Social media has extended into the realm of marketing from a very early stage. The ability to provide targeted campaigns to a demographic increasingly turned off by regular forms of advertising has now developed to be a key tool for business, especially for multi-nationals where global coverage is hugely beneficial.
Yet when it comes to communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) or environmental/sustainability policies then it appears to be a tool left firmly in the box. It has however been proven that this media can be used to great effect already.
In April last year Greenpeace tackled Nestle in its sourcing if palm oil. Greenpeace successfully used a viral ad, social media campaign and ‘traditional’ activism targeted at Nestles Kit-Kat brand to raise popular awareness of the issue. Nestle responded with a significant change in policy.
What if Nestle had communicated its ‘sustainable’ sourcing from the outset? Social media and sustainability can be viewed as having a lot in common. Matthew Yeomans stated in a recent blog post; “both are built on the pillars of transparency, ethics and innovation, and both can help secure a companys’ bottom line.” A company avoiding greenwash in its communications can improve customer opinion and enhance staff pride. The interactive nature of social media allows for participation, both in the real and virtual worlds further enhancing awareness and action on sustainability issues. And it is this awareness that is the crux of social media marketing, and will surely prove key to winning the hearts and minds of people, the last bastion of the status quo, in environmental sustainability. This principle can be extended externally for customers and wider CSR, and also internally for increased staff engagement.
Imagine an innovative training experience for staff preluded by a social media discussion using micro-blogs on environmental issue(s) at work. The training takes place centred on the practical solutions taken from the online discussions; staff participate even before the training begins. The intelligent use of technology such as Sonys’ recent Open Planet concept winner Greenbook can offer even more engagement from participants and it is this that will instil true behavioural change. Enhancing company performance and ‘green’ credentials. Good ideas spread quickly in online communities so as organisations openly state their internal ‘green’ ideas, others will soon follow and adapt.
The now costly process of CSR reporting could be streamlined and offered to a far wider audience (have you ever fully read a CSR report?) using an adaptable and fast moving social channel. The aim must be group (private, NGO and public) consensus in attitude to our current global sustainability issues and challenges; we must all pull together.
Social media, in all its forms, will be at the forefront in communicating this message.
By Tim Davies | Righttrack’s Environmental Advisor