Using the Social Web to Drive Real-World Social Action
by Jessica Kirkwood, Hand’s on Network
I’m in Las Vegas today with Karen Bantuveris of VolunteerSpot, Kerala Taylor of KaBOOM and Robert Wolfe of Crowdrise. We’re presenters in the Cause Track at the Blogworld New Media Expo talking about how to use the social we to drive real world social action.
In other words, how can anyone mobilize friends, fans and followers to take real actions that make a difference?
As we planned the session, it occurred to the four of us that that people are still inspired and motivated in traditional ways – even if it’s happening through a new medium.
In our session today, we hope to gather the collective wisdom of those in the room to create a more complete list, but as we head in to our workshop, I’ve outlined a few of our ideas for applying the best practices of traditional volunteer management to distributed action in the social space.
We’d love to know what ideas you have and what you would add to this list.
Leave us a comment with your ideas, won’t you?
Here are some of our initial thoughts…
Make a personal appeal - the number one reason people volunteer is because they were asked. This doesn’t mean they were asked via a mass e-mail, a generic tweet or a mass Facebook event invitation. Someone they knew asked them personally. Keep this in mind when recruiting within social networks.
Tell a compelling story - never underestimate the power of story! Tell your story. Why is the cause important to you? How and why did you get involved? What kind of change do you believe is possible if others get involved? If you speak personally and from your heart, your friends will respond.
Make folks feel part of something larger than themselves – all of us want to find meaning in our lives. You’re not just asking for help, you’re offering people an opportunity to contribute, to participate in making a difference. Let this help you overcome your fear that you’re burdening folks with your request.
Make your ask relevant – think about the needs/concerns of your social media networks and how what you’re asking of them speaks to their needs and concerns. Let them know what they’ll get out of it. Don’t be shy about this one. The truth is that all of us end up getting more than we give when we volunteer. We’re transformed for the better by the experience!
Think creatively- How can you spread your ask beyond your immediate network? Brainstorm ways to create incentives for your network to pass it on. Can you make a game out of it? Might you offer a prize to the person who recruits the most people to join the effort or raises the most money for your cause?
Make it easy – remember volunteers have to be eased into a commitment. Make it quick and easy to take immediate action, ask for specific actions and small commitments first and work up to larger commitments.
Don’t waste volunteer’s time, be organized. (Enough said?)
Invite volunteers to get involved in planning and shaping the next project. (First you ask the mom to make cookies for the bake sale and the next thing she knows she’s President of the PTA!)
Report back – let people know the larger impact they’ve made possible. Share the results of your team’s collective action. How many students were tutored? How many houses renovated? How much money was raised?
Don’t skimp on the thanks & recognition. Always thank and recognize your volunteers and donors. You can send them an e-mail, call them, write on their Facebook wall, send a tweet out about them… just don’t forget to thank them.
What would you add?
Related Posts & Articles
- Using Social Media to Build Volunteer Communities
- Has “do-gooding” gone mainstream?
- 6 Ways to Help the Gulf Today -best practices of a blogger turned activist
- What nonprofits can learn from a bunch of nerds
- Rule of the 3rd person and why you need one
- Volunteerism on Foursquare
- 4 Tips for Using Social Media to Mobilize People
- Mobilizing Volunteers with Social Media
- Crafting a Volunteer Recruitment Message
- Volunteer Recruitment Ideas
- 9 Rules of Volunteer Recognition
- 10 Things to Consider Before Starting A Volunteer Recognition Program
- 8 Ways to Grow Volunteer Leaders
- The Power of Storytelling
These seem all like the same basic principles and tactics we've known about successful engagement in the offline world for years before the internet–that old adage, "the number one reason people volunteer is because they were asked". There's nothing here that we wouldn't have called best practice 20 years ago. What opportunities exist with social media and the social web to 1) extend the message to new audiences?; 2) make it easier (you suggest that one needs to "make it easy"–can these new tools help with that)?; 3) improve conversion rates (get more people to say yes than otherwise would); 4) enhance frequency or recurrence of engagement?; 5) enhance the reciprocity effect to the volunteer? 6) enable more inclusive and empowered leadership or planning?
How can it be that all the same basic rules apply in this revolutionized world of possibilities we claim the social web to be? C'mon gurus–help us think differently about this!
