NPOs in Social Media - SOSTAC Marketing Communications Plan for vision:teilen Anna Klein

97 Pages·2012·7.28 MB·English

NPOs in Social Media - SOSTAC Marketing Communications
Plan for vision:teilen
Anna Klein
NPOs in Social Media - SOSTAC Marketing Communications
Plan for vision:teilen
Graduation Report
Anna Klein - AK (081758)
Student at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences

International Media and Entertainment Management
- Marketeer -
May 2012
Preface
This graduation report is written by Anna Klein, student at the NHTV University of Applied Sciences, Breda,
the Netherlands following the study track International Media and Entertainment Management specializing
in Marketing. It is created for vision:teilen e.V., a non-profit organization generating donations to end pov-
erty and misery in Düsseldorf as well as in developing countries, situated in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The aim of this report is to provide vision:teilen e.V. with a custom made, value-based social media commu-
nication plan. This plan is based on the valid findings of conducted research upon the internal and external
environment of the organization, its current performance and the values of the organization as well as its
target group, which had to be defined first.
My knowledge and competencies, acquired in the four-year study course at the NHTV, have been very
helpful in conducting the research and in successfully elaborating the marketing communications plan for
social media.
I would like to thank Peter Stepman, my supervising lecturer from NHTV, who supported me with a critical
view and valuable feedback throughout the graduation period. Furthermore I want to thank Lisa Niederau,
my company supervisor at Kuhrt Kommunikation and my commissioner brother Peter Amendt, leader of
vision:teilen, who helped me gathering the required information and accomplishing such excellent results
through the implementation of the theoretical research.
Many special thanks to my family and friends who greatly supported me, believed in me and endured my
moods. Without them it would not have been possible for me to deliver this graduation report. Last but
not least I would like to add a word of thanks to all the participants of my survey.
Herewith, I assert that this report is written by me, the author and all external information sources are
accordingly stated.
Sincerely yours,
Anna Klein
Cologne, Germany, May 2012
I
Management Summary
This graduation report was written in order to provide vision:teilen (v:t) a tailored ‘Marketing Communica-
tions Plan’ which enables them to generate higher awareness through social media and therewith a greater
online donation activity. Kuhrt Kommunikation, the advertising agency being responsible for the web ap-
pearance of v:t, assigned me with writing a communications plan for their client v:t. The problem is that,
although v:t has social media accounts, it does not generate awareness through these, as they do not know
to which target group to communicate. The main goal is to define the target group for social media before
giving recommendations on how to improve the social media communication.
The report consists of two parts: the research part and the SOSTAC ‘Marketing Communications Plan’. The
research part focuses on finding v:t’s exact target group for social media because the leader of the organi-
zation was quite vague in describing it as a younger target group than the one v:t is reaching now. Through
self-completion surveys published on social media, the younger target group was narrowed down to Ger-
man students and job starters between 18 and 30 years who use, according to the research, social media
most. Even though social media can be accessed world wide, the communications plan is limited to the
German market, as v:t’s social media content is posted in German and they try to focus on the problems
in and around Düsseldorf, Germany.
In close connections with this, I conducted further research to find out about the values and habits of the
newly defined target group by interviewing five people falling into this the age category. All of them stated
that they are interested in humurous content, and content shared by their friends, making it important for
v:t to establish a friendly relationship to the target group, not only posting depressive content about the
misery on earth.
To compare v:t with other Non Profit Organizations (NPOs) active on social media I listed the top three
best performing NPOs on Facebook and analyzed their strategy, in order to take over some of their tactics
of communicating well with people on social media. The three German best practising NPOs in Germany
on Facebook are Ärzte ohne Grenzen, Ein Herz für Kinder and Deine Stimme gegen Armut.
The second part of this report, the SOSTAC Marketing Communications Plan, focuses on reaching the three
set communication goals of:
1. Increasing awareness of v:t’s projects through social media within the target group until September
2012.
2. Reinforcing interaction of the target group on social media sites by 30% until September 2012.
3. Enhancing donation actions within the target group by 10% until the end of 2012.
II
Management Summary
First of all v:t must know which opportunities and threats it is facing. Performing a PEST and SWOT analysis,
the strengths and weaknesses, as well as political, economical, social and technical factors will define the
opportunities and threats of v:t in the social media sector. This is to be found in section 10.1.5.
