Social media
comes of age It has become a part of everyone’s life and has embedded itself in the global psyche over the past 20 years – it also provides vital communication for Viva!’s work, says Louisa Kendal, Viva!’s digital communications officer ocial media has morphed into something much more than just a digitally connected photo album. While we are physically apart, it plays an especially crucial role in keeping us all connected and informed. For campaigning, gone are the days when our message reached just those who happen to pass our demo on a busy high street – important as that is. Social media empowers us to share our entertaining memes, emotive videos and powerful campaign information with people all over the world – and with just a few clicks on a keyboard. For those who don’t know – a meme is an idea, image or video file that spreads ‘virally from one person to another’. Take our current ‘3 in 4’ campaign, currently running on social media. Every day, I have the opportunity to promote our entire campaign online. We’ve reached over two million people with a single campaign video so far in this campaign. Combine this with our other daily output content including memes, infographics and blogs and suddenly our vegan message is being absorbed by an amazing number of people who we may prompt to change their life. This incredible opportunity to share the vegan message is what makes social media so exciting. With powerful content creation and inspiring messaging, we can run empowering campaigns that positively demonstrate that veganism is the answer to so many problems. In my past year-and-a-half working at Viva!, I’ve been lucky enough to work on numerous campaigns that have made a real difference for animals, the environment and health. Whether it’s our World Vegan Day campaign, which Fearne Cotton supported and James May went vegan for the day, or the daily comments of new vegans pledging their commitment to the movement, it’s fantastic to see how effective our social media content is at creating our vegan world. Beyond our content, we can now also offer people a place to come for advice in real-time. New vegans can message us directly and receive expert advice from seasoned vegans, which can be crucial for people during the first stages of changing their diet. Imagine having a support network right at your fingertips, with people just waiting to share recipes, tips and ideas with you! The coronavirus lockdown has shown
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us that while we may be physically distanced, the world we live in is never further than a few clicks away. Being able to harness this to save animals, protect the environment and promote better health is the most meaningful way to engage with the online world.
It’s our online presence that allows our message to be shared with millions of people I’m able to curate Viva!’s social media in order to educate people on how they could be making kinder decisions, how veganism will help the world and then help them to make the transition. This has allowed us to grow in influence and reach infinitely more people than other forms of campaigning can. Physical activism will always be an important and loved part of Viva!, but it’s our online presence that allows our message to be shared with millions of people and will create the vegan world in the end.
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