Integrating online and social media elements into cause campaigns is de rigeur these days, but results vary widely.

 

For example, Celestial Seasonings partnered in January with Trees for the Future with a commitment to plant a sapling for every box of tea it sold through 3/31 up to 1 million trees.   A related microsite plants a tree for consumers who register and view some content (up to 50,000).

 

Retail sales have generated hundreds of thousands of tree donations to date, but at this point fewer than 2,500 consumers have gone through the online process.

 

I have a theory about the weak response -- 1) most consumers felt the payoff wasn't worth the effort and 2) people aren't THAT passionate about tree planting.   I'd wager online pickup would have been much higher if the program had been developed around a clever Facebook badge that was easily displayed and shared.

 

That's not to say that asking consumers to jump through virtual hoops to generate a donation can't work if you have the right combination of passion and reward.

 

Last year Pedigree persuaded 50,000 people to upload pictures of their dogs (an involved process) in exchange for a $1 donation to support pet adoption.

 

The donation was appealing, but I'm sure an equal if not greater lure was having Fido incorporated into a record-setting photo mosaic. 

 

While we are in this experimental phase with social media, the folks at the IPG Emerging Media Lab say the focus should be on "return on involvement", not traditional ROI.

 

To help us all crack the online code, we're featuring a preconference Social Media for Cause Marketers workshop on May 27.