SBF Foundation White Paper 2: Public Relations Strategy for Promoting CSR
Gregory Teo / Ryan Tan / 10 December 2014
1. Preamble:
It should be noted from the outset that everything below (with the exception of the Appendices and
point 2.3) is phrased in such a way that the strategy is neural as to content. In other words, the
model of CSR promoted by the Foundation may change but the below principles guiding its approach
to PR need not.
The information below is skewed towards those less resource intensive PR strategies most relevant
to the Foundation in the early stages of its development. As the Foundation ultimately moves
towards more traditional forms of media (as is suggested below) the expertise lies not in academic
research of this kind but in the experience of the Media company which would assist the Foundation
(it is through such companies that one may most effectively purchase billboard space, bus
advertising, radio time etc. through their services in providing analysis of an advertisement’s likely
visibility to a chosen target group).
2. Broad Guiding Principles for PR Programme
2.1. To overturn misconceptions amongst Singaporean businesses concerning the negative
impact of CSR on their business, including:
2.1.1.That it requires large financial commitment;
2.1.2.That is requires manpower to be unreasonably directed away from the business’ core
function;
2.1.3.That smaller businesses do not have the scale to participate in CSR;
2.2. To promote the mutually beneficial nature of CSR, and how it contributes to:
2.2.1.Employee loyalty and attracting new employees;
2.2.2.Public relations (attracting/retaining customers);
2.2.3.Positive signal to regulators and investors;
2.2.4.Reputation insurance in a crisis;
2.2.5.Tax incentives (where there is a tax regime allowing deductions for non-monetary
contribution – see below for more information)
2.3. To promote a form of corporate giving which looks to, inter alia:
2.3.1.Sustainability;
2.3.2.Maximising impact;
2.3.3.The core competencies of the business;
2.3.4.Community engagement.
2.4. Public Support for CSR (as opposed to Public Coercion)
In their article for the Harvard Business Review 1, Porter and Kramer note that heightened
corporate attention on CSR has not always been entirely voluntary. Many companies only
awake to it when surprised by public response to something which they previously believed
was not their responsibility. For example, in the early 1990s Nike faced a consumer boycott
after the New York Times published an article on abusive labour practises in their
Indonesian facilities. Shell was faced with Greenpeace protests following their sinking of the
Brent Spar – an obsolete oil rig. Similarly, pharmaceutical companies were expected by the
public to respond to the AIDS pandemic in Africa though it was far removed from the
primary product lines and markets. This highlights three issues:
2.4.1.Companies in Singapore should seek to pre-empt such criticism through active
engagement with CSR in all parts of the business. While a firm may not see great
improvement in the bottom line following the adoption of CSR practises, the public
relations risk they run by NOT adopting is too great to be ignored (even if it is just
potential damage).
2.4.2.The SBF does not want to promote CSR in such a way that the public turns against
the business community. In the cases mentioned above, it has been a matter of public
coercion rather than public support for these companies. Therefore, any PR
programme should stress the role of companies in leading the charge towards greater
corporate social responsibility as opposed to it being led by interest groups. As much
as we may like, companies cannot always be ahead of the curve and it will be for the
SBF and the government to encourage them (at least initially). However, those that are
ahead of the curve should be looked to as leaders.
2.4.3.Confrontational public responses should also be avoided because it does often skew
the priorities that corporations should have in mind when looking at how they might
contribute. For example, Nestle has become a target in the global debate about access
to fresh water because of the bottled water products it sells. However, bottled water
sales consume only 0.0008% of the world’s fresh water supply while inefficient
irrigation techniques consume 70% of the world’s supply annually. As a firm dealing
with all aspects of the food production chain, there is a great deal of scope for Nestle
in making irrigation more efficient, but they may be turning limited resources and
manpower away from that and towards the issue of bottled water because of public
opinion.
3. Target Groups in Detail
1
Michael E. Porter & Mark R. Kramer, “Strategy and Society – The link between competitive advantage and
corporate social responsibility”, Harvard Business Review, Dec 2006.
