a way to donate. 3 others linked to the website somewhere other than the link section (which nobody ever goes to) and none of them were proactive in their approach to get their word spread through the viral machine of social media.
Stop and think about all of that for a moment.
Imagine if the large (and often questionable) operational budgets that these charities need were reduced because of the one simple benefit of social media? Through Facebook alone, a properly-run series of pages, groups, and campaigns could yield much better results than traditional methods. It may be insane to suggest replacing the Salvation Army bell ringers at Christmas time, but considering that their Facebook page has a miniscule 38k likes, certainly they could be doing much better.
Every charity from the local children's centers in most cities to the March of Dimes must look at their assets and organizational personality to come up with the right strategy. There is no one-size-fits-all technique that will work best for everyone, but there are certain things that they can do to at least improve their current results.
Social media is way too powerful to be squandered on Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber. Charities of all sizes should be leveraging it as their most powerful asset. I would be happy to consult with any charity free of charge. Just ask. We're here to help.
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Here's an infographic by our friends at SocialCast that takes a look at some of the companies doing their part.
About the Author
JD Rucker is Editor at Soshable, a Social Media Marketing Blog. He is a Christian, a husband, a father, and founder of both Judeo Christian Church and Dealer Authority. He drinks a lot of coffee, usually in the form of a 5-shot espresso over ice.
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