What Makes Social Marketing Successful?
What is Social Marketing?
Social marketing is a marketing strategy that has a goal to support achieving social good by convincing consumers to change their behavior, thus benefiting society and more.
Whats a good example of Digital Social Marketing?
Of course the first few things that come to mind when you think of examples of nonprofits, you probably think of the American Red Cross, UNICEF, or Girl Scouts USA. All of which are all great organizations but none have had a very compelling message to me growing up because it just felt like causes that are constantly asking for money (which I did not really have as a kid).
One that I do think of as a memorable and compelling organization is the Wildlife Conservation Society. I know, on the front of their website they immediately ask for money too but what is important to me is the fact that besides that, they provide a HUGE amount of CONTENT to help educate you on the environment, animals, and what they do.
Yes, a lot of nonprofits have "About Us" pages and explain what they do, why they do it, and how it affects society but I don't feel as though any of them really tell me enough to feel motivated in changing my behavior in any sort of way.
The Wildlife Conservation Society is different - they create strong marketing content through their blog posts and Instagram posts that really help educate you on why their cause is important and what you can do to help. They constantly post every day whether it be a new blog post, Instagram post, or Instagram story. Their highlights include a variety of educational stories that can quickly teach you many things such as the impact of climate change, coral reefs, and certain types of wildlife.
I guess you could argue that content isn't necessarily a marketing strategy but I think it is an important method of getting your word out to an audience that WANTS to educate themselves about wildlife and why climate change matters and affects ecosystems and wildlife - thus making it an effective strategy. All of the information that an individual would need to understand the relevancy of this organization is provided and the WCS consistently makes an effort to keep their audience updated on events happening in the world that affects ecosystems.
As you can probably tell I really believe in the environment and wildlife - with this and what I've learned about digital marketing, if I have to or would like to support a cause such as this one (or another one), I would definitely make sure the content is 100% first because without it, people will not find your existence or your cause compelling and really won't see a reason why it is (even if it is).