Rally your customer base through giving

Black Friday has come and gone, and we are in the midst of many online orders today on Cyber Monday. It’s possible your business has offered some kind of promotion for the holidays in the spirit of these strong gift-purchasing days. Are you providing the same amount of attention to participating in #GivingTuesday?

#GivingTuesday is a social movement that began in 2012 in response to the popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and has grown in popularity since. The initiative asserts: “We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back.”

Various companies and non-profits are engaging communities small and large to ask everyone to give back during the holiday season. Johnson’s is asking for participation in its efforts to assemble homemade baby care kits for infants in need and is encouraging participants to get social with their contributions. In fact, the company is incentivizing engagement by offering to double donations to its partner, Save the Children, for every photo shared to the Donate a Photo app.

We live in a world where the way to get exposure and gain awareness for your cause is to use social media. Sharing your philanthropic efforts isn’t about bragging – it’s an appeal for others to give. Is there a cause near and dear to you or your business’s heart, one that prompts you to share its mission with others and promote support towards the organization? Social media allows you to do this and reach more people than you ever thought possible, and a movement like #GivingTuesday adds fuel to the giving fire.

Tomorrow will be a great opportunity to invigorate your company and customers, rallying them around a common goal. #GivingTuesday provides some great ideas for businesses to get involved internally and externally. There isn’t a lot of time to plan a large initiative this year, but take the opportunity to see how other businesses are participating and discover organizations you may not have been exposed to otherwise.

Start small. Consider giving to an organization you care about deeply, share that organization with your customers through social media and ask which organizations they are giving to this year. Have the whole team take an #unselfie and post it to your accounts. If you are interested in boating-specific organizations on #GivingTuesday, both the Sea Tow Foundation and the National Safe Boating Council are participating.