3.1. General Public
The key message to be conveyed is that there are Singaporean businesses which act in a
socially responsible manner. Here, the most effective tool will be the ability to point to
examples of ‘CSR Champions’ which embody said message (a simple and tangible means of
illustrating what is quite a complex concept). Hopefully this will elicit public support,
therefore urging companies with underdeveloped or non-existent CSR practices to get
involved in the broader movement.
3.2. Businesses
The key message to businesses must be that of the mutual benefit CSR may have on both
the beneficiary and the contributor, and indeed how the Foundation can serve as a
magnifier of those benefits and general facilitator. This will implicitly involve a process of
overturning those misconceptions businesses may have about CSR (misconceptions that are
stopping many from getting involved in the first place). As with the general public (though
in greater detail), illustrating these complex concepts through real-world examples (the
‘CSR Champions’) will be an important part of the strategy.
3.3. Employees
A separate strategy should be applied to the employees (of businesses engaging in CSR) as
their active involvement is an important potential benefit to the business – in the sense of
retention, recruitment and loyalty to the firm. As such, the conversation generated by the
PR campaign should include employees at an individual level. They should be able to report
on their personal role in the businesses’ CSR activities, and voice their support on a broader
stage. It is proposed that employees may use their personal social media presences in
conjunction with a central CSR campaign (through a hashtag and a unified social media
presence spanning various platforms).
4. Strategies in Detail
It is proposed that the following suggestions should take place in chronological order because of
(a) the increasing cost burden on the Foundation as the programme develops, and (b) the need
for groundwork upon which subsequent stages may build (e.g. the success of a pilot programme
would be a tangible example of CSR concepts, and would be a useful explanatory tool in future
publicity)
The below points are split into (a) strategies for the Foundation itself, and (b) strategies for
businesses. However, it should always be noted that these strategies are not to be entirely
independent of each other. Instead, they are to be mutually reinforcing as part of a unified
campaign as opposed to disparate and piecemeal efforts to promote CSR.
4.1. Strategies for the Foundation
The approach of the Foundation’s own PR strategy should be (a) general advocacy of CSR in
Singapore, (b) indicating the role of the Foundation and how I may be of help to
businesses/beneficiaries, and (c) providing a centralised forum for all social media activity
on CSR.
4.1.1.Pilot Initiative
The purpose of such a project would be to illustrate how the principles for ‘best
practice’ CSR as advocated by the Foundation may work in real life. As CSR can be quite
an abstract concept, this is likely to be an important step in helping businesses and the
public understand the potential of social responsibility.
See Appendix 1, which posits in brief a hypothetical example of what such an initiative.
4.1.2.Identifying ‘CSR Champions’
As mentioned above, the complex nature of CSR as a concept would be best
approached with ‘real-life’ examples to illustrate its intricacies in an accessible way.
Thus it will be important to continue the work of the Compact in identifying those
businesses which have excelled as regards their CSR activities – thus making them role
models for other businesses to follow. Ideally, they should also illustrate the benefits
which can be brought to the business itself by CSR.
The Foundation may develop on this by bringing greater focus to how the businesses
went about their CSR activities. One might award prizes to those companies whose CSR
activities best illustrate sustainable practices, maximizing impact, creative application
of the core competencies of the business towards philanthropic purposes, and
community engagement (as per point 2.3 above). Those categories might subsequently
develop as the view of CSR advocated by the Foundation grows in complexity or
indeed modernises.
4.1.3.Social Media
Social media has the tremendous capacity to deliver a message to a very wide array of
people at relatively low cost. However, with so much material vying for attention the
message must be clear, and must be of sufficient interest to individuals that they
‘share’ the material with their friends and thus propagate the message.
Please see Appendix 2 below for information on viral marketing techniques. In
particular, there are recommendations for the Foundation as to criteria for effective
social media engagement and suggestions as to the social media platforms which best
suit the Foundation.
Further to that, there is some information on how one might create a social media
‘movement’. This has much greater impact than disparate and piecemeal social media
engagement.
4.1.4.Traditional Media
Though for the purposes of this exposition, ‘traditional’ and ‘social’ media are dealt
with separately, they are ideally linked – supporting each other on different platforms.
