The Power of Digital Activism and United We Dream

For this blog, I will be discussing the importance of digital activism and the power it has for many organizations such as United We Dream. But first, what is digital activism? Digital activism is a powerful means of communicating and sharing relevant issues around the globe, it has become increasingly significant in today’s modern world. While marketing often receives criticism for being used by large corporations to maximize profit, and generally gets a bad rep, what if we approached it from a different angle? Marketing is a tool that can be used to enhance digital activism. By utilizing marketing techniques and strategies, organizations can share their visibility and reach of social causes.

United We Dream

When marketing is applied to digital activism, it opens up a realm of possibilities. I originally subscribed to United We Dream back in 2020, I watched a video on one of the most recent news on immigration and the future of undocumented people in the United States. This organization caught my attention with the amount of current and relevant information they shared online. United We Dream is one of the largest youth-led networks in the country and is a leader in their community in the fight for the rights of immigrants. They have a large audience on TikTok and have over 230K followers on Instagram.

A short overview of their website reveals a wealth of resources and information relevant to each state and updated news on immigration reform across this country. A large portion of their work is dedicated to helping immigrant youth have their voice heard and noticed. Resources such as covid relief, health services, and legal defense are part of their front page resources available to anyone that comes across their website.?

United We Dream recently started a cooking competition show that only recently started streaming on Youtube in May of 2023. It was released as a way to gain more support among younger generations and feel represented in spaces that are not typical for POC.

Some Digital Marketing Recommendations:

I would like for causes like these to gain more awareness and have an impact on more people, especially with new policy changes in some states, it’s important to maintain people informed and updated. The following are a few digital marketing suggestions I came up with that might help with this.??

Email Marketing:?

• The emails I have seen from United We Dream are short and to the point, which can be refreshing since some emails can be long, however after scrolling through my emails I noticed they were all vastly different, ranging from immigration news to news about the organization, I would recommend combining some of these into one email that also includes a section with links to the resources page on the main website.

Website Recommendations:

• I would suggest, adding a bilingual option to increase reach, many immigrant youths may not speak Spanish but most of their parents do. This may help bridge the gap between parents and children to gain support.
• Improve on UX/UI design. Some of the text is slightly difficult to read, either due to contrast or size, and may be difficult to find links.

Social Media:

I noticed a large amount of content being posted daily, sometimes twice a day, this can be slightly overwhelming for some as these posts may cause feelings of disappointment or frustration. These accounts also have large audiences but are getting very little engagement.?

• Using trending sounds and words on their Instagram page would likely increase relatability and familiarity with the brand, as well as creating a more cohesive theme.
• Utilizing relevant tags in the description of the posts can help share a message and develop an association with the brand.?

Overall, SEO and presence are notable and will likely increase with changes in immigration reform. United We Dream has lots of potential and has started breaking down barriers with its cooking show and abundance of resources.