UNICEFs Current Social Media Strategy - Term Paper Example

RUNNING HEAD: UNICEF REPORT UNICEF Report Student’s Name Course Tutor’s Name Date Table of Contents Brief Organizational Overview UNICEF is an organization whose vision is to help children grow up healthy, in secured environments and educated, in order for them to attain their full potential. The organization works with donors to ensure that children across the world are given assistance regardless of their race, nationality, creed, or political conviction. UNICEF does this guided by the belief that “compassion knows no boundaries” (UNICEF, 2011). The programs in which UNICEF participates to ensure the safety and health of children include immunization, provision of food supplements, setting up clean supplies of water, and provision of mosquito nets (UNICEF, 2011). The aim of all these initiatives is to ensure that no child dies needlessly. UNICEF also aims to end child abuse and exploitation by helping amend laws to offer better protection to children. Along this line, the organization supports drop in centers that are used to remove children from the streets. It also offers counseling to children who have been engulfed in emergencies and takes them to secure places where they can recover (UNICEF, 2011). UNICEF also support programs aimed at reducing HIV and AIDS among children by campaigning for prevention, especially by infected mothers (UNICEF, 2011). To support all these noble initiatives, the organization requests well-wishers to give their donations to save lives, ensure safety of children and guarantee their education (UNICEF, 2011). Executive Summary This report details UNICEF’s current social media strategy, and indicates that although the strategy has succeeded in garnering a larger number of followers, connections and subscriber on the organization’s different social media assets, it still has not been successful in converting the social media support into tangible funds that the organization needs to support its humanitarian causes. UNICEF has over 2 million likes on its Facebook page, over 2 million followers on Twitter, 32, 896 connections on MySpace, 45,319 followers on Scribd, and thousands of others on LinkedIn, Flickr, and YouTube. Except in Flickr, where UNICEF uses still photos to communicate its humanitarian cause, the organization’s main communication method is through short video clips, pictures and written word. From the current strategy, is would appear that UNICEF has succeeded in capturing the attention of its social media followers, but has not been successful in fundraising. The current strategy has also failed in attaining buy-in from all members of UNICEF’s staff, and as such, an efficient internal communication about what to say or how to communicate issues on social media is often lacking. The new strategy recommends the inclusion of a donate feature in all compatible social media sites. The report argues that such a feature will act as a constant reminder that though social media following and support is acceptable, it is the funding from well wishers that would benefit UNICEF’s beneficiaries most because it would enable them purchase medicines, vaccines, and other necessities needed by the unreached children worldwide. The new strategy further recommends the inclusion of a human voice and presence in UNICEF’s social media platforms in order to enhance trust and provide quick and fast responses to people who follow and express opinions or questions regarding the organization. Links to Current Social Assets As a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children across the world, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has several social assets which allow people across the world to connect with it on an online platform. According to UNICEF, the social assets are ideal for interaction especially on issues such as children’s health, equality, education and protection. The social assets are highlighted below. 1. YouTube Found at https://www.youtube.com/user/unicef, UNICEF’s YouTube channel provides a platform where videos that express the organization’s causes, concerns and challenges are hosted. 2. Facebook UNICEF’s Facebook account is at https://www.facebook.com/unicef and provides an illustration (through pictures and worlds) of the people and activities that the organization handles. The ‘About’ section of the page indicates that the organization operates in 190 countries and territories, and focuses on ‘reaching those in greatest need’. At the time of writing, the page had 3.1 million likes. 3. MySpace UNICEF’s MySpace page is found at https://myspace.com/unicef. It provides mixes, connections, photos and videos. 32,896 people had connected with UNICEF’s MySpace by the time of this writing. 4. Twitter UNICEF’s Twitter page is https://twitter.com/unicef. The organization has 2.64 million followers and follows 25,100 people. Like the Facebook account, the Twitter account provides an illustration of the activities the organization undertakes as well as its humanitarian interventions. 5. Flickr UNICEF’s Flickr account is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/unicef. The page has 600 photos showing UNICEF’s humanitarian interventions and the people that the organization handles. 6. Scribd UNICEF’s page at Scribd is http://www.scribd.com/UNICEF. Here, the organization has 45,319 followers, and has published 177 articles/photos. The page has garnered 1 million views, and 3,743 likes. 