It is recommended that references to the social media campaign (e.g. hashtags,
encouragement to contribute, and links to where people can find more information)
are included in any traditional media campaign.
Should the Foundation have the resources to mount a broad campaign over traditional
media, this can not only be used to advocate contemporary CSR principles, encourage
companies to participate, and to demonstrate how business can and do have a positive
impact on their communities. It can also be used to bring attention to those businesses
that already (as per 4.1.2) embody those principles.
For example, on the application of businesses who feel their CSR activities meet a
particular standard set by the Foundation/Compact (such standards being publicised
beforehand), they may be given the right to display a particular logo identifying them
as such a business. This logo may be placed on their own publicity materials or for
example, a sticker or plaque which can be displayed at their physical premises. That
way, even those businesses which do not have their own PR machinery can benefit
from the positive PR attention that ultimately can have an effect on their bottom
line. This is especially relevant for SMEs and micro businesses. In this regard a good
example is the ‘yellow ribbon project’ 2, which used a general campaign to bring
attention to the cause and to the various smaller organisations that came under its
auspices.
4.2. Strategies for Businesses
As regards all the points in this section, it will be for businesses to take the lead and not the
Foundation. The later will only consult with businesses on good PR strategy, and advising
businesses on how they may slot into the broader CSR campaign. This (a) contributes to
public perception that it is the businesses themselves that are the drivers of CSR, (b) allows
companies to develop their own CSR strategies or indeed allow those who already have a
strategy to continue independently, and (c) reduces the workload on the SBF.
4.2.1.Social Media
As with the Foundation, businesses can also make use of social media as a low-cost
way of bringing attention to their CSR activities. This is also addressed below in
Appendix 2.
2
See: Yellow Ribbon Project, URL: http://www.yellowribbon.org.sg/index.html
In particular, it is recommended that businesses link their CSR related PR to that of the
Foundation – that way information on CSR is pooled, allowing access to a broader
audience. Further, businesses should be encouraged to allow their employees to get
involved in delivering the message about their CSR activities through their own social
media accounts (and doing so impartially - without any particular agenda being set by
the company).
Another recommendation to be particularly noted is contained in Appendix 2 point
4.3. A business’ contribution to a cause may be entirely through awareness-raising by
using its own PR machinery to bring a particular cause to the attention of the wider
public. Indeed, larger businesses are likely to have considerable resources behind their
social media engagement (and consequently a following) which a small NGO is very
unlikely to possess. This also benefits the business in that it allows them to
demonstrate the values of the company – reflected in the causes its supports. For
example, a pharmacy may support a vaccination programme in a developing nation,
thus demonstrating a belief that healthcare should be accessible to all.
4.2.2.Traditional Media
As with the recommendations for the Foundation, Social Media and Traditional Media
should ideally be linked such that it comes across as a single coherent campaign. This
can be done by referencing the overall CSR campaign in whatever PR materials they
may release on the subject.
Particularly translatable are those recommendations contained in Appendix 2 point
4.3 (mentioned above in point 4.2.1) regarding using the PR machinery of the business
to bring awareness to a particular cause. The cost of traditional media is such that it is
almost certainly out of reach as regards smaller NGOs, not to mention that such an
NGO would want to limit the proportion of its funding which goes to the fundraising
process. Indeed, the Sainsbury’s clip mentioned in Appendix 2 is primarily intended for
television, but because of the quality of the delivery of the message gained unexpected
traction on social media.
APPENDIX 1
Proposal for a CSR Pilot Initiative
The purpose of such a pilot initiative should be to display the effectiveness of CSR when applied in its
best possible form (insofar as ‘best practise is defined by the Foundations).
•
•
•
It should demonstrate to companies how the impact of their CSR activity can be maximised,
making best use of the resources they can spare, and demonstrate the benefit CSR can
deliver to the business itself.
Further, it should demonstrate to the general public how Singaporean companies (or at
least those taking part in the initiative) do see social responsibility as fundamental to their
culture, and how they are invested in the community beyond profit.
