Since the 90’s social media has evolved and is now a worldwide phenomenon. Social media is primarily used as a communication tool to create awareness for an organisation. “It personalizes the "brand" and helps you to spread your message in a relaxed and conversational way.”[1] Social media is essentially a free/low cost channel to market and thus is vastly becoming one of the most effective and economical communication strategies to date. But which organisations are using social media effectively?
In the news at present there have been reports on a rise of breast cancer in women in the UK from “one woman in nine to one woman in eight”[2]. It is deemed that lifestyle is to blame for the increase. I wanted to find out what channels Cancer Research UK was using to help raise awareness for the charity. Their blog informs people about the rise in breast cancer and gives advice about how to prevent it. [3]
Cancer Research UK use many popular types of social media from podcasts and their own blog to having over 60,000 friends on facebook and over 13,000 followers on twitter.
Influencial adverts are placed on their youtube channel to help raise awareness and increase donations towards the charity. Using ‘real people’ both experts and the general public makes this particular advertising converge to different platforms, to which anyone can relate. Marketing in a way that evokes emotion is a key semantic field in these adverts, which then creates empathy within their audience. In addition to focusing on the key principal and slogan ‘together we can find a cure.’ This makes the audience part of the organisation and makes us think were able to help. This is a very clever and effective marketing tool.
When visiting their facebook page it is clear that Cancer Research UK is dedicated to informing people of different cancers using both scientists and doctors as a question and answer type forum. In doing so this page has become extremely interactive and it shows that many people are benefiting from the information given by this particular service. As a result, instead of paying any consultancy fee’s general questions can be asked on this page. However surely all advice cannot be the same for every person, cancer is very individual. I fear that people who are maybe too scared to go see their doctor would merely accept advice given on this site.
Gangadharbalta (2008) picks up on the point that social networking meets the needs of ‘group seeking behaviour.’[4] I believe that this has been achieved (perhaps initially unintentionally) through the interactive social media channel of facebook by Cancer Research UK. For people visiting the page who have felt the sting of this vicious disease, to know that they are not alone could be very psychologically beneficial for them. Increasing the size of their support team from not only close family and friends, but also to digital friends globally.
Other than the above advantages, the social media channels chosen by cancer research UK are used for promoting events and organisations that help to fund the charity. Such as the ‘race for life’, whereby women are asked to participate to help raise money to fight breast cancer. Perhaps by seeing the events promoted on social media pages this may encourage more members to participate or create awareness for them to donate.
Overall I feel that the channels of social media chosen by Cancer Research UK have all been used effectively as communications tools, interacting with their audience has clearly been the key to their success.
[4] Gangadharbalta, H., 2008. Facebook Me: Collective Self-Esteem, Need to Belong and Attitudes Toward Social Networking Sites:Journal of Interactive Advertising: Volume 8(2) P5-15.
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