With the Internet’s ability to empower individuals, social media platforms have become powerful forces for change and community action. Social media interconnects millions of people at any given point providing everyone with a megaphone that can be heard far and fast.

While companies conventionally buy media and hire PR agencies to tell people about their charitable efforts, recently Adweek reported on a different kind of media tactic to help people discover and disseminate the good deeds of brands. More brands are tapping into people’s do-gooder impulses to spread their charitable messages through P2P endorsement. Giving the supported charity a donation is incentive for people to post about it in their personal feeds—the real-time “stream” of updates on Facebook & co.—creating word of mouth that comes close to a personal recommendation.

This tactic has the potential upside for brands to be more cost-efficient by offering donations vs. buying ad space to build awareness for the supported cause. And it allows them to redirect some of their media budgets to cover part of the costs of the cause initiative. But there is also risk if people see the efforts as promotional tactics and social-media spam vs. believing the brand wants to genuinely solve a problem or effect real change.

TARGET – BULLSEYE GIVE

Target’s Bullseye Gives campaign found the perfect blend of social media and charitable giving. For two weeks in May, users could vote once a day for one of 10 charities on Target’s Facebook page, to determine what percent of Target’s $3 million each charity would receive. Votes were published on news feeds for friends to view and become fans of the brand. The campaign resulted in 167,000 Facebook members who voted over 291,000 times and a 3,000% surge in Target’s wall posts.

KRAFT – SHARE A LITTLE COMFORT

Kraft has teamed up with Feeding America to create the Share a Little Comfort campaign that offers to donate 1,000,000 boxes of Kraft’s Blue Box Mac and Cheese to families in need. With a single click of the mouse, users can donate a free box and share their charitable ways with friends on Facebook and Twitter via Kraft’s helpful links that instantly update news feeds with a convenient prewritten message, informing and encouraging friends to donate. At press, the campaign generated over 73,000 donations.

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If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please email either Frank Striefler (frank@mediaartslab.com) or Erik Hanson (erik@mediaartslab.com).