Finally, it should demonstrate to the government and potential donors to the Foundation,
the benefit of having a central organising force influencing the development of CSR in
Singapore as opposed to often piecemeal and uncoordinated efforts on the part of
companies.
1. Brief Outline of Proposed Initiative
Overall, the purpose of this particular initiative is to deliver excess foodstuffs to low income
members of the community who are having trouble making this basic need. This is especially
relevant in the current climate of inflation where the most underprivileged in Singaporean
society are increasingly unable to achieve even a basic standard of living (often despite being in
full-time employment).
1.1. The providers are to be food and beverage companies (primarily supermarkets but may
include any company involved in food production) donating whatever items they can spare.
In particular, with so much food routinely being thrown away, the initiative should be
especially effective in re-distributing items that might otherwise go to waste.
1.2. The SBF Foundation shall act as facilitator, identifying and soliciting support from the
potential primary providers which make up their membership. It should be noted that as
foundations, the SBF Foundation and the NGOs it may support are much better suited to
this task from a legal perspective. Businesses that choose to engage in philanthropic activity
independently are subject to additional legal duties.
1.3. Again acting as a facilitator, the Foundation may solicit support from logistics companies
who are members of the SBF. These companies may also be providers in that their services
(collecting donations and delivering them to beneficiaries) would be vital to making this
initiative workable. A single company’s contribution may not alone justify the logistic costs
of distributing to beneficiaries. However, such costs are justified if the pool of contributions
(amalgamated from multiple sources) is large enough.
1.4. The beneficiary in this case may be Singapore’s Food Bank (see URL:
http://www.foodbank.sg/banking-differently/how-it-works). By partnering the Food Bank,
the SBF need not build up its own distribution structure.
1.5. PR will also be an important component as the initiative should ultimately encourage other
companies to get involved in CSR. The Foundation may again act as facilitator in being the
central organising body (i.e. contacting the press and otherwise disseminating information
on the project. While larger companies may have their own PR departments who can make
their contribution known, this is not so for smaller companies who can only benefit if they
fall under the auspices of a larger campaign. Similarly, it may not be in the culture of some
companies to be so vocal about their contribution and may be more comfortable coming
under a central campaign.
1.6. A further element of PR may be suggested to the providers. Should they choose to
advertise their contribution independently, it may also be used as a platform to bring
attention to the beneficiaries (i.e. the Food Bank).
2. The Relationship between the Pilot Initiative and CSR Guiding Principles
The following outlines briefly the principles which it is believed should guide the conduct of CSR,
and identifies the ways in which the above suggested pilot initiative fulfils those principles:
2.1. Sustainability – The initiative should not be a one-time appeal but should make clear that
businesses can build lasting relationships with beneficiaries through CSR.
2.2. Mutual Benefit – the centralised PR campaign is there to bring positive public attention to
those companies which act as providers, demonstrating the effect of CSR on the standing of
a company and ultimately the bottom line.
2.3. Core Competencies – rather than simply donating money, it is important the providers are
contributing the foodstuffs that they themselves produce/sell. This effectively removes the
‘middleman’ and demonstrates how impact can be increased by contributing in line with
the core function of the business.
2.4. Community Engagement – In strengthening underprivileged communities and helping them
get back on their feet, the providers are ultimately making new consumers of them in the
future (perhaps even with a loyalty to those businesses who helped them get back on their
feet). This is the long term benefit to the business.
Further, the suggested pilot initiative serves to overturn the following misconceptions about CSR
as per the below:
2.5. That CSR is only required in response to public demand – this initiative should be organised
in close collaboration with the providers such that they are equally responsible for driving it
to fruition without the need for the public to combatively demand action from these
companies first.
2.6. ‘Chequebook’ CSR – the idea that CSR only involves monetary contributions may turn away
those smaller firms who cannot afford it and who see no immediate benefit from it.
However, contributing in line with one’s core competencies means even smaller firms can
participate (even if in a smaller capacity like donating leftover stock), even if the only
incentive for doing so is moral duty (though a PR campaign organised by the Foundation
would bring positive attention to these smaller contributors too).
