As some of you may know, I was recently involved in a tagline competition for The Printed Blog.
The prize for the winner was a Nintendo Wii. Despite being way behind after missing a day’s worth of voting, I ended up winning the contest, with over 51% of votes.
My sincere thanks to everyone who voted for me, from Twitter, Facebook and a few emails that were sent out. When the Wii arrives, I’ll be taking it down to the kids at the Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto. They need it far more than I do.
One thing this showed was that social media continues to be an amazing way to raise awareness about good causes, as well as foster support for them. Twitter in particular is beginning to shine as a cause marketing platform. Think about Tweetsgiving, Twestival and the 12for12k Challenge to name just a few. All great causes, all originated and supported via Twitter.
Which made me think.
Twitter’s main issue at the moment seems to be long-term monetization and financial security. They have just received a cash injection, but that won’t really sustain the platform in its journey to mainstream acceptance and profitability. What it needs is a long-term plan to achieve stability.
So how about this?
Twitter stays as it is – a great communication tool for personal and business use – but it becomes a standard for social media fundraising? Its ability to offer instant action and reaction is perfect for fundraising. And we’re already seeing success on it.
The founders of Twitter could speak to Bill Gates about his Foundation and see if they could receive annual funding towards their charity work. Businesses could also sponsor Twitter for its cause marketing work. And all the fractured causes on Twitter at the minute could fall under one umbrella, benefiting from increased support and promotion.
Obviously it’s just the most basic of ideas at the minute and it would need some serious think tanks to bring to fruition.
But isn’t it something worth thinking about?
