With Earth Day around the corner and Cape Town, South Africa, potentially on the verge of running out of water, environmentally-focused non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are needed now more than ever. An NGO is defined as any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group that is organized on a local, national or international level and functions independently of governments. The World Bank defines two broad groups of NGOs: ‘Operational NGOs’, which focus on development projects; and ‘Advocacy NGOs’, which are organized to promote particular causes.
An NGO’s marketing and fundraising efforts can draw attention to humanitarian and environmental crises across the globe, and help to inform the public of a situation they may not truly understand. As such, these groups have the power to do some serious good for those people, animals and environments who may lack the resources to stand up for themselves. To ensure they have the greatest impact possible, it’s important NGOs get their name and message into the public eye in order to garner public support.
That’s why a .SUCKS domain could be an NGO’s ultimate secret weapon.
Evoke Emotion with Your Message
Content that evokes emotion—whether positive or negative—tends to get a lot of likes and shares on social media, so use this to your advantage. When it comes to the environmental crisis, focus on telling stories that move people. Recently, everyone was buzzing about the death of Sudan, the last remaining male northern white rhino. Species extinction is a very real consequence of global warming, climate change and over-hunting. What gave this story and its underlying cause so much weight was that almost everyone can relate to the tragedy of an animal’s death. It touched their hearts and therefore gained a lot of traction on social media.
What could have made it even more impactful is a powerful domain like NotProtectingVulnerableSpecies.Sucks or KillingWhiteRhinos.Sucks. These domains would have offered an attention-grabbing platform for those wanting to speak publicly about this upsetting situation.
Create Social Awareness and Momentum
On March 21, the world celebrated World Water Day, and #EveryDropCounts circulated widely on Twitter and beyond. As an NGO, the grind never stops. The moment you stop taking up mental space for your target audience, the donations and volunteer hours start to dry up. Keep an eye on the trends and employ spotlighting tags and keywords to catch people’s eyes and remain a part of the conversation. Then, adapt different trends to suit your message and pay attention to what strategies work best for your brand.
When you find a formula that works, double down on it. A .SUCKS domain is powerful all on its own, but partnering it with a dedicated Facebook and Twitter page allows you to reach as many people as possible with your message, and ensure you always stay front of mind for your followers.
Leverage Beneficial Partnerships
Plenty of social influencers are interested in using their platform for good. Keep up with any big names that are already vocal about your cause and reach out to them personally—they will be much more likely to lend a hand if it’s something they already care deeply about. Or, give them something that their audience will enjoy. Remember the Ice Bucket challenge? Huge online personalities got onboard with this trendy viral video idea that aimed to raise awareness for the ALS Association, as much for its entertainment value as its humanitarian goals.
Getting influential partners to push your .SUCKS domain can be beneficial to your cause. Everybody might agree gender inequality sucks, but having a big name promote your GenderInequality.Sucks website is a surefire way to get click-throughs to your cause.
Make Your Message Easy to Understand
If people don’t understand a cause, or it takes too long to explain, it’s hard for them to spread your message. Even the most worthy of causes can get lost in the social sphere if they aren’t easy to digest and discuss in casual conversation. That’s why .SUCKS domains are so useful. Something like Drought.Sucks, for example, is clear and easy to share. People can say it, type it, search it, post it and (most importantly) remember it with ease.
Everyone can make a difference, big or small. Let .SUCKS be your vehicle for generating goodwill and promoting positive change.
Use RunningOutOfWater.Sucks to join the fight against water and resource shortages in Cape Town and around the globe.
Photo Credits: Shutterstock / Monkey Business Images, Shutterstock / Andrew Paul Deer, Shutterstock / pp1
