Social Media Helps Ministry Win
With a title like that, I could write a post that could go in numerous directions! I really believe that social media does and will help ministries succeed. More on that another day. Today though, I just wanted to give all of you an update on a post I wrote a couple weeks ago about a ministry that was engaging social media in an effort to benefit in a video contest. That post: Help A Ministry Win $10,000 and You Could Win $500.
The great news is that the Talking Baby video did indeed win the Futureshop Wish Your Way to 10K Contest! So congratulations to Muddy River Media for being the beneficiary of half the winnings – they will now get some much needed, upgraded equipment thanks to the video creator’s generosity (who is donating half the winnings to the ministry’s equipment needs). For those of you who voted for this video, thanks for lending your vote to a good cause.
A couple practical observations that every ministry can learn from this contest. Muddy River wanted that video to win so they could get new equipment. So, they actively engaged social media to leverage their network to try and make the video as viral as possible. Primarily, they started a Facebook group and encouraged their network to join and spread the word - they were able to build up a group membership of over 300 (not bad in two weeks). They then sent a Facebook message to group members every day of the contest encouraging them to vote (you could vote once each day per valid e-mail address). You might think that would be annoying to the recipients…but they made it fun. Sure, each day they asked you to vote, but in addition to that they included a “joke of the day” (all clean ones too boot). That kept the community engaged and participating (as well as laughing). It actually made you want to open the message each day to get the joke! Well done! Engagement is one of the key components to social media. That is what makes it social!
Futureshop has not released (to my knowledge) how many votes the video received, but we do know that it has been viewed over 8,300 times. I think that is a great endorsement to the success of the social media campaign. The only disappointment to me is that Future Shop has not released the name of the $500 winner (which was the draw voters were entered in to when they voted). They simply state on their site:
“We would also like to congratulate all our secondary prize winners.”
Part of me thinks they should publish the secondary prize winners (so we know they really released the prize(s))! Maybe that will be forthcoming. Generally, I think this was a good social media campaign on their part and it created good viral awareness for Future Shop and really cost them very little.
So, the message is simply this…if you want to use social media in business or ministry, it is all about engagement and participation. Build community and connect with them. That’s a winning formula!
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http://www.egracecreative.com Brandon
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http://roihunters.wordpress.com Tim Rueb
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