More than 3.2 million people donated, representing 1.05% of the U.S. population.
The ability to text donations existed before but the earthquake in Haiti turned this capability into a phenomenon. People donated $5 every time they texted GIVE to 24357 (2HELP).
Note: CTIA is an international wireless association.
The Red Cross has been using social media since 2007 Twitter: 270k+ followers Facebook: 236k+ likes Youtube: 3m+ total upload views We have a flickr account. We tried MySpace, Utterli,
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter played a huge role alongside traditional media. The public wanted to help, and they were able to do so immediately and easily. First Lady Michelle Obama and celebrities filmed public service announcements. In the old days, people would have had to be watching TV to see them. Now, with YouTube, people could watch and share the PSAs on demand.
For the first time, mobile donations contributed meaningfully to the cause. Peaked at $500,000 in 1-hour period: Early days driven by media blitz, social networking, public outcry. Later driven by promotions and PSAs in conjunction with events like NFL games and Larry King Show. Text Haiti influenced new generation of philanthropists: 41% of donors below age 34 were influenced by text appeal. The American Red Cross has raised approximately $476 million (as of 1/12/11) for the Haiti relief and recovery efforts. We will support earthquake survivors in many ways in the months and years to come, and will be in Haiti until the last donated dollar is spent. Note: Mobile share was as of July 2010
Three Things to take home Plan and Prepare Now Be Authentic Keep Moving Forward
Do your research: Red Cross mobile marketing work group formed in 2009 That’s what you’re doing as part of this training Get used to the platforms Red Cross using SM since 2007, trying and dropping some platforms (Utterli) Identify and start building your audience What you’ve learned here can help
Related Links: http://beernews.org/2011/02/employee-sends-out-drunk-tweet-using-redcross-twitter-account/ http://redcrosschat.org/2011/02/16/twitter-faux-pas/ This is a great example of being authentic, and it paid off in positive PR all day instead of having to do damage control all day! --------------------------------- Be Transparent (Tweet) The “gettngslizzerd” faux pa would have been much worse had the organization pretended it didn’t happen, or got defensive when people started tweeting/blogging about it. Haiti: CNN did a story on Feb. 2 entitled “Can We Trust the Red Cross?” It brought up 9-11, Katrina, and other low points. It was frankness, and ended up being a positive piece. Transparency has to follow through in all communications channels (Videos we produce, reports on how money spent) Only Promise What you Can Deliver When you have the public’s attention is the time to be realistic about your agency’s capabilities, and engage in expectation management (Tweet) We didn’t say it would never happen again, just that “we confiscated the keys.” (Haiti) The Red Cross has maintained: “We’ll be there until every donor dollar is spent.” What if we had made the blanket statement “we’ll be there until all Haitian citizens are back on their feet.” ? Share information (Tweet) Although the main Red Cross account didn’t talk much more about the misshape, Red Cross staff openly tweeted and retweeted what others were saying about it. (Haiti) Along with instructing people on how to give, we retweeted what volunteers in Haiti were reporting, and information from the State Department and other sources. Try to be helpful.
The evolution of the Twitter conversation: Initial tweet, and it’s removal (on other page) (Between11:30 p.m. Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning) The tweeter, @riaglo, takes responsibility (About 8 a.m. Wednesday) Other peoples’ tweets are a little mocking, definitely pointing to what went wrong (about 9 a.m.) Red Cross tweets again, this time with a link to their own blog post explaining the whole thing, and thanking the Twitter community (10:22 a.m.) Soon, the tweets, and retweets, turned positive in tone (about 11 a.m. and beyond) Note: Only saw one negative tweet in three hours of watching the feed. The conversation turned from “OMG, this shouldn’t have happened.” to “I’m proud of the Red Cross for the way it handled this” And “I’m going to give!” Dogfishbeer started asking their followers to donate money as a cause marketing campaign
Continue to use platforms to speak to audience during “little” events As busy as Kim Qualls at KDOT, and her team were, listened and helped when @kmclauson, a young woman, had a problem using one of their other communications channels. That has a lasting impact! Look for ways to use multiple communications channels to maximize reach and invite new audiences to communicate with you Peggy Dyer, American Red Cross VP of marketing in Marketing News: “What made this marketing effort special was the number of marketing channels we coordinated to maximize reach and to invite a new generation to support this life-saving cause. Social media was instrumental in driving early awareness of the catastrophe and guiding the public on the immediate action [it] could take.” Ex: Tom Erickson at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Dept. is using Twitter and Facebook to strip the mystery away from law enforcement. The public gets to feel a connection with their officers.