10 social media projects worth talking about

With the whole Vegemite/iSnack 2.0 saga now (hopefully) behind us , it’s time for Australia to move on and focus on things that really matter. Because despite the national outrage, let’s try to remember it was little more than a campaign to change a brand name. Kraft weren’t changing the world. But lots of people are on a daily basis. And like Karalee, I think it’s time the torch was shone on those people who are in fact changing the world – the charities and non profits. And not just because they’re worthy causes, but because they are executing some of the best and most innovative social media marketing initiatives seen in Australia…

Charities and non-profits are perhaps the perfect environment for social media projects to evolve for a number of different reasons:

• Charities and non-profits attract Gen X & Gen Y staff to their cause, who are more active in social media
• Charities are typically uninhibited by multiple layers of beaurocracy and are more nimble in executing new tactics
• Charities have limited budgets and need to find creative methods to continue to spread their message

The proof is in the adoption rate of social media as a marketing channel by charities, which is almost a staple for non-profits by now. Results are primarily what has driven the widespread adoption rate, with the spread of social causes becoming common place within social networks. To illustrate, let’s shine the spotlight on 10 worthy Australian charities that are strongly leveraging social media to spread their particular message (with differing levels of success):

1. Greenpeace – Send a Whale

The Greenpeace Send a Whale campaign is one of the most successful viral campaigns to resonate from Australia, with  over 130,000 participants taking part so far. The campaign saw each participant create a virtual origami whale as part of an online petition to protest Japanese whaling practices. The campaign was recognised globally with a coveted Webby award.

2. Action Aid – Project Toto

Project Toto is perhaps my favourite charity project as it delivers a true tangible outcome, as opposed to the traditional lobby/petition. In July, Project Toto saw prominent Australian blogger/journalist Stilgherrian travel to Tanzania to train locals on the use of social media. The lofty goal of the campaign was to give underprivledged communities a voice to fight against human rights issues via social media . Project Toto is an ongoing initiative with the selection process underway to choose the next Action Aid blogger.

3. Mission Australia – Anti-poverty petition

Mission Australia are an organisation committed to supporting disadvantaged members of the community. Their current campaign is targeted towards poverty, and aims to get everyday Australians to speak out on behalf of those sufferring from poverty. The core element of the campaign is a video based petition, which asks contributors to create a video on how they would tackle the problem. The winner gets the chance to meet government officials during a trip to Canberra. However, with a little over 100 views on the campaign video, it seems as if the concept is struggling to gain traction.

4. Movember

With November just around the corner, it would be negligent of me not to mention every blokes favourite charity. That is every bloke except me, because I still can’t grow one at 31. Anyway… the folks at Movember have integrated social networking features into their web site, and called it Mo Space. Each participant is granted a profile after registration, which they can use to upload photos of their sexy mo’. The profile allow participants to connect with friends via email, Facebook & Twitter to raise cash. Friends can leave messages of support and rate their friends mo’. Nice!

5. Twestival

While not a charity in its’ own right, Twestival is perhaps the most recognised social media fundraising project on the planet. Twestival is essentially a global tweet-up with over 200 chapters spread throughout the world. Each tweet-up serves as a fundraiser to the larger cause, with US$250,000 being raised for the chosen cause – charity:water. Within Australia, Twestival has chapters in Sydney and Brisbane.

6. Red Cross – Make a Statement

The Make a Statement campaign, supported by Red Cross, invites Australians to “support humanity”. Support can be shown in a number of ways, including the contribution of a photo to the campaign micro site. An online collage of supporters has been created, with a little under 2,000 people contributing a photo to the collage. The campaign is also supported by other popular social networks including Twitter, Facebook & MySpace.

7. World Vision – Youth Decide

The Youth Decide campaign is another initiative aiming to empower and unite Australia’s youth behind a social issue. World Vision’s campaign focused on climate change and carbon emission targets in particular. A recently concluded poll run via the site attracted an impressive 37,000+ votes on the issue. The campaign was supported by a blog, Facebook presence and Twitter account. The Facebook page in particular resonated with the audience, attracting over 15,000 fans.

8. Salvation Army – 32,000 to go

32,000 to go is a campaign by the Salvation Army to raise awareness of youth homelessness. The hub of the campaign is a blog that hosts campaign updates and success stories from reformed homeless people such as Ashley. The campaign utilises Facebook & Twitter in particular to facilitate the spread of its’ message with all the obligatory elements (fan pages, status updates, avatar takeovers etc). The campaign has achieved a fair degree of success with almost 4,000 instances of sharing via the various sharing mechanisms.

9. Amnesty International – Justice Campaign

The Amnesty International campaign concuded recently, but is worth mentioning with over 18,000 participants contributing to the cause. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of the plight of women condemned to sexual slavery during the World War era. In order to commemorate the victims, participants were asked to create a virtual symbol of hope – a butterfly. The butterflys could then be used as avatars within social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

10. National Breast Cancer Foundation – Choose Pink

In conjunction with the NBCF, Mount Franklin launched the Choose Pink campaign to generate awareness and discussion of breast cancer. The campaign utilises Twitter as the core communications medium through which to spread the “Choose Pink” message. Participants are asked to share a Tweet with the designated hash tag (#CHOOSEPINK) or alternatively change the background of their Twitter avatar to a shade of pink. To this point the campaign seems to have had limited success however, with less than 100 Tweets sent.

Who’d I miss?

If you know of any other Australian charities using social media in an innovative manner, feel free to shout out via comments!