28 Jan 2010
3:33 p.m.
Next: Upcoming Events and Trainings on 31 Jan
Previous: Clearly Mobile on 23 Jan
1 photo attached to this post.
Five Lessons in the Million Dollar Race
Tagged chase , friendshipcircle , melissapierce , votefc
Melissa Pierce, social media producer at Natiiv, shares her top five lessons from managing the online campaign for Friendship Circle.
Wow! What a wild couple of weeks it's been helping the Friendship Circle campaign in the Chase Giving Contest! I worked my tail off to help this charity get out the vote via online social networks! Leah and I are so proud of the Friendship Circle, they never dropped out of the top ten, even when they stopped campaigning over the course of two shabbats!
Thankfully they garnered so much support, 59022 people from all over the globe voted for them, and Friendship Circle walked away with a cool hundred thousand dollars for coming in in 4th place out of 100 charities (Not bad for a charity that hadn't done much social media outreach before the campaign). I'm sure that Friendship Circle, a charity that pairs teenage volunteers with children who have special needs, is going to do great things with that money.
I learned so much from the staff and volunteers of Friendship Circle, and a whole lot from the wonderful people who voted for them. Below are the top five lessons I've learned from helping run Friendship Circle's campaign.
Believe the world is conspiring in your favor.
Keep an optimistic open mind and you will be surprised at the opportunities that you may not have seen before, even when you are spying on the competition – opportunities abound when your mind is open to them.
Remember EVERYBODY is an influencer.
Social media is definitely the great equalizer when it comes to mobilizing groups of people to do great things, and although getting celebrities to send a tweet or post to their Facebook wall for your cause can help spike your vote count, They won’t sustain your efforts like your aunt Donna, or 14yr old son will, by repeatedly asking folks to vote.
-- this quote was brought to you by quoteurl
matisyahu Help handicapped children by voting for the Friendship Circle to win 1,000,000. Check it at www.votefc.com and retweet. thanks, Matis
Get the attention of the news media, both on and offline.
Sure, the digital space is taking over, and you are in a contest to win a million dollars on Facebook, but TV and traditional news media are still king. Press Releases, Public Happenings, and Well Written pleas for support to choice media outlets are only going to help your cause! Bonus – news about social media is still newsworthy these days – traditional media is paying attention!
Be creative and focused in your outreach.
It’s great that social media has made it easy to connect with anyone, but remember… your competition is connecting with them too. Your message must be novel, remarkable and completely customized in order to move people to vote for your cause. Use tools like twitter lists and Facebook groups to craft your message.
Within these groups mobilize them with different incentives. For instance, your Farmville group might enjoy playing tag on Facebook, while those close to the cause might be inclined to post on their blogs or contact the media, while other groups might be willing to create some noise outside the digital space.
Express Urgency
This is where many people trip up. They so love the cause, when talking about it they wax on and on and on about how great it is – without EVER asking for a vote.
“We are final rounds of a $1,000,000 Facebook contest and are very close to winning. Would you please go to http://votefc.com and vote for this charity TODAY. The contest is over in just a few hours – and your votes could really put it over the top. They aren’t asking for your money, just a few seconds to click a button.”
You have any other lessons you want to add? Let us know!