Social Media for Social Change

April 1, 2010

Recently there has been a major shift in the world of Corporate Social Responsibility. Climate change and the current economic climate have pushed companies to adopt a more pro-active approach to CSR. The bottom line is now centred around people, planet and profit. As businesses aim to build more sustainable and socially responsible entities, social media strategies are becoming paramount and it’s not hard to see why.

Nowadays the focus is on social media. Social networks are key to our everyday lives and communication has been redefined based on our voice power. The communities we create are now who we are, who we know and how we reach people on a daily basis.Over the last few years, social media has done more to promote causes, generate awareness and raise funds than any other tool or platform. Its advantage is that people can get involved in ways that are immediate and meaningful. Companies no longer need to host elaborate and expensive fundraising events to create awareness of their cause, they can now spread the word via tools such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Successful CSR campaigns are transparent, consistently delivered across multiple media platforms and open to public feedback. It is therefore clear that companies must adopt meaningful, effective social media practices and encourage their employees to become involved with their causes. By using social media, they can build on their relationships with customers and promote their good work in a way that feels far more genuine than a wordy press release.

Many web-savvy companies are rising to the challenge and taking advantage of the social media platforms available. For example, Pepsi skipped the Super Bowl for the first time in 23 years, investing instead in a large social media program called Refresh Everything, which utilises Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

What next, I wonder?