7. LinkedIn UNICEF’s Linked in page is http://www.linkedin.com/company/unicef Current Social Media Strategy From the social media assets listed above, it is obvious that UNICEF has a rich web presence. With this in mind, it is notable that the organization has strategically used the social media to connect with stakeholders all over the world and communicate its cause to all who care to listen (or read). UNICEF indicates that its social media strategy focuses on “growing our fan base and deepening engagement with fans and followers to create champions for children through marketing, targeted outreach campaigns and relationship building initiatives” (UNICEF, 2012, para. 4). On Facebook, UNICEF posts pictures, articles and videos which portray the organization’s programs across the world. On the same page, the organization mobilizes its followers by encouraging people to join it in telling stories about children all over the world (Dahlman, 2010). Going through UNICEF’s Facebook page, one gets the impression that the strategy adopting is all encompassing (especially if the likes on any one post is anything to go by). Still on Facebook, UNICEF uses the video hosting capability of the site to attach videos, which other users can share on their walls. This approach enables such videos to enjoy much exposure, and as research by Hall (2010) shows, “Consumers love to share relevant, engaging, useful and entertaining content with friends” (para. 6). On YouTube, UNICEF hosts videos clips produced by UNICEF’s TV video series (Dahlman, 2010). Often, the video clips feature the organization’s aid initiatives. In addition, there are playlists, channels, and a discussion board where users can interact. The ‘About’ page on UNICEF’s YouTube channel provides insights into what the organization does as well as the goals and inspirations that drives its causes. Currently, 50,024 people have subscribed to the channel, hence indicating its wide reach. The same strategy used on Facebook and YouTube is replicated in other social forums with the exception of Flickr, which is mainly a photo-sharing platform. In 2008, Stephen Cassidy who works as the Chief of Internet, Broadcast and Image at UNICEF explained the strategy adopted by the organization. The first step involves analyzing and utilizing available resources (Marketing Sherpa, 2008). For UNICEF, the resources included videos and podcasts, banners, badges and wallpapers, as well as goodwill ambassadors who volunteer or work on behalf of the organization. The second step involves analyzing UNICEF’s goals and by so doing, the team led by Cassidy has managed to identify UNICEF’s social media goal as “spreading awareness by constantly updating the page(s) with blog posts, videos and podcasts” (Marketing Sherpa, 2008, para.6). The third step involves creating a clean, organized and branded page(s). The foregoing includes using the UNICEF logo and colors, in addition to the catch phrase ‘Unite for Children’. This strategy enhances brand awareness among users, and makes the intention of the company known to all. The final step of the strategy as explained by Cassidy (cited by Marketing Sherpa, 2008) involves adopting a hands-off contact approach where ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ on UNICEF’s different social sites would spread the word about content posted by the organization amongst themselves. In other words, the organization does not actively cajole its followers, subscribers or ‘friends’ to watch or read specific content once it is posted. This strategy has, according to Cassidy (cited by Marketing Sherpa, 2008), avoided a situation where the organization would be perceived as a “Stuffy, institutional, old-fashioned organization preaching top down” to people who had voluntarily followed, subscribed or befriended on social media (para. 26). Future Strategy By its own admission, UNICEF indicates that its current social media strategy faces several challenges, which include: a broadcast mentality, staff members are not empowered, and insufficient evidenced-based communications. In future, the organization needs to focus on the following: 1. Target Audience UNICEF’s staff members should be first on the list of target audiences. Indeed, if the organization is able to communicate well internally, it will communicate even better with its external stakeholders. Additionally, by targeting staff members, UNICEF will mobilize the internal backing needed to make its social media initiatives a success. As Reilly (2013) admits, “Meaningful success on social media comes from an organization being fully behind it” (p. 57). The second set of target audience should be the general public aged 18 years and above, who use the Internet, and can contribute to UNICEF’s causes either by creating awareness on social media, financial contribution, policy interventions and/or through volunteer activities. This group of people can be young, middle-aged or retired. They should however be held together by a common interest of wanting to make the world a better place for children. 2. Social Media Goals Reilly (2013) indicates that the current social media strategy at UNICEF is: sluggish and unresponsive; key members of staff do not fully get what the strategy is all about; and the strategy or messages are not communicated in a human voice. The future strategy will hence be bent on remedying the foregoing shortcomings by: enhancing speed and responsiveness in UNICEF’s social sites; ensure buy-in from UNICEF staff members; and communicate messages in a human voice. The ideal place to start in order to realize the above stated goals is by training UNICEF staff members on the importance of social media in order to gain their support. Additionally, UNICEF needs to speak in a single voice by streamlining all its social messages to convey messages that support the same values, ideas and beliefs. As Reilly (2013) aptly puts it, UNICEF needs a “new way of thinking to help everyone...harness the power of social media” (p. 19). Strategies should also be put in place to instill a human voice in UNICEF’s social media messages. As Aula (2011) aptly puts it, social media is not a one-way