Update!
I sent out my job hacking to the folks at change.org and they loved it! Here are a few of the tweets they sent my way!
As a part of a job hacking project I recently rolled out 6 recommendations to improve change.org‘s communication strategy looking both at social media and email marketing. As a European citizen I decided to focus on change.org’s Europe offices (Spain, Italy, France, the UK and Germany).
I created a Facebook page, Marie for change.org, to showcase my work and partnered with non-profit Chomunity whose founder Ezriel coached me throughout. Here are my findings!
Recommendation #1: More is More
Recommendation #2: 1-2 is the magic number
Recommendation #3: Using a Social Media Management Tool helps
Recommendation #4: Diversity is key
Recommendation #5: Leverage the power of Instagram
Recommendation #6: Find your target and aim
Recommendation #1: More is More
There seems to be correlation between the average number of tweets per month in Europe at Change.org and the number of followers. More regular tweeting yields more followers!
Spain is in the lead with +80K in followers and 156 tweets per month.
Conclusion: Tweet more regularly (Buffer recommends 3 x per day or more) in order to gain more followers!
Data collected using CrowdRiff’s Riffle extension and Social Bearing.
Recommendation #2: 1-2 is the magic number
Studies have shown that posting 1-2 times a day on Facebook is ideal. After that there is a significant drop-off in the engagement rate.
Italy is clearly posting too much with 4 posts per day considering their engagement/post ratio but the UK, France and Spain could afford to post every day as opposed to every other day.
Conclusion: In order to increase their social media engagement change.org’s European platforms should post 1-2 times a day on Facebook.
Data obtained using Likealyzer.
Recommendation #3: Using a Social Media Management Tool helps
Social Media Management tools the likes of Buffer, Hootsuite or TweetDeck make it a lot easier to carry out an effective social media strategy by collaborating with a team, monitoring mentions, gaining key insights and saving a lot of time!
Most European change.org branches already use one, with Italy in the lead at 85% of tweets sent. Tweetdeck is the most commonly used tool, however it is limited in that it only pertains to Twitter.
Conclusion: I would recommend change.org’s European branches adopt Buffer or Hootsuite in order to more efficiently manage both their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
For more information on Hootsuite and Buffer here are a few links:
– http://www.uklinkology.co.uk/hootsuite-vs-buffer-comparison
– http://www.sitepoint.com/buffer-hootsuite
– http://linkhumans.com/blog/buffer-vs-hootsuite
Recommendation #4: Diversity is key
On social media, diversity helps maximize engagement.
This diversity is crucial both in terms of the type of content (for example videos, photos and links on Facebook) and the content itself.
I conducted a little study using Likealyzer and found that the countries performing best in terms of engagement on Facebook were the ones which had the most content diversity such as Germany and Spain.
In terms of content, Hootsuite has also popularized the 1/3 rule:
– 1/3 of your social content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit
– 1/3 of your social content should surface and share ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses
– 1/3 of your social content should be based on personal interactions and build your personal brand
Conclusion: I believe diversifying both content type and content itself on change.org’s European platforms would significantly increase engagement and hence lead to more petition signatures!
Recommendation #5: Leverage the power of Instagram
When I applied to work at change.org over the summer and did a little social media stalking, I’d already observed that their Instagram was not being exploited to its full potential: their last post to date was 8 months ago…
Here’s the thing: pictures tell stories. And change.org tells stories. The two combined make the perfect tool!
Moreover, about 50% of 18-29-year-olds and 25% of 30-49-year-olds use Instagram, with both being key demographics for change since 25-44 year-olds create and sign the most petitions!
What kind of content could change.org post? The option are unlimited but I would argue that these would work best:
– pictures showcasing the great work culture at change.org to get people to connect with the brand and get great talent to apply to work there (keep posting cute dog pictures, employees at work in and out of the office, fun work events)
– pictures showing change.org users out in the world promoting petitions in order to gain traction and signatures
This would entail harnessing the incredible posting power of change.org employees, such as Albert Medran and Francisco Polo in Spain, as well as encouraging petition creators to post on Instagram to gain traction.
Futhermore I noticed change.org competitor Avaaz has started posting regularly on Instagram, so if that is not reason enough…
Conclusion: I would encourage change.org to harness the power of storytelling with pictures on Instagram in order to rally even more users around signing and creating petitions!
Sources:
– Instagram demographic statistics
– The Data Behind Online Activism on Change.org by
Recommendation #6: Find your target and aim
When I told people about change.org after when I was interviewing with them over the summer, one of the things I heard over and over again was: “Oh that thing that sends me loads of emails.”
I was taken aback because I would have rather heard “Oh that amazing petition platform that helps people make extraordinary social change happen!” but I understood in that I too had gotten unwanted emails.
The survey that I conducted over the course of a week asking “Do you like getting emails from change.org?” confirmed this sentiment. In total 64 people hailing from seven different countries (France, Belgium, Spain, England, Ireland, the US and Australia) answered with a resounding 72% (46) answering “No” and a mere 18% (18) answering “Yes.”
Now I do think email marketing can be very effective, but only if tailored to users’ interests.
Asking people whether they want to opt in to emails and then sending them what they are most interested in (aka email segmentation) has a much greater change of yielding returns than sending people a lot of petitions indiscriminately, which might work at first but will eventually get people to unsubscribe.
Email service MailChimp conducted a study and saw a 14.4% increase in open rates as well as a 57.69% increase in clicks as a result of email list segmentation.
Conclusion: I would recommend change.org start asking its users about the causes they are most passionate about in order to send out more targeted emails, obtain a higher conversion rate and yield more signatures!
Sources:
– MailChimp study
– Why List Segmentation Matters in Email marketing on Hubspot
Marie Rousseau 