2.7. That CSR is an option only available to larger firms – as with ‘chequebook CSR’ smaller firms
may feel they do not have spare manpower to contribute or that they derive no benefit
from CSR as they have no PR of their own. This initiative makes clear that with a
manageable contribution, they can be part of a broader movement which garners positive
public attention.
APPENDIX 2
Viral Marketing on Social Media 3
The below is an overview of viral marketing methods used to promulgate information and influence
consumer attitudes in the modern world, and an evaluation of which methods are most practical
and effective for application by the SBF in relation to using low cost marketing to change mindsets
regarding Corporate Social Responsibility, raising awareness about CSR in direct stakeholders and
the general public at large.
1. Examples of modern day “viral marketing”
Social Media platforms that leverage on the “follower” mechanism – once a user is “following” a
certain account, it acts as a permanent subscription model that acts as a conduit for any
information or content posted thereafter. The following platforms are the most low cost, yet
heavily populated and familiar ones that have worked best in the world of viral marketing and
advertisement thus far, and will thus be the ones that we base our recommendations to the SBF
upon.
1.1. INSTAGRAM (www.instagram.com)
A photo-sharing platform that has taken on a monolithic advertising significance in the
realm of consumerism and marketing – broadcasting material in the form of pictures,
captions and hyperlinks to the “followers” (i.e. consumers and recipients of advertising);
Corporate accounts: Companies and brands in almost every sector have jumped on the
Instagram bandwagon, amassing large followings and using these accounts as a channel to
update their followers on the most recent happenings within the company, or as a means of
educating their consumers through carefully worded captions that arouse both emotional
and social interest .
Examples include : International sports brands like Nike and Adidas (whose follower counts
are in the millions; 6.6 million for Nike and 2.2 million for Adidas, and even many local startups closer to home such as blogshops (Belluspuera, run by Singaporean Velda Tan, with a
following of 110,000).
3
Jonah A. Berger & Katherine L. Milkman, “What Makes Online Content Viral?”, Journal of Marketing
Research, American Marketing Association, 25 Dec 2009, URL:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1528077;
Nemanja Rodic, “Best Practices in Viral Marketing”, Aalto University School of Economics, Jan 2012, URL:
http://www.aaltomediamark.org/wp-content/uploadhttp://www.aaltomediamark.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/02/Rodic-N.-2012-Best-Practices-in-Viral-Marketing.pdfs/2012/02/Rodic-N.-2012-BestPractices-in-Viral-Marketing.pdf;
Olivier Toubia, Andrew T. Stephen & Aliza Freud, “Viral Marketing: a Large-Scaled Field Experiment”, INSEAD,
2009 URL: http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=42584;
Arnaud De Bruyn & Gary L. Lilien, “A Multi-Stage word of mouth influence through Viral Marketing”,
International Journal of Research in Marketing, Sept 2008, URL:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811608000414.
Celebrity accounts: Companies and campaigns generally tend to leverage on the fame and
popularity of celebrities or icons in that specific field as a means to further generate interest
and awareness in the public. A very pertinent example in Singapore’s context would be
TANGS SG’s (instagram.com/tangssg) recent publicity stunt entitled “Shop For Good”,
where four local celebrities with huge Instagram followings fronted this campaign which
promulgated the act of giving donations as part of one’s shopping experience, killing two
birds with one stone in the process.
1.2. FACEBOOK (www.facebook.com)
Many companies, brands and campaigns have also leveraged on Facebook for viral
marketing purposes, with the visibility predicated on what consumers see on their “Feed”
pages, and any advertisements that appear throughout the user experience.
An example of a well-managed Facebook page locally would be the Singapore Army, which
has done an excellent job on social media thus far (amassing more than 50,000 followers).
The page is used as a means of highlighting the most recent events, as well as functions
such as commending outstanding servicemen or providing users with bits of trivia every
now and then about our Army, which generates a buzz amongst Singaporeans on the social
media sphere.
