Mana Ionescu is the president of the Chicago digital marketing agency Lightspan Digital. She explains how we can use digital storytelling and a few social media best practices to promote a HelpHOPELive campaign.
“I’ve always been interested in how people get their information, and particularly how we interpret what we see and hear in the media. I studied the subject in grad school. My fascination with how we create and share stories led me to marketing. With the rise of online communication, digital storytelling took the lead as one of the most powerful marketing strategies.
Grow Your Network
Social sharing can be an effective way to market your cause. But first things first, you need to decide if you’re ready to share your Facebook page (and your cause) with some of the people you may not already have connected with on the platform. If you are comfortable with the crossover between your personal life and your cause, sync your Facebook account with your email address book and invite people you know to connect.
Sync your Facebook account with your email address book to find new followers
The best way to grow a following is to first follow other people. A certain percentage of those will always follow you back. Over time, you can unfollow those who aren’t receptive.
Make a Plan and Don’t Believe the Hype
What you’re looking for is a strategy and a plan. Just posting on Facebook may not be your first and only solution for outreach. If you think narrowly like that, you’re limiting yourself and your possibilities and the odds are that you’re not going to get the most out of marketing.
Do you have an engagement roadmap, or are you lost in the woods?
We get sucked into time-consuming discussions about vague concepts and buzzwords. “Engagement” is one of those. Recently, the term “content curation” is taking over. You have to dig deeper than that to get results from social sharing. There is no simple formula. There’s a lot of wasteful outreach out there, marketing that is not done with purpose.
Strengthen Your Strategy
Just posting on Facebook won’t get you extra support. You need to engage your donor base to share your messages with their friends. Use social media as a catalyst for your existing fans to get your messages out.
What kind of posts do your followers respond to most?
Craft different stories around the call for donations, and play with the calls to action. For example, “Donate” is the most commonly used call to action. But A/B tests show that “Give” may actually be more effective language. You can also use terms like “Contribute” or “Participate” or “Join Me” to ask for donations. Vary your calls to action for best results.
Keep It Classy – Or Else
I’ve known a person who, for years, posted negative things about her employers to her personal Facebook account. One day in a meeting, a business owner shared that “negative Nellie” applied for a job with the company but she was passed over because of her history of negative posts.
Remember that you are under the microscope. Whether you like it or not, you are now a representative of your cause, even when you are “off the clock.” Do not post mean-spirited posts from your personal account. Keep it clean.
The Bottom Line: Creative Connection
Storytelling is about sharing experiences, and that’s how people come together: through shared experiences that elicit emotions. You have to communicate, communicate, communicate. Share your stories AND the stories of others who support you. Make it all about people. Figure out how to motivate your supporters to bring in more supporters, whether it’s through a creative contest or an emotional tug.
Digital marketing pushes you to be social. It’s a very people-focused space. That’s thrilling to me, because I love getting to know people and learning from others.”
Mana is the president of Lightspan Digital, a Chicago digital marketing agency. Connect with her on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
Mana Ionescu is the president of the Chicago digital marketing agency Lightspan Digital. She explains how we can use digital storytelling and a few social media best practices to promote a HelpHOPELive campaign.
“I’ve always been interested in how people get their information, and particularly how we interpret what we see and hear in the media. I studied the subject in grad school. My fascination with how we create and share stories led me to marketing. With the rise of online communication, digital storytelling took the lead as one of the most powerful marketing strategies.
Grow Your Network
Social sharing can be an effective way to market your cause. But first things first, you need to decide if you’re ready to share your Facebook page (and your cause) with some of the people you may not already have connected with on the platform. If you are comfortable with the crossover between your personal life and your cause, sync your Facebook account with your email address book and invite people you know to connect.
The best way to grow a following is to first follow other people. A certain percentage of those will always follow you back. Over time, you can unfollow those who aren’t receptive.
Make a Plan and Don’t Believe the Hype
What you’re looking for is a strategy and a plan. Just posting on Facebook may not be your first and only solution for outreach. If you think narrowly like that, you’re limiting yourself and your possibilities and the odds are that you’re not going to get the most out of marketing.
We get sucked into time-consuming discussions about vague concepts and buzzwords. “Engagement” is one of those. Recently, the term “content curation” is taking over. You have to dig deeper than that to get results from social sharing. There is no simple formula. There’s a lot of wasteful outreach out there, marketing that is not done with purpose.
Strengthen Your Strategy
Just posting on Facebook won’t get you extra support. You need to engage your donor base to share your messages with their friends. Use social media as a catalyst for your existing fans to get your messages out.
Craft different stories around the call for donations, and play with the calls to action. For example, “Donate” is the most commonly used call to action. But A/B tests show that “Give” may actually be more effective language. You can also use terms like “Contribute” or “Participate” or “Join Me” to ask for donations. Vary your calls to action for best results.
Keep It Classy – Or Else
I’ve known a person who, for years, posted negative things about her employers to her personal Facebook account. One day in a meeting, a business owner shared that “negative Nellie” applied for a job with the company but she was passed over because of her history of negative posts.
Remember that you are under the microscope. Whether you like it or not, you are now a representative of your cause, even when you are “off the clock.” Do not post mean-spirited posts from your personal account. Keep it clean.
The Bottom Line: Creative Connection
Storytelling is about sharing experiences, and that’s how people come together: through shared experiences that elicit emotions. You have to communicate, communicate, communicate. Share your stories AND the stories of others who support you. Make it all about people. Figure out how to motivate your supporters to bring in more supporters, whether it’s through a creative contest or an emotional tug.
Digital marketing pushes you to be social. It’s a very people-focused space. That’s thrilling to me, because I love getting to know people and learning from others.”
Mana is the president of Lightspan Digital, a Chicago digital marketing agency. Connect with her on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
