DPC Uses Facebook to Help Hurricane Sandy Victims
As an IT staffing firm based in New Hampshire, we were lucky to avoid any real damage to our company or personal property during Hurricane Sandy. If the monster storm took a different path, it could have been our homes hit.
We also feel fortunate to work with clients throughout the Northeastern United States, including in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Delaware. All of these areas were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in October so we wanted to do something to offer even a little assistance.
We hoped to have an impact that would not only raise funds but urge others to get involved on their own, so we decided to use our Facebook brand Page to help spread the word and see if we could quickly raise funds to donate to the American Red Cross – New Hampshire Chapter. We had a goal of $20,000 and didn’t reach that, but with the support of Facebook users across the country, we were able to raise $5,000 for Hurricane Sandy victims in a month.
“We feel fortunate to be able to help the victims of Sandy even in this small way,” our President Jessica Catino said. “We want to thank everyone who donated through our Facebook Page and everyone who shared, Liked and commented on our awareness images.”
DPC was able to leverage our Facebook brand Page in a few different ways to help raise funds and awareness. First, we integrated an application into our Page where fans could donate online. We matched all donations made through the application.
Next, we created images promoting the cause. We pledged to donate $1 each time a Facebook user Liked one of these images, and $5 each time a Facebook user shared one of these images on their own wall. The campaign ended December 15 and resulted in more than 500 actions taken on Facebook in less than a month. All proceeds benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
We decided that using images would be a great way to remind people about the need to help and to give them an easy way to get involved. We hoped that by sharing these images, our fans and other Facebook users would help spread the word to their friends who could also take action. In all, we were able to generate more than 80,000 Facebook impressions in a month.
“To see New Hampshire companies taking an initiative to support the work of the Red Cross is wonderful,” said American Red Cross NH Region Chief Development Officer Stephanie Couturier. “We thank DPC and applaud their ingenuity of using social media. It’s a great example for other companies and individuals as well.”
Certainly this was a minor effort when you consider how much was needed. But we appreciate everyone who helped support it and who donated funds or shared images as a result. We will certainly keep this in mind for future efforts.
You can download the press release here.
Below are some of the images we used in our campaign.
