5 viral nonprofit campaigns and what you can learn from them

Fiona Cunningham's "No Make Up Selfie For Cancer Awareness" was inspired by Laura Lippman's bare-faced photo tweet to show support for actress Kim Novak who received flak after going to the Oscars without makeup.

The then 18-year-old Cunningham created a Facebook group under the same title where she encouraged people to post their selfies and donate to Cancer Research UK.

The campaign raised £1 million in a day, and soon after, the actual nonprofit joined in on the trend represented by Dr. Kat Arney, a Science Information Officer. The nonprofit managed to raise £8 million in donations.

HRC is a nonprofit organization advocating for LGBTQ equality. Its iconic logo was produced in 1995 and was led by then Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. It was not until 2013 that HRC's red logo variation became viral when they chose to change their FB display photo for their planned rally in Washington D.C. regarding two marriage equality cases. They along with other groups chose red to symbolize love. After encouraging others to do the same, many joined the campaign--3 million shares, 800 logo variations, and a 120% increase in profile photo changes.

The mission was clear and simple: make 5-year-old Miles Scott's, who was battling Leukemia, wish come true and be Batman for a day. Make-a-Wish Foundation was set to grant Scott's wish. The word spread like wildfire when Clever Girls Collective, a content agency, used its network of 6,000 influencers and live Twitter chat to make this all happen. Soon after, the @SFWish Twitter page was born along with the hashtag #SFBatkid. People and celebrities from everywhere showed their support online.

The event was a huge success! 600,000 tweets were made, while 20,000 people came on-ground for support.

Ad Council launched Love Has No Labels campaign back in 2015. The campaign used a publicity stunt to exercise its message of "celebrating diversity and fighting bias". Partnering up with R/GA, on Feb. 14, they put together two people inside a giant X-ray machine revealing only their skeletons. Once out, people got to see all kinds of love, regardless of age, gender, sexuality, race, or religion.

The campaign won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial and got viral with over 164 million views online.

1. Make campaigns multi-platform

Start simple and work your way towards a more elaborate approach. 

Try using Video Marketing to increase engagement and connect more to the people you are targeting. 

 2. Keep an eye on your audience

It's possible for real people and not marketing agencies to initiate campaigns online, all you have to do is to stay alert, and if lucky, you might just encounter one.

 3. Give supporters a template

In preserving the key message and linking it back to the campaign, create templates for people to use and give their own flare to. 

4. Embrace influencer marketing

Influencers have strong networks and a following. Banking on them could take your campaign to the next level. Just be sure to provide them with a clear brief on your campaign goals and directions for them to best cater to your needs.

 5. Reinvent an established content format

Traditional formats are there to be reinvented. Take something people already are familiar with and offer a new way of looking at it. This diminishes learning curves and provides new insights into old thinkings and habits.