[p2p-research] Fwd: Mothers Day goes viral - 12 million views for MomsRising

Sat May 23 10:20:39 CEST 2009

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From: Web of Change <info at webofchange.com>
Date: May 22, 2009 7:34 PM
Subject: Mothers Day goes viral - 12 million views for MomsRising
To: Michaeel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>

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Twelve million is the current
count<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/j>(up from
7M when the link was published) for the viral success of US NGO
MomsRising.org's Mom of the Year
Video<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/t>launched
earlier this month. Leveraging great production value and clever
customization that features Byonce, Brad Pitt and President Obama, this
overwhelmingly successful viral campaign lets anyone give their own mother
the nod for Mom of the Year in a television style “news” clip.

How did they do it when most non-profit videos fizzle out after a few
thousand views? Smart strategy, a lot of research and planning, emulating
the success of others, a lot of hard grinding work, and of course a little
luck thrown in. Rosalyn Lemieux led the project. Roz is an online organizing
and social media strategist, and she also happens to be the mastermind
behind this year’s Social Tech Training agenda, and a Web of Change alumni.
As part of our ongoing thought and action leaders interviews, we find out
her secrets.
  12 Million Videos for Mom By Kori Brus on May 22, 2009

*(Kori Brus) What did you hope to accomplish with the video? Were you
expecting it to reach out as it has? *

(Roz Lemieux) The goal of producing the video was simple: grow the list. You
can never count on a video (or anything) going viral. We knew we wanted to
produce something that had a good chance at pass-along, that would be
partnership-friendly, and that would leverage Mother's Day. Joan Blades
(co-founder of MoveOn and MomsRising) had the inspiration for the video,
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner (co-founder, ED) had the vision to invest in
producing it, and the rest of the team pitched in with ideas, and then again
around outreach. All in, it was a team success.

*What was the inspiration for the piece? *

The inspiration actually began with the hard data. We knew from prior
research that the major list growth for MomsRising occurred through
partnerships and that their biggest day of the year was Mother’s Day. We
wanted to come up with something that leveraged those strengths and offered
the organization a real chance for growth. We felt the video had the best
chance for success, both in content, and as a meaningful offering that
partners could pass on to their lists. As for the creative inspiration,
MoveOn’s election-year customizable
video<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/i>was one of
the huge hits of 2008 and that provided the foundation for our
Mom of the Year video. We hired the same firm that helped out MoveOn, and
many members of our staff helped contribute the creative flair and the
hooks. My contribution was the tattoo guy.

*Many organizations feel that they don’t know how to get online content into
the public’s hands. What was the key in the video going viral? *

We minimized the MomsRising branding to make other people and organizations
feel at ease with participating in the campaign. The outreach plan itself
included more than 30 organizations who agreed to send it to their lists.
And when partners did send it on, they were included in the email opt in. It
was win-win. Both MomsRising and our partners could benefit from the list
growth, and both could feel good about taking part in a positive message. We
were intentionally inclusive. An intensive blogger outreach was also part of
our plan, and we did personal contact to key people in the “mommy bloggers”
community. We also used our Twitter and Facebook channels. What are the key
things that organizations need to do to leverage the success of a successful
viral campaign? The trick is to always convert the influx of new people
(email addresses) into a real, engaged supporters. To that end, MomsRising
started emailing them right away, being conscious about bridging their
experience with the video to the core mission of MomsRising.

*In general, how fully is the success of viral campaigns like this one
capitalized on for longer term fundraising and list growth? *

It’s true in a case like this where the list grows exponentially through a
mechanism that is content-light, there will be drop-off of new members and
likely a lower response rate than among members who came in through a
focused action alert. However, I don't need to tell any organization with an
online presence how valuable an exponentially larger list is for organizing,
even if it is marginally less responsive than one built slowly through
higher asks. Is there a follow up plan ? MomsRising already has engaged the
new members, and it's key they were communicated with right away. In the
first week, we tested a number of different messages to new members and then
sent the one that they responded to best to the full list. We are further
taking the opportunity to look at what series of communications works best
at engaging them over time as activists and donors. As should always be the
case, testing will determine the best approach forward with the new
supporters.
Comment on this Article<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/d>

Roz Lemieux is the co-founder of Fission Strategy, the creator of this
year’s STT agenda, and a Web of Change alumni. Learn more about her
work at Fission
Strategy <http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/h> Do you have
a WOC success story you would like to see profiled? Let us know at
info at webofchange.com.
   From the Community Blog   WTF?  A Humble Model of Success - Jeff Regen
Interview <http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/k>

By Kori Brus on Apr 20, 2009
Right-Wing Taking the Lead in Social
Media?<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/u>

By Kori Brus on Apr 20, 2009
Obama and New Media
Tools<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/o>

By Michael Silberman on Apr 20, 2009
Free STT Tuition Winners<http://webofchange.cmail1.com/t/y/l/hddukj/itjihley/b>

By Kori Brus on May 14, 2009

“

Slacktivism is an apt term to describe feel-good online activism that has
zero political or social impact. an illusion of having a meaningful impact
without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook group. Remember that
online petition that you signed? That was probably an act of slacktivism...
”

— Evgeny Morozov, foreignpolicy.com
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