communication channel; rather, it is a channel that enhances interaction between the communicator and the message recipient. The more human or understandable a message is, the greater its chances of eliciting a desired outcome among recipients. A human voice has been described as conversational and engaging through contributions made to dialogues on social platforms (Park & Lee, 2011). The impact of a human voice on social networks is that it positively affects dimensions of commitment, trust, satisfaction and mutuality, which otherwise become absent if concerns or questions directed to the organization on a social platform remain unanswered. Enhancing speed and responsiveness as identified by Reilly (2013) is the final goal that UNICEF should strive to attain in its social media strategy for the future. Concerns have been raised that although the organization has an impressive following on social media platforms, such audience does not help it in it causes and objectives. UNICEF Sweden for example run a campaign dubbed “Likes do not save lives” in 2012-2013, where it encouraged people to be more proactive and donate more to UNICEF causes, such as purchasing vaccines and medicines for needy populations (Punton, 2012). While such a campaign was run in Sweden alone, it captures the sheer casualness with which people react to messages on social media. The challenge for UNICEF therefore is to design social messages that elicit proactive behavior by their followers on social media. 3. Content Discussion The human voice discussed in the section above requires human presence within UNICEF’s social media platforms. According to Park and Lee (2011), human presence is an important quality for organizations that want to enhance interaction with their online audiences. Yet, if UNICEF is to have such presence, the people charged with the responsibility of interacting with online audiences need to be knowledgeable regarding what to say, in what manner, and for what purposes. The foregoing raises the need for staff training at UNICEF, especially training that would target specific staff members who would interact with the online audiences. The staff members need not know how to communicate effectively and also need to know how to align messages conveyed in different social platforms to convey the same values, beliefs and practices, but must also call people to action. As an organization that partially relies on donor funding to purchase some of the materials necessary to carry out the mandate of reaching out to children throughout the world, fundraising is one objective that should not be downplayed. The human presence alone is insufficient to communicate effectively on social media. According to Park and Lee (2011), the human voice is integral in “creating perceptions of transparency, as well as feelings of interacting with a person rather than an organization” (p. 2). Once users get the impression that they are communicating with a person, rather than with an organization, they feel more comfortable and this could lead to quality relationships between them and the organization. Such relationships promote positive referrals, hence leading to enhanced viral attention to the organization’s social sites. Enhancing speed and responsiveness through calls to actions on social media channels is yet another undertaking that UNICEF needs to implement in future. Unlike how persuasion works, UNICEF (based on the ‘likes do not save lives” campaign) is more concerned about service provision to children, and more specifically the purchasing and delivery of items such as medicines and vaccines. The goal therefore is not persuasion; rather, it is fundraising. It would therefore help UNICEF to incorporate a ‘donate’ button (site architecture allowing), in its entire social media platforms in a manner similar to what Oxfam America and Kiva has done on Facebook. The presence of the ‘donate’ button will serve as a constant reminder to social media followers that their contributions are essential in funding the organization’s causes. 4. Campaign-specific Content The human voice and human presence aspects of this campaign of this campaign can easily be fixed by UNICEF internally through in-house training. Fundraisings and using the ‘donate’ button on different social media sites will however will need the organization to proactively create the site architecture needed to host the same, possibly with support from site owners. When the ‘donate’ button was launched in December 2013, only 18 non-profit organizations could use it, and UNICEF was not one of them. Current, and as shown in Appendix A, non-profit organizations can create a ‘donate’ button. Action Plan This action plan was developed to help UNICEF achieve the goals identified in the sections above. Specifically, the action plan seeks to enhance proactive responses by social media users by using a human voice in social media platforms, enhancing human presence therein, and installing a ‘donate’ button in social media platforms whose architecture allows. Channels Facebook Over 2 million people like the UNICEF page on Facebook. The organization can however receive donations via TweetDonate, by signing up on the tweetdonate.org page and getting a PayPal account (see appendix B). By using a human voice, and establishing a human presence, people will be able to communicate with the organization in real time. A donate button, which can be installed on Facebook, as illustrated on Appendix A, will also more likely encourage people to give monetary support to the organization’s causes. Twitter Twitter does not have provisions for a donate button. However, UNICEF can redirect people who want to donate to their website. As a real-time site, human presence and a human voice would enhance interaction between UNICEF and its followers on