Many large companies are using social media for their cause marketing efforts in a particularly effective way.
Marketing isn’t always about promoting a brand – sometimes, marketing promotes a cause. Like with all types of marketing, social media is a valuable tool to increase awareness and engage people, but there are good and bad ways to use social media for cause marketing. These companies and charities are doing a good job using social media for cause marketing.
1. Chase Community Giving
The Chase Community Giving project is a great example of cause marketing in social media because it relies solely on interaction. Since 2009, the cause has called on its Facebook fans to vote for their favorite charity or non-profit to receive a donation from Chase bank.
Chase Community Giving also uses current events and holidays to spread the word about related charities – such as Military-related charities for National Military Appreciation Month and the Arbor Day Foundation on Arbor Day.
2. Johnson’s Mother’s Day Campaign
Johnson’s Baby also timed a social media cause marketing campaign with an upcoming holiday. The company is donating a dollar to Save the Children for every like or share on one of their Mother’s Day cards.
This technique works well for cause marketing in social media because it encourages people to like and share the organization’s posts for a good cause. Plus, by sharing the posts, Facebook users can also wish a Happy Mother’s Day to their family and friends in a way that is much more meaningful than a simple “Happy Mother’s Day” on someone’s Facebook wall.
3. Kellogg’s “Share Breakfast” Campaign
Kellogg’s set a goal to serve one million breakfasts to children who are in need of food. In order to reach this goal, the company created a Facebook post, a set Tweet using the hashtag #sharebreakfast, and a pin on Pinterest, and promised to feed one child breakfast for every share.
This style of social media cause marketing works well because it goes across multiple social media channels. The donations are not limited to shares and likes – people can Pin, Tweet, and Post as much as they want to contribute to the cause. However, each post still links back to the organization, allowing them to track how many donations they’ve earned.
4. Panera “Food Chain Reaction”
Panera Bread is partnering with Feeding America to provide soup for the hungry. The campaign encourages uses to invite friends to join “circles” in a Facebook application. For every completed circle of five people, Panera donates one bowl of soup.
The “Food Chain Reaction” relies on Facebook users connecting their friends to the cause and encouraging them to help out, but does so in a way that is far more unique than the typical “Share this post” or “Like this page” strategy. Though Shares and Likes do go a long way, standing out and doing something different on social media is a good way to grab people’s attention.
5. Elizabeth Arden’s “Pin it to Give It” Campaign
The cosmetics line Elizabeth Arden and the Look Good Feel Better campaign teamed up to bring “Pin it to Give It” – a campaign to donate eyeliner to women with cancer through Pinterest.
“Pin it to Give It” is a good social media cause marketing campaign because its target audience aligns with the main demographics of the site it uses – Pinterest users are mostly female, and Look Good Feel Better benefits females. The inspirational message behind the cause is one that many Pinners can understand – sometimes, feeling beautiful on the outside also makes you feel beautiful on the inside.
For more examples of social media cause marketing, contact Markitors.