Advertisements: Facebook allows users to pay various sums of money in order to “boost”
the visibility of certain posts, as such many brands and campaigns now leverage on this
mechanism in the initial stages to boost the visibility of their advertisements/articles/videos
beyond what their initial reach might seem like, all thanks to Facebook introduced
algorithms that aims to corporatize advertising.
Viral content: After developing a steady following and amassing likers/followers of the
company/brand’s Facebook page, the challenge then is retention of these followers, and
the constant battle with the thousands of other brands vying for consumers’ attention as
well. Content that is well-received, sparks off debate (and even controversy), or simply
captures viewers’ attention tends to be the kind of material that goes “viral” – this is a
concept that has been made possible with the “Share” function Facebook whereby users
share any kind of material, be it a photo, video or a link to an article, with potentially
everyone in their friends list. Research done by various business schools seem to point
towards high-arousal of emotion, be it positive or negative, as the most important criteria
for material to be viral. As such, in this CSR campaign, a technique that can be adopted in
order to gain viral traction on the social media platform is to generate content that elicits
extreme emotion in viewers, so as to best catalyse their inclination to “share” the material
forward.
1.3. YOUTUBE (youtube.com)
Similar to the aforementioned two platforms, Youtube has also proven to be a prevalent
source and avenue for viral marketing due to its nature as a video sharing platform with a
phenomenal worldwide user-base, and as such producing videos that go viral are in many
ways replacing the traditional model of advertisements on TV that show during commercial
breaks. An effective video is one that usually lasts from 1-3 minutes (studies have shown
that beyond the 3 minute point the average consumer’s attention span starts to dwindle),
and if done effectively can have a tremendous boost for the visibility of a campaign.
An excellent example of how a campaign can go absolutely viral is the famous (or infamous,
some would argue) anti-gambling advertisement that gained copious amounts of traction
during the 2014 World Cup – it was a short and sweet video clip that already tugged at the
heartstrings of viewers to begin with as its main characters were 4 children, but what made
the video go viral was when it generated a high arousal of emotion when it unintentionally
predicted the wrong outcome – meaning that Andy’s dad would have made a fortune from
the bet he made, contrary to what the producers of the advertisement would have
otherwise wanted viewers to see. A result of this emotional arousal was a widespread spike
in the number of times this video was played and shared/forwarded to friends, and the
anti-gambling campaign did receive a lot more visibility than it would have otherwise
achieved had the “blunder” not occurred, attracting millions of views from all over the
world.
2. Creating a Social Media Movement
Drawing attention to a cause on social media can be a difficult task with so much material
available –hence the importance of getting members of the public to participate. By
championing a cause in such a way that it resonates with others, ordinary people act as
multipliers in passing on (and indeed contributing their own) material.
2.1. Examples of Successful Campaigns 4
The Human Rights Campaign’s red equal sign was a campaign which launched groundbreaking efforts to lift up the nationwide conversation around marriage. As part of the
campaign, hundreds of prominent American companies, dozens of leading Republicans and
President Obama each filed historic amicus briefs to the court in support of equal marriage.
Thousands gathered outside the US Supreme Court in support of equal justice under the
law. A graphic on what’s at stake in the Supreme Court became the HRC’s most retweeted
Tweet in history. And a simple red HRC logo took over Facebook, quadrupled traffic to
HRC.org and came to symbolize a transformative moment for equality. The campaign
engaged a lot of celebrities who shared the modified HRC logo or supportive messages
about marriage equality with their millions of followers on social media, received corporate
endorsement from highly recognized brands including Maybelline and Marc Jacobs and
support from political leaders who joined in by tweeting their support or updating their
profiles with the logo.
The It Gets Better Project started with a Youtube video made to inspire hope for young
people facing harassment in response to a large number of students taking their own lives
after being bullied in school. Its aim was to communicate to LGBT youth that life does
indeed get better. It has since turned into a worldwide movement, inspiring more than
4
Zoe Amar, “Five social media charity campaigns you need to know about”, The Guardian, 3 April 2014, URL:
http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2014/apr/03/five-social-media-charity-campaigns
50,000 user-created videos viewed more than 50 million times. The project has received
submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities,
including President Obama, Anne Hathaway, Ke$ha and Ellen DeGeneres. Six months
following the launch of the project, its book counterpart, It Gets Better: Coming Out,
Overcoming Bullying and Creating a Life Worth Living, was released.
