How Charities like the Joyful Heart Foundation Are Using Social Media to Raise Awareness

The Joyful Heart Foundation is a national organization aiming to support women who have been the victims of abuse. Through education, healing and advocacy they aim to change the ways we respond to abuse, and ultimately end it all together. They work closely with social workers and those studying for a master of social work online from Rutgers to change women’s lives. Social media has played a huge role in raising the awareness of this, but how?

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Global Reach

Social media is global. It targets all demographics, all over the world. If you want to get something seen, social media is the way to do it. Each of the big platforms offers different ways to share information, raising awareness for the charity itself, but also for the message they want to spread. Instagram can be used to share powerful images; Facebook is a better platform to share larger content, such as survivor’s stories. Anyone that sees a post can share with all of their followers, across all of the platforms they have profiles on. It’s instant, free marketing.

Going Viral

We all heard about the ice bucket challenge. While on the surface, this might just seem like a bit of fun, but it did a very important job in raising awareness for ALS. In short, it went viral. Millions of people watched the videos, took part, and made donations. For a few months over summer, everyone was talking about it. Social media did that. This was a fun challenge that got people talking.

Using video is incredibly effective. With the super-fast nature of social media, timelines and feeds are constantly changing, so a video forces people to stop and take notice. These videos got shared so many times, they could not be avoided. This is the true beauty of using social media to raise awareness: it can get everywhere, quickly.

Fundraising

Social media is a great thing to include in a fundraising campaign. It gets the word out; it can get people excited and involved. Young people are constantly checking their social media accounts, so they’re much more likely to pay attention to an advert for a fun and exciting fundraiser on Facebook.

Celebrity Endorsements

Normally when looking for a celebrity to get involved, charities must go through agents and write letters. It’s a time-consuming process that could well cost the charity money. Once something’s gone viral on social media, there’s a reasonable chance a celebrity will see it. They could then choose to get involved, or even just share it. A share from an influential celebrity can do a tremendous amount of good to an awareness raising campaign.

Social media is becoming an increasingly popular tool for any kind of marketing. Charities are using this to their advantage. It’s instant, cheap, and exciting. It gets people talking, which is the best way to raise awareness of important issues. And raising awareness has always been the best way to stop abuse. If you’re interested in helping charities, or survivors, perhaps you should consider an online MSW.
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