Then v:t needs to gain the target groups’ attention, which it will get through three planned Guerilla cam-
paigns connected with v:t’s social media sites. Furthermore, the interaction of the target group needs to
be encouraged by making it part of the organization. The Guerilla campaigns offer them the opportunity
to upload photos and to spread the word of v:t’s mission called: “By sharing, we help people who are also
willing to share out of poverty and misery”. The goal is to recruit more than 1,000 fans on Facebook and
1,000 followers on Twitter.
To reach that objective, v:t needs to follow the tactics stated in section 13. Eventually, the goal is to increase
donation actions within the target group, which is achieved by leading the social media users to the do-
nation platforms betterplace, clicks4charity and benefind. The section “Actions” gives examples on weekly
postings to inform v:ts employees which content is suitable for the target group. Only if all networks work
together it will be possible for v:t to achieve its communication goals within the deadline.
III
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................VII
2. List of Terms..................................................................................................................................VIII
PART A - RESEARCH
3. Company Description..................................................................................................................1-4
3.1. Company Details...................................................................................................................................................................1
3.2. History and Philosophy.......................................................................................................................................................1
3.3. Organizational Structure.................................................................................................................................................2
3.4. Services and Projects............................................................................................................................................................3
4. Problem Analysis.............................................................................................................................5-6
5. Problem Definition...........................................................................................................................7
6. Research Objective...........................................................................................................................8
6.1. Primary Objective...............................................................................................................................................................8
6.2. Secondary Objectives.......................................................................................................................................................8
7. Research Questions.........................................................................................................................9
7.1. Research Question 1.........................................................................................................................................................9
7.2. Research Question 2.........................................................................................................................................................9
8. Research Methods.....................................................................................................................10-12
8.1. Phase 1....................................................................................................................................................................................10
8.2. Phase 2....................................................................................................................................................................................11
8.3. Phase 3....................................................................................................................................................................................11
9. Research Results......................................................................................................................13-20
9.1. Target group..........................................................................................................................................................................13
9.1.1. Market Segmentation.....................................................................................................................................13
9.1.2. Donation Behavior............................................................................................................................................15
9.1.3. Social Media Habits........................................................................................................................................16
9.1.3. Values......................................................................................................................................................................17
9.2. Best Practicing NPOs in Germany...........................................................................................................................18
9.2.1. Current State of Affairs....................................................................................................................................19
9.2.2. Strategy....................................................................................................................................................................20
IV
Table of Contents
PART B - SOSTAC MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
10. Situation Analysis.............................................................................................................................22-29
10.1. The 5 C Analysis..........................................................................................................................................................................22
10.1.1. Company.......................................................................................................................................................................22
10.1.2. Collaborators................................................................................................................................................................23
10.1.3. Customers.....................................................................................................................................................................24
10.1.4. Competitors..................................................................................................................................................................26
10.1.5. Climate...........................................................................................................................................................................27
11. Objectives 41.......................................................................................................................................30
11.1. Mission Statement.....................................................................................................................................................................30
11.2. Communication Objectives..................................................................................................................................................30
11.2.1. Objective 1- Attention...............................................................................................................................................30
11.2.2. Objective 2 - Interaction...........................................................................................................................................30
11.2.3. Objective 3 - Action..................................................................................................................................................30
12. Strategy.............................................................................................................................................31-33
13. Tactics...............................................................................................................................................34-43
13.1. Attention.........................................................................................................................................................................................34
13.1.1. Cardboard Signs Homeless.......................................................................................................................................35
13.1.2. Home on a Bench......................................................................................................................................................36
13.1.3. Flash Mob to Help Homeless...............................................................................................................................37
13.2. Interaction........................................................................................................................................................................38
13.2.1. Facebook Tactics..........................................................................................................................................................39
