How to Use Social Media For Social Activism?

MeToo by activist Tarana Burke, 1000BlackGirlBooks by Marley Dias, BlackLivesMatter, etc. are some of the recent online social movements that have lasting consequences. Recently, social activism campaigns spread via social media channels are gaining huge support from people of every corner of the world.

In this era of digitization, social media has become a powerful tool of change. Social posts, hashtags, signing and sharing petitions, interactive videos, etc. have turned out to be the modes of activism on social media. Social media platforms are reforming the way of social activism.

Before learning more about the role of social media in social activism, let us have a look at some statistics:

Importance of Social Media in Social Activism

Social media activism is a form of protest or campaign for a good cause promoted through social media channels. Campaigns can be initiated to raise awareness, promote a good cause, support an agenda, or to raise funds via social media. People or companies can easily favor the cause by reposting social posts, donating funds, adding tinge of specific cause in their commercials, and much more. Besides scrolling social media for hours, one can become a part of the change by associating themselves with thought-provoking campaigns.

Social media has become a convenient way to fight for a reason. Nowadays, social media channels are playing an important role in raising the voice and getting support. There are several reasons associated with the popularity of social media. Some of them are mentioned below:

• Offers multiple ways in the form of social media posts, relevant hashtags, interactive videos, webinars, etc. to promote a cause
• Convenient medium to target a diversified audience
• Highly accessible to raise awareness
• Stimulates the quicker response/support
• Sustains momentum for a longer duration
• Empowers people who have never thought of themselves as activists
• Provides Excellent user engagement
• Affordable than in-person, door-to-door, and newspaper campaigns
• Creates an opportunity for everyone to voice their concerns
• Indirectly increases brand visibility

There are a variety of ways to use social media for good. But some of them are tried and tested and have a higher probability to reach out to people. Let us learn some of the tips on how to use social media for good for better prospects.

How to Use Social Media For A Good Cause?

The ability to reach thousands of people instantly with the help of social media channels has opened all new possibilities for social activism. You should take care of few things to make your campaign a success. Some of them are mentioned below:

Be Clear and Firm with Your Stance

You can use any method like hashtagging, social media posts, petition signing, etc. to promote your cause on social media. One thing you must be cautious about is that your purpose is crisp and clear to understand. Avoid leaving room for ambiguity to get the maximum support. Words or images should precisely speak for your cause.

Share the Trail of Action

If you have initiated any social cause on social media channels, make sure that you have mentioned your course of action to target the issue. If people are convinced of the social cause you are pushing, they can get engaged more enthusiastically. Make sure your campaign is not based on empty promises.

Initiate the Promotion At Correct Time

To portray activism on social media, you must wait for the correct time. For instance, if any cause is gaining the hype on social media and getting huge support, it might not be the right time to push a new social cause. You need to start posting or engaging the audience, whenever your social campaign can stand out and gain the maximum support of people.

You can automate the process of posting on social media networks to promote your cause. To know more about automation, you can watch video:

(Above video is a part of a more elaborate course on Academy by Appy Pie. To access the complete course, please Click Here, or continue reading below.)

Express Empathy with Negative Sentiments

Rallying the audience around positive sentiment might not strongly call to action. You should support a cause or express your empathy with negative sentiments. For instance: if you are promoting a cause of “Be happy. Don’t be sad”, then it would be less effective than “It is okay to be sad”. So, avoid policing tone while tackling any social cause and promote legitimate reasons in social activism campaigns.

To create the variety of posters and flyers for promoting social media campaign, you can take help of Appy Pie’s Color Wheel:

Create Designs With The Colors You Chose

Reflect Honesty and Transparency

Activism on social media is meant to create a better world to live. So, before posting or sharing anything in support of a cause, make sure to evaluate the reasons, promotion methods, history of active volunteers, and everything related to your campaign. To get massive support from people, avoid compromising with honesty and transparency during the social campaign. Social activism is meant to make a change in real world rather than promote any side cause. So, use social media for good cause.

Plan for Both Good and Bad Reactions

One of the aims of social media activism is to disrupt the status quo, which may be supported by few and criticized by others. Before initiating any social cause, you must create a feedback plan for both good and bad responses. You can develop a feedback plan based on FAQs or personalize the response with a pre-planned script. Avoid using a “one size fits all” strategy for different platforms. To work for your social cause, be active with your audience, and respond to them immediately.

Be Innovative with Approaches

Many brands and individuals target the same social cause, some of them get noticeable support while others just come and go. You must commit yourself to social activism campaigns innovatively. Different approaches must be tried to engage people successfully.

To effectively leverage your social media, you can take help of the given video:

(Above video is a part of a more elaborate course on Academy by Appy Pie. To access the complete course, please Click Here, or continue reading below.)

We have mentioned a few tips which can help you in promoting your cause actively.

Summing Up

Activism on social media has become a great way to create a better world by the people, for the people, and of the people. Using social media judiciously can undoubtedly involve the diversified population for social good.

To learn more about social media campaigns, you can browse through Appy Pie Academy.

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Let us take the responsibility to make our place a better place to live and promise ourselves to be a part of activism on social media.