If it were not for the individual donors, many organizations in the third sector would have disappeared and their projects would remain in limbo. For many NGOs the logic of survival is imposed and the network is being this lifesaver. A few years ago, the Internet and social networks were multinational or a very chic fashion of a few “ahead of time.” Today, there are few organizations in the third sector that do not have profiles in social networks to raise awareness about their causes, but mainly to attract donors and new partners (another thing is how active those profiles are and how well they are working). It is the so-called “fundraising” or social raising (referring to both the 2.0 platforms, as well as the social aims they point to).

The result of this massive turnaround to the 2.0 world is that these organizations not only have to compete with each other for attracting attention and calling the action of their target audience, but also have to do with the other trademarks, Which usually have more resources and staff for social media. Such is the level of “intoxication” in the public and such a diversity of causes that the user runs the risk of blocking: that if we save the forests, that if “we help fight hunger in the world, that if there is a situation of Emergency in such and such a country, that if we help build a school in a Third World country, than if we talk about the situation of children in Asia or the war in Syria, NGOs face the enormous challenge of differentiating themselves.

How to talk about distant problems and bring them closer to the reality of the country? How to turn the engagement of social networks into partners or donations? How to humanize the message without overwhelming?

Here are some very useful keys for any NGO to survive in “jungle 2.0” and you notice that most are also good for any trademark.

Success does not come overnight, we have to prepare the ground

It takes a previous work of months or even years to build a community that is loyal, committed to its cause, that diffuses the message and is willing to take action in the offline world. Well Geenpeace knew when he needed to mobilize “his people” after the arrest of its director general for an action at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen. The social pressure through social networks for their release was so overwhelming thanks to two Greenpeace had done a loyalty work on Twitter and Facebook (more than 100,000 fans and fans in 2009) and launched its blog in 2007. It is true that the benefits of having this community will not be immediate, But so active users suppose the unconditional support to their actions and a base of donations that allows to Greenpeace to be completely independent (that independence is precisely one of its attributes of mark). To lose the control and to surrender to the people The NGOs like also happens in The business world are often very afraid to break the traditional communication scheme of EMISOR-RECEPTOR. In the 2.0 environment, people take the role of emitter, therefore, it is not worth a unidirectional communication in which the message is controlled, even if we do not like what is said. And better it is, because a passive public, will hardly come to the action, for more information that is provided. One of the things that make very good trademarks and that some NGOs are already applying is to have “brand ambassadors” Or online influencers, who can “move” awareness or “defend” the organization at any given time. But how difficult it is sometimes to get this engagement! In the next block, some tips to do so.

Bring the message closer, when it comes to distant realities

This is another of the major challenges for NGOs working on causes that are far away (issues of development cooperation, environmental issues, refugees, peacebuilding, etc.). They are usually very complex messages and situations whose evolution is very slow over time. How to excite and call action? Although sometimes very difficult, the key is to put the subject in people’s minds, make them think about it. “

And how do you do that? Putting a face to the problem, what is usually done through telling a story (we discuss more in depth in the next section).

Bringing the problem closer to the daily reality of people.
Seeking the implications for our life of that seemingly distant problem
Involving NGO workers individually as message senders is very useful because people like to be told by other people, not a logo.
Avoiding the saturation of people with too many emergency messages, because although at first they work well, its effect is short-term.
A story, a princess, a villain, a hero and a magical object

Before we talked that the best way to bring the message to people is to “tell a story”, but not any story that sounds Chinese, but one capable of generating emotions, feelings, involve the viewer and make him act. What ingredients does this story have to be credible and exciting at the same time? José Carnero, CEO of the advertising agency Kitchen and president of the One Hundred Thousand Association tells us that a great story must be concrete (tangible), small (encompassing) and accessible (implicating).

There are five elements that should not be lacking in order to achieve this combination, which are precisely the elements of every tale that stands out:

The narrator: who in this case is the NGO itself
The princess to be saved: it is the cause that we fight for
The villain, which is the problem we want to solve
The hero, who will always be our audience, who will be involved and take as his problem to finally “save that princess”.
The magic object, which translated into the third sector, would be the various platforms for fundraising, crowdfunding, both in the online and offline world.
Set clear goals and how to measure them

When Unicef decided to enter the 2.0 world, at first it did so only because “it had to be”. Very soon, those responsible realized that this would work only if they had a defined strategy, which was also aligned with the communication strategy and that of the rest of the organization. And at that moment it was when things began to walk, not without having learned from mistakes and projects that did not work. “In social networks, you can not predict success without trying trial and error,” said María Jesús Butera and Alejandro Fernández de Unicef.

ROI is not an exclusive thing of the business world. Social organizations should also be able to measure the results of their campaigns, for which we must be very aware of issues such as web traffic, community engagement and especially conversions, which involves knowing the level of involvement of Those fans or fans in the actions of the organization and its process to become donors and partners. As they say in Unicef, the challenge is to turn those “likes” into “lives”.

E-mail marketing is not dead, … and it’s also social

It is interesting to note how for large organizations such as Unicef and Greenpeace that already have a strong brand – e-mail is still a powerful tool for relying on their community, which is really involved. In fact, in the specific case of Unicef, most of the funding that comes online, comes from e-mail marketing.

But if we want it to work, you have to do it right, it’s not worth buying an external database and sending it right and left. You have to build a database of your own, take special care with the subject in sending% u2014posing a shocking phrase that encourages April% u2014y not abusing the shipments so as not to overwhelm people. As we have commented on other occasions in this blog, the future of e-mail marketing is integration with social networks and there is precisely the key to its success.

Can do much, with little money

Small and start-up NGOs have the great challenge of becoming known, creating community and raising funds with an “unknown brand”. And although it is difficult, it can be done and done. An association like Stop Sanfilippo, dedicated to raising awareness of a very rare disease and raising funds for research, has achieved great support not only at the individual level but also at large companies.

Its president, Emilio López created this organization because his own son is affected by this disease and all the funds for its operation come either from his own pocket or donations. Emilio commented that his success has come from integrating online actions, with offline events. And every personal contact is then taken to the online world. Word-of-mouth in and out of the network has been instrumental in your success.

Can the world be changed? I really do not know, but I want to think that if you can not change at least you can improve. For that, the work of NGOs is fundamental to keep alive that hope and to leave the individualism that sometimes floats in our society. And if social networks are the virtual expression of the street, it is clear that the third sector must make the most of this possibility of interconnecting sensitivities and emotions.