13.2.2. Twitter Tactics................................................................................................................................................................40
13.2.3. YouTube Tactics.............................................................................................................................................................41
13.3. Action................................................................................................................................................................................................42
13.3.1. Betterplace...................................................................................................................................................................42
13.3.2. Benefind........................................................................................................................................................................43
13.3.3. Clicks4Charity..............................................................................................................................................................43
14. Actions.............................................................................................................................................45-47
14.1. Minutes.............................................................................................................................................................................................45
14.1.1. Content per Calendar Week.................................................................................................................................45
14.1.2. Weekly Social Media Schedule CW 19...........................................................................................................46
14.2. Men....................................................................................................................................................................................................46
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Table of Contents
14.3. Money...............................................................................................................................................................................................46
15. Control............................................................................................................................................48-49
15.1. Statistics...........................................................................................................................................................................................48
15.2. Code of Conduct.......................................................................................................................................................................48
15.3. Weekly Meetings........................................................................................................................................................................49
16. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................50-51
Bibliography...........................................................................................................................................52-54
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Interview with brother Peter Amendt...........................................................................A-1
Appendix 2: Karibu..................................................................................................................................A-5
Appendix 3: Infobrief...............................................................................................................................A-9
Appendix 4: Online self-completion survey......................................................................................A-10
Appendix 5: Coding survey results.....................................................................................................A-15
Appendix 6: Chart completion questionnaire..................................................................................A-16
Appendix 7: Chart Social Bakers Age.................................................................................................A-17
Appendix 8: Frequency of Donations.................................................................................................A-18
Appendix 9: Chart Sectors of Donations..........................................................................................A-19
Appendix 10: Reasons for Facebook Usage......................................................................................A-20
Appendix 11: Transcripts of In-depth Interviews.............................................................................A-21
VI
1. Introduction
It does not matter which newspaper you open these days the headlines you find everywhere are euro
crisis, atomic bombs, financial crisis, bribery scandal, rising oil prices and top manager salaries. I want to
separate myself from this capitalistic society and invest my marketing knowledge into a project with a good
cause. I had been thinking about writing my graduation report for an NPO ever since I started my studies
at NHTV University of Applied Sciences. I am not a fanatic follower of Greenpeace, neither do I chain myself to
the rails in order to demonstrate against nuclear energy, but nowadays people, especially of my generation,
are too busy caring about themselves than about others.
During my research I often heard “I am just a poor student, why should I donate my money to an NPO
when I do not even know what it is used for”. On one hand I admit that being a student sometimes means
limiting your expenses, but on the other hand I see most of my fellow students with a smart-phone worth
hundreds of euros. Thus I assume that it is not a question of having the money, but of being willing to share
it with others or just using it for one’s own luxury goods. It is understandable that people lose their trust
towards NPOs due to the donation scandals that occurred several times in the past years. Even big, recog-
nized NPOs like UNICEF, World-Vision and WWF have committed too many mistakes by letting thousands
of euros of donations disappear.
Therefore, confidence in these organizations must be restored to the people, and especially to the young
generation. Many NPOs misjudge the power of the younger generation and social media because the
steadier donors who give bigger amounts of money are older than 50 years. Nowadays the Internet devel-
ops so fast that even - and especially - NPOs have to follow up and go for the new technologies in order
to succeed against the rest.
Germany alone has thousands of nationally and internationally operating NPOs that try to raise funds for
a good cause. To get the awareness of younger people in this clutter of NPOs, one has to come up with a
special concept that is thought through. Especially smaller organizations like vision:teilen have difficulties in
standing out because they lack budget. Big NPOs that are already nationally known have a greater budget
and usually the support of celebrities, which helps marketing the cause. The attempt of this graduation pro-
ject is to improve the social media performance of v:t by changing its image to fit the needs of a younger,
fresher target group that is active on social media.
VII
2. List of Terms
Amnesty International = Amnesty International is an NPO that fights for human rights worldwide. The
basis of their work are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other documents of human rights,
as for example the international pact about middle-class and political rights or the international pact about
economic, social and cultural rights.
App = application = little programs that one can download from the Internet to the smartphone
Crowdsourcing = Involving a group of Internet users beyond the structures of the business in a decision
making process of the company. (Mansfield, 2012, p.46)
e.g. = exempli gratia = for example
e.V. = eingetragener Verein (registered association) = The German counterpart for an NGO (see NGO).
E-Newsletter = News periodically sent out by e-mail, which contains information for a specific target
group. (Gabler, 2012)
Facebook = Facebook is the most popular social media site that allows members to create a profile, share
photos and videos, write personal messages and stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues. Nowa-
days businesses use the so-called “fan-page” for the marketing communication with their target group. The
website, which is available in 37 different languages, includes the following features:
• Marketplace: allows members to post, read and respond to ads.
• Groups: allows members with the same interests to find each other.
• Events: allows members to create and publish events for which they can invite only friends or make
the event public.
• Fan-Pages: allows members to create and promote a public Facebook page around specific topics
or brands.
• Presence technology: allows members to see which contacts are online in the Facebook chat.
(Rouse, 2009)
Flash mob = A flash mob is a short, spontaneous get-together of a crowd of people on public or half-
public places. The members of the crowd usually do not know each other personally. They meet to do
unusual things like e.g. dancing all together to the same choreography. Flash mobs are organized through
online-communities, email chain letters or by mobile phone. They are seen as special forms of the virtual
VIII