Anon,
Awesome post and great questions. I get migraines about once a month and I've been battling a really fun one all morning. I'm almost better and I'll be perfect by the time I get to the show. In fact, I'm so jacked up on caffeine that I'll likely be more hyper than usual. Who cares about me right? I suppose I could delete everything I just wrote but I think it's important to take up space in the world.
My background is in retail and the difference between executing in a physical retail environment (store) and the web (online retail) is very different. If we want to run a promotion online it takes about ten minutes for me to call a graphic designer and get something posted on the site. If I want to run that same promotion in shops that requires me to contact the same graphic designer, get the sign made at a sign shop, get it shipped to the shops, get the shop staff to post it in the perfect place, etc. In short, it is way tougher to execute in real life.
We've tried to integrate much of our learnings from 18 years in multi-channel retail to giving back online. We believe the in the same way it's easier to execute a retail promotion online it should be easier to harness people's willingness to do good online and get people to participate in meaningful ways from their couch.
I'm sure I'm making no sense and this is the longest post ever (second longest after Jessica's actually) so I'm going to stop typing now.
Thanks.
Robert
Perhaps then you can help me with what I am trying to do. I am out of options and don't know where or who to turn to…. any help will be appreciated.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=16722560…
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by HandsOn Network, VolunteerSpot, Lalia Helmer , Karen Bantuveris, CommonDeeds and others. CommonDeeds said: Using the Social Web to Drive Real-World Social Action | HandsOn Blog – http://ow.ly/2TZTW #socialgood [...]
This is a great conversation! Briefly, I would add that you're absolutely right that the core best practices are more or less the same — it's just that the tools have changed. I think there's a misconception out there that social media makes it easy to reach and mobilize mass audiences. Social media increases your *potential* reach, but just as it did 20 years ago, it still takes a lot of legwork to connect with, grow, and mobilize your base. There's also the danger of getting caught up in online metrics and losing sight of the ultimate goal — getting people to engage offline. I'm not sure I really answered your questions but just some additional food for thought!
Great questions here. I love using these types of best practices to guide social media and tech strategy.
One quick thought is leveraging the idea of personal stories and asks through social media stewardship. Creating a community where your volunteers can interact, share and inspire eachother is one great use of the free tools out there. I think TEAMFOX.org does this incredibly well through their blog, twitter account and fan page. Check them out to see how their community is amplified creating a better volunteer experience and greater impact.
Sorry for tipos im on the droid…
@georgecaweiner
postscript:
50 BlogWorld Expo attendees participated in the challenge yesterday and inspired their social networks to perform real-world actions direct from the session room. When participants debriefed the strategies that worked – many of the best-practices listed here were immediately illustrated – whether it be making a personal appeal to their facebook or Twitter followers, or thinking creatively and linking the challenge activities to the larger #beatcancer twitter fundraiser.
Engaging people to take action in the real world still means we’re engaging PEOPLE, and the rules of what motivates humans to act still applies. New social media platforms and tools and make it easier for anyone to become a leader, to ramp quickly, and get their friends, coworkers and neighbors to take actions collectively.
We’re all experimenting and learning what works, and what works within our unique communities. Sharing emerging best practices and keeping up this kind of conversation will benefit us all.
Just to put it in writing that I thought the session was fabulous. It would have been better if the wi-fi had cooperated with us, but that also goes to show that you can't always rely on technology and not to put all your plans on one platform. It was great to meet all of you.
Oh, on another topic, it was interesting because I was having a conversation with a guy from the Gourmet Gift Baskets team in the elevator about why #beatcancer didn't beat the record from 2009. I think a large part of it had to do with who really led the charge in 2009 vs. 2010. Drew (@thatdrew) was the person behind the 2009 record. While the money went to Livestrong. It was really Drew mobilizing the networks to make things happen. This year, it was the reverse. It was really Livestrong mobilizing to make things happen.
I think there is something worth nothing there and specifically related to the challenge that was part of the session. It is all about engaging people and people engage with other people in a more substantial way than they do a non-profit or cause.
I didn't know that detail about the #beatcancer campaign. That's totally interesting though! Thanks for sharing it here because as you said, it's totally relevant.
[...] Using The Social Web To Drive Real-World Social Action (handsonblog.org) [...]