Be it buckets, bins, dumpers, rivers and even aeroplanes, our social media feeds have had a chilly feel over recent weeks as millions of us have taken part in the Ice Bucket Challenge. 

With unprecedented success and a simple premise, the challenge has become truly viral. So has social media become THE marketing tool for charities? And what is the next step for the charity? Can they back up their icy fame?

While the challenge has many claimed founders, it went to the global level once the A-listers became involved. 

The challenge really has shown the value of celebrity advocacy in marketing and has enabled ice bucket virility. The appeal of social media to us mere mortals is the breaking down of that celebrity barrier, opening us up to the dream world of these stars…be it Beckham’s in their back garden or Simon Cowell on his yacht. Justin Biebers instagram video tops the viewing charts with over a million views. 

Social Media and obtaining that holy grail of viral marketing is not easy, but the ice bucket challenge, whether manufactured or not has achieved that, in August 2013 the ALS association raised an impressive $2.7m, though when compared to $98.2m in August 2014 it will be not only Charities that look to social media to “market their product”. 

Macmillan Cancer Research has already stated they need to react faster to social media activity. Cancer Research UK rasied over £8m form their “no Make Up Selfie” campaign and the “Movember” prostate campaign now has an annual presence on our social media feeds. But now Charities must be proactive in developing their own strategies and campaigns.

The continued success of these charities promotions will be how they now integrate into more traditional marketing strategy. The Ice Bucket Challenge has achieved that all-important step of building awareness of the brand, in this case the charity, creating positive impression. This simple and intuitive viral campaign could now become an intrinsic aspect of Charities marketing mixes.

Many donors will feel they have donated that’s it… BUT there is a real need to continually engage with this audience and effectively “retain” them.

The volume of donor data collected will be any data marketers dream. This has to be managed especially carefully so donors are made to feel valued and not become a “customer”. 

And then there are those that have the awareness, but not engaged and ultimately donated. Will the charities speculate to accumulate and undertake a promotional campaign targeting these people? Existing advocates and again celebrity involvement may be the key? Further social media? With any marketing campaign there is a need to understand your audience and the majority of this group will have been made aware through their own social media, we can use their profiles to better understand and integrate with them.

Charities need to ride this icy wave and this is where an effective marketing strategy is essential, utilizing varied marketing tools and techniques. The marketing strategy allows an overall focus throughout all activities, giving a more effective approach.

A strategy enables continued evaluation of tools and thus efficient performance. This will allow not only maximize customer engagement (for the charities to develop donors) but also save spend on wasteful campaigns.

All charities will be looking at the route of social media as a specific marketing tool and there will be many attempts to mimic the viral nature of the ice bucket challenge. This will have changed the face of charity marketing, however now is the time that the ice bucket challenge charities need to act. 

So if you need help with your marketing strategy, be it charity or not why not get in touch with us a Silver Bullet. As a full service marketing agency we can help you with every facet of your marketing activities and ultimately create a strategy to help you meet your business goals.

For more information call Silver Bullet on (0191) 261 7422 or email Richard Hopper at rh@silverbulletmarketing.co.uk