The #BringBackOurGirls campaign sprung up in response to the kidnapping of 200 Nigerian
schoolgirls by armed Islamist militants. The campaign manifested itself in an outcry on
social media, which played a pivotal role in forcing the issue into the agenda of world
leaders. Hundreds of thousands of people have posted images of themselves holding pieces
of paper with the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag written on it on Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter. As a result, the Nigerian government listened, offered the reward and accepted
international offers of help, with David Cameron and Barack Obama both sending in
specialist teams to Nigeria to help. The campaign has shown that social media is a buzzing
platform for discussing important issues of the days. It is populated not just by the common
man, but also by influencers, journalists and politicians all poised to respond to the
problems which matter most to their audience.
2.2. Broad Participation
The most successful campaigns are often those where people connect through their friends,
family and colleagues (as opposed to via an organisation) – hence the importance of
ensuring very broad participation. Further, that participation should not be passive. If the
campaign provides a platform for people to express what a particular cause means to them,
how they have been affected, or how they have taken part (the last being most likely in this
case); the message is likely to be shared more widely. For that reason it should give people
the flexibility to share in a manner that suits them best – the It Gets Better Project allowed
contributors to share both video and written submissions.
Apart from providing for the above, it is worth noting that there should be encouragement
to share and to contribute on all publicity material, whether on social or traditional media.
This can be as simple as including a specific ‘hashtag’ (see immediately below) on all PR
materials.
2.3. The ‘Hashtag’
This refers to a word or phrase, preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media sites such
as Twitter to identify messages on a specific topic. For our present purposes, its value is the
ability to tie together widely varied sources of information (from companies, the general
public, employees etc.) posting on varied social media platforms into a single narrative.
Alone, such posts may reach no larger an audience then friends, family and colleagues.
Grouped together however, there is the possibility of reaching such critical mass that a
grassroots movement can garner the attention of mainstream media. A hashtag is also
searchable – this would allow the SBF Foundation to identify and subsequently aggregate
posts about CSR on its own (for example) Facebook page. Hashtags can also be monitored
and consequently, statistics gathered on its prevalence on social media (making it possible
to measure the effectiveness of different PR tactics).
2.4. Smaller Goals Towards a Broader Cause
By bringing attention to a related, but more achievable milestone on the way to a broader
goal, it may be possible to better capture the public’s attention – especially where the
overall cause is complex and far-removed from the daily lives of the public. B way of
illustration there is the ‘Give Me Tap’ project 5 which encourages people to drink tap water
instead of bottled water. Businesses can volunteer themselves as filling points for those
carrying specifically marked bottles. Said bottles can be bought from the organisation, with
the proceeds going to providing clean water in developing nations. In this case, the goal of
getting people to reduce their consumption of bottled water is not even necessarily a
constituent aspect of the broader cause, yet it does the job well of linking an everyday
occurrence to a much bigger issue. In being more relatable with a clear goal, it is more likely
to gain traction on social media.
3. Recommendations for the Foundation
3.1. Criteria for effectiveness
There are a few crucial factors that recent research has pointed towards that determine the
effectiveness of marketing so that material goes viral which the CSR publicity campaign
should endeavour to achieve:
Going “viral”, according to research findings, points towards one feeling compelled to share
the content towards others, and this is predicated largely on:
3.1.1.Social object
The quality of the message being conveyed to viewers – it must be relevant to the
viewers and must yield at least the lowest threshold of interaction (ranging from
“liking”, commenting, or ideally ‘sharing”).
3.1.2.Viral mechanics
The message should be as “shareable” as possible, meaning to say that on top of a
good message it is conveying, the content should not be overly cluttered and it should
facilitate consumer action as smoothly as possible (e.g. having clearly demarcated links
that viewers can click on).
Virality is partially driven by psychological arousal – as such content that evokes
positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions will be more viral.