Twitter. MySpace MySpace has provisions which UNICEF can use for creating a PayPal giving widget (see Appendix C). The human voice and human presence are also essential for up-to-date interaction with MySpace connections. LinkedIn, Scribd, Flickr, YouTube LinkedIn, Scribd, Flickr, and YouTube do not have provisions for organizations to receive donations on their respective sites. However, UNICEF can link potential donors to the organization’s website. Still, a human voice and presence is needed to enhance communication and trust between the organization and its followers in all of the above social media platforms. Actions Required The underlying reasons why a human voice and presence are required on social media channels are to enhance interaction and communication between UNICEF and its followers. The ultimate goal is to make the followers knowledgeable enough about the causes that the organization supports, and encouraging them to support the same through financial contributions. In the end, the organization needs to live up to the promise of ‘reaching out to those in greatest need’. Priority Of the three identified actions, using a ‘donate’ feature where applicable should take precedence because even in its current form, some people may still be inspired by what UNICEF is doing and might therefore consider making donations. Next on the priorities list should be identifying a human voice for use in all social media communications by the organization. This can be in a form of social media communication strategy, which all staff members who have administrative rights on different social media platforms should be trained about. Finally, the human presence should be implemented. Frequency The donate feature should be a constant in all social media sites that can have it configured in their infrastructure. Human presence should also be present at all times (especially during normal office hours), and the human voice as well should always be evident in all UNICEF’s communication. Measuring Success and Effectiveness Increased donations should be the ultimate measure of success for the new social media strategy at UNICEF. Other measures of success and effectiveness could include people who are more willing to volunteer and/or spread the word –i.e. share UNICEF’s resources among friends. More likes, connections and follower numbers would also be an indication of the effectiveness of the new strategies, as would be more direct communication (or questions) from the followers. Resources Required Ideally, UNICEF staff would need to be trained on the new social media strategy, with special emphasis being given to those on whom the responsibility of establishing a human presence and voice would be charged. Additionally, installing the ‘donate’ feature in compatible social media sites would require in-house redesigning of the social media pages as well as organizing on how best the funds would be received from different social media platforms and integrated with other donations received from other sources. Stakeholder Engagement UNICEF’s stakeholders include the organization’s staff members, volunteers, goodwill ambassadors, followers of UNICEF on social media platforms and beneficiary children. Staff members, volunteers and goodwill ambassadors can be engaged effectively in the new strategy through sensitization about the same. UNICEF followers on social media would on the other hand be engaged through the call to action as passively encouraged through the donate feature, and through effective communication. Mobile Integration The new strategy can also be used on mobile gadgets thus making it easier for millions of people who access social media through mobile phones to access UNICEF causes as communicated on its various social media assets. Policies/Procedures and Protections Strategy change at UNICEF needs to be deliberated at an organizational level by those charged with the mandate to make policy changes. The viability of the same will also need to be evaluated before implementation. During the implementation stage, several factors such the preparedness of the staff members to embrace a new social media strategy will be assessed. The success of the new strategy will therefore depend on preparedness of staff, effective implementation, and how well social media users will accept the new strategy. References Aula, P. (2011). Social media, reputation risk, and ambient publicity management. Strategy & Leadership, 38(6), 43-49. Dahlman, D. (2010). How UNICEF is leveraging the power of social media. Bixal. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.bixal.com/bixal-blog/how-unicef-leveraging-power-social-media Hall, T. (2010). Social Media: the 1% rule and how to make it work for you. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/10-essential-rules-brands-social-media/142907/ Marketing Sherpa. (2008). How UNICEF doubled video exposure with social media. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/how-unicef-doubled-video-exposure Park, H., & Lee, H. (2011). The use of human voice as a relationship building strategy on social networking sites. Paper presented at the IPRRC Conference, Miami, FL. Punton, K. (2012). Likes do not save lives. Label Magazine, 28-29. Reilly, H. (2013). Activating a social media strategy for UNICEF. UNICEF. 1-59. UNICEF (2011). About us. Retrieved 10 April, 2013, from http://www.supportunicef.org/site/c.dvKUI9OWInJ6H/b.7640391/k.826A/Support_UNICEF__About_us.htm UNICEF. (2012). Two million fans for UNICEF Facebook. Retrieved April 9, 2014, from: http://www.unicef.org/media/media_65510.html Appendices Appendix A Source: https://donatetab.firstgiving.com/ Appendix B Source: http://www.tweetdonate.org/ Appendix C Source: https://personal.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/fundraise_social_media_app Read More