Today’s guest post is written by Geoff Livingston.

Local and mobile are two really hot topics in marketing. They embody the spirit of the current customer media experience and where they are in any given moment.

Increasingly, companies are turning to cause marketing to show their cultural values and enhance their brands. Consider that 83 percent of Americans want their favorite brands to invest in causes.

This is why events (mobile), which are local and cause-oriented, can be a great boon to businesses. Add in social media and local digerati, and now you’re talking a marketing perfect storm.

At Razoo, we wanted to harness these various elements into one event, Twive and Receive, a national giving day on June 14 to promote our platform.

Yes, I can see the snark coming… Another Twitter coined word: Twive, combining Twitter and giving. What can we say? We wanted Twive to have the same fun spirit of early groundbreaking Twitter moments. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Adria Saracino. 

I am a marketer. I like to think I’m also a do-gooder. Combining the two always seemed natural. I mean, if you have a business and can affect change, why wouldn’t you do all you can to support a charitable cause?

That is why, as a marketing consultant, I always recommend fitting in a good cause when creating a content strategy.

I’m not talking about greenwashing, faking, or engaging in spammy or unethical behavior. I’m talking about using your business for good where it makes sense; taking ownership of your organization’s “corporate responsibility.”

It wasn’t until I put this into practice that I started realizing doing good is more than just helping your organization feel good. There are countless other business benefits – most of which are measurable and offer valuable ROI.

Drawing from my experience on content creation and promotion, following are four reasons your business should start weaving a good cause into your content strategy and how you can do it. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Molli Megasko.

The “capture Kony” message has been all over Facebook. It’s been dissected by the media. Everyone is praising the video gone viral.

If, for some reason, you’ve been in outer space or under a big rock these past weeks, you can watch the video here.

I wanted to write this post not to talk about how great it is that a 30-minute YouTube video has had something like 75 million views in just one week but rather, how it achieved that number and what went wrong. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Ifdy Perez.

There is so much good in this world, don’t you agree?

I love HuffPo’s new Good News section because I get to start off my day reading and curating inspirational stories to my online community of do-gooders.

In fact, just this morning, I read a story about how a daughter was able to postpone the foreclosure on her parents’ home by writing a letter to Bank of America.

How awesome is that?!

But amidst the social good stories, I’m swamped with a cloud of negativity that follows me from blog to blog. Total #buzzkill.

Call me naïve, but I don’t understand the reason for it. An explanation could be that unfiltered access to Internet + free speech (with little or no consequences for those actions) makes it easy for us to bash others online.

Still, we’re drawn to reading those articles and jumping on the “Hate Train” for some reason.  Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Brian F. Martin. 

True story: Fifteen years ago, I invested $5,000 in both my niece and nephew’s college funds.

I was always taught if you put away a little money, when you come back years later it will have grown exponentially due to compound interest.

I recently had dinner with my niece and nephew and presented their checks from this original money. The amount of each? $5,500.  Continue Reading »

Today’s post is written by Linda Olatunde.

Most nonprofits stick to some of the tried and true fundraising events to support their organization, raise money, build supporters, and gain wider recognition throughout the community. These events are the annual 5K run and the banquet dinner.

As PR professionals and marketers, we take our clients’ requests to get the word out and promote these standard fundraising events in all of the traditional ways.

We get them the local media coverage and we increase awareness for their organization with new audiences and past supporters.

For the most part, we honor the request of our nonprofit clients by effectively getting their message and event to the masses and surpassing last year’s outreach numbers.

We have done our jobs successfully, more money has been raised, see you next year! Continue Reading »

This Thanksgiving I’m not thankful for holiday travelers.  Did you read this report on CNN?  It is so true.  It’s not the delays, the incompetent attendants, or the cramped airplane seats that annoy me; it’s other travelers!

New York has definitely jaded me, but luckily I’m still grounded (or so says my fiancé).  So one thing I promise to do this Thanksgiving is to give to others less fortunate than me. Continue Reading »

Guest post by Paige Worthy, a Chicago-based freelance writer and editor.

Early last month, I heard some conversations on Twitter about a cause called Spirit Day, which would take place on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

Here’s the gist, from GLAAD’s website:

The idea behind Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month…can be summed up in three words: Everyone Rally Together.

It’s…a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face…pressures and bullying that there is a vast community of people who support them.

Purple symbolizes “spirit” on the rainbow flag.

As one of the event’s Facebook pages says: “This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple.”

I wore purple that day. I even blogged about it.

A ton of celebrities were behind the cause. The effort stemmed directly from tragic current events that have been covered heavily by the national media. The whole thing is pretty ironclad, from the meaning behind the color to the targeted message of support and solidarity.

But a lot of people didn’t get the memo. My mother, a bunch of like-minded people on Facebook, even my very compassionate therapist had never even heard about it — and they would have supported the cause whole-heartedly. I’m lucky to be connected with a diverse group of people through Facebook and Twitter, so I take my heightened awareness for granted. Continue Reading »

I just finished reading Little Bee, which is not based on a true story, but is about a couple from London who find themselves involved in the oil war in Nigeria when asked to save their own lives or those of two little girls. I won’t spoil the story for you, but it certainly makes you think about how lucky we are to live in countries where oil, famine, and disease don’t plague us. How lucky we are that we don’t have to choose between our lives and another human’s life. How lucky we are that food is plentiful. How lucky we are that we can sleep without worrying we might get sick.

About a year ago, I met people at Malaria No More because Mosquito Squad (client) was curious about partnering with them and I was doing a first-round of due diligence before making introductions. Before the first meeting, the partnership seemed likely – Mosquito Squad fights mosquitoes at home and Malaria No More fights the mosquito-borne disease, malaria, in Africa.

Then I sat and talked with their director of business development, who told me about the quest of Malaria No More to end malaria-related deaths in Africa by 2015. I remember, at the time, thinking that was a nearly impossible goal. As we talked more, I began to realize that the “death” (so to speak) of malaria-related deaths is pretty feasible. And then I realized the partnership was more than likely – it was imperative. Continue Reading »

If you have not heard of this video campaign targeting gay youths, you must not go online often. Thousands of people, including handfuls of celebrities, have made YouTube videos letting gay teenagers know that “it gets better.”

Just four weeks ago, after the horrible news of tragic teenage suicides (due to being bullied to the point where they thought ending their lives was the easier decision), Dan Savage, a homosexual sex columnist, started the viral campaign with messages of how it does get better, also pointing viewers to the Trevor Project, a toll-free telephone line for gay youths at risk. Continue Reading »