Viral marketing has gone beyond the conventional “word of mouth” advertising model
and research has shown that it is now frequently associated solely with “video
content” producing “over-the-top” material that triggers emotion.
5
See: Give Me Tap, URL: http://www.givemetap.co.uk/
Three types of content have been identified as increasing the propensity of a
message’s viral outbreak: entertaining, interactive and positive messages.
A ‘Hashtag’ designed to indicate posts about CSR in Singapore (e.g. #CSRsg) should be
encouraged. That way the virality of content can be statistically monitored and
different PR tactics compared against each other.
3.2. Three main suggested forms of Social Media for the Foundation:
3.2.1.Creation of a Foundation Instagram account that regularly documents events that
have been taking place involving the SBF, and photo profile posts of the various
stakeholders and companies that exhibit good CSR practices.
3.2.2.Starting a Foundation Facebook page that provides details of what the Foundation
does, who its stakeholders are, and what it stands for. Day to day updates on the page
could involve a combination of links to articles about CSR and examples of socially
responsible corporations that make the news, or just simple status updates and
uploading of picture albums to give viewers a better idea of what is being done in
terms of promulgating and boosting CSR practices in the nation. This can be tied to the
above Instagram account such that there needn’t be duplication of work with regard to
photographs. People should be able to post their own material (and once approved by
the administrator of the page) and have it appear on the page.
3.2.3.Channelling funds into the professional production of a short Youtube clip that
leverages on both a clear and relevant “social object” as well as uncluttered and
smooth “video mechanics” that ideally invokes a high degree of arousal in its viewers
and invigorates them enough for them to share the video with everyone in their social
media circles and generate a huge ripple effect in the process.
3.2.4.Tying these various platforms together would involve using a ‘Hashtag’ (e.g. #CSRsg).
That way posts can be grouped around a common theme. It also allows the SBF to
search posts from other people (i.e. not originating from the SBF itself) and aggregate
(i.e. re-post) them on its own pages.
3.2.5.By setting more achievable milestones on the way to the broader goal of more
general CSR participation (as per point 2.4), it may increase the chance of gaining
traction on social media. One might focus individually on those discrete principles of
CSR (see: White Paper: Public Relations Strategy for Promoting CSR, point 2.3)
promoted by the Foundation. Should it be found that there is increased traffic on social
media explicitly mentioning said particular aspect, it can be considered indicative of a
particular message being internalised by the targeted groups. It may also be useful to
focus on individual industries one at a time, highlighting in turn how each has
contributed to the CSR movement.
4. Recommendations for Businesses
4.1. Tying into a broader CSR Movement – Businesses should be encouraged to use the
specified hashtag (he SBF can search the hashtag and subsequently re-post) or indeed share
the post directly on the Foundation pages. This allows the Foundation to aggregate content
from other sources, and allows businesses to bring more attention to their CSR efforts
(positive PR attention being one of the most substantial benefits to the bottom line).
4.2. Employee engagement – Businesses should encourage their employees to join the
movement by sharing their own stories and pointing out how CSR has affected them. As
pointed out above in point 2.2, social media campaigns gain more traction when coming
from people as opposed to an organisation. Also, as objective as a company may be about
describing its own CSR activities, there will always be an impression of possible bias that is
less apparent if coming from employees.
4.3. Bringing awareness to causes supported by the business – As noted above in point 1.4,
there have been successful instances of a firm bringing attention to both their business, and
to a cause they support in a single publicity campaign. This allows the business to (a) bring
their own PR resources to the table in support of an NGO, (b) show the public what values
the business stands for, and (c) to potentially show how the everyday activities of the
business can be beneficial to society (e.g. a bank doing financial planning for social
enterprises is able to demonstrate the quality of its service and how the success of the bank
is socially beneficial).
However, it is essential that the business does not come across as taking advantage of the
NGO. The PR aims of the business should come second to those of the NGO.
Good examples include Ikea Singapore supporting Home for Hope (see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBka2eF4OAI) and more recently, Sainsbury’s UK
supporting the Royal British Legion – a charity supporting ex-servicemen (see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM).