The Many Faces of Cause Marketing

This session will explore ways bloggers can use social media to inspire and educate their readers on cases that they are passionate about. We will look at how bloggers can use their influence as an advocacy tool, and creative ideas for fundraising for a cause. We will draw from the experience of working with bigger brands in order to utilize their power and funding of a corporate campaign, but we will also discuss examples of bloggers who have campaigned for a cause in more organic and grass-roots ways, without corporate funding. We will give examples of how to avoid the pitfalls of a poor cause marketing campaign, and the balance between following your heart without attempting to champion EVERY cause. We will touch on compassion fatigue and the weary reader, and how to tell a compelling story while instilling both hope and compassion.

Danielle Smith of Extraordinary Mommy

Danielle Smith is a former award winning Television Anchor and Reporter turned blogger, vlogger, video correspondent, and public speaker. She is the founder and primary author of ExtraordinaryMommy. In the past year Danielle has become an advocate for cause marketing, working as a correspondent at the 2011 ProBowl in Hawaii to combat childhood obesity and 2010 Winter Olympic Games for the 'Thank You, Mom' campaign - both on behalf of Procter & Gamble.  She has championed the Fight Against Child Hunger, working directly with the Con Agra Foods Foundation. She has been featured in on the CBS Early Show, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR and in  USA Today, as well on a variety of Web sites.

Kim Tracy Prince of House of Prince and ShePosts

In May of 2009 Kim Tracy Prince started shouting from the rooftops about Help a Mother Out, a volunteer-run charity that collect diapers for homeless and needy families.  That meant as a volunteer Kim began publicizing their efforts through her various social media channels and holding virtual and real-life diaper drives locally and nationwide.  When Huggies was creating their Every Little Bottom program, they consulted her about how best to work with blogging moms to help spread the word, and she has worked on the project as one of 7 paid blog ambassadors since it launched in the summer of 2010.

Kristen Howerton of Rage Against the Minivan and ShePosts

Kristen is a social justice advocate, using her blog Rage Against the Minivan as a way to raise awareness for issues from Haiti to local poverty to orphan care.  Having survived the earthquake in Haiti, Kristen raised money for a local aid organization through her blog.  Prior to that, she and a team of runners raised 50,000 through social media to donate to a childbirth center in Haiti.  She has been a frequent advocate of 31 Bits and Krochet Kids, both organizations that bring micro-enterprise to developing countries, allowing women to learn a trade that can support their families.  Kristen believes that blogging creates a unique platform to bring a voice to the voiceless.

Nirasha Jaganath of Mommy Niri and Mommy Niri Cares

Niri traded the rat race in Engineering for her rug rats and turned back to her passion of writing at MommyNiri.com when she became a mom. She’s worked on several charitable projects while harnessing the power of blogging to end teacher-funded classrooms; taken part in Rwanda Path2Peace, Heart 4 Haiti to support artisans, built playgrounds with Kaboom, held events to support Autism, and worked on the End Child Hunger campaign. In December 2010 she launched a Mommy Niri Cares holiday drive, powered by social media to provide items to children born in poverty. That spawned a newly launched site MommyNiriCares.com which focuses on using social media for social good. It includes stories from Autism, Cancer, Poverty among other social causes, to news in these fields and also profiles those in the community doing good.

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