Social Media goes pink for breast cancer awareness during October, and so have I. The month of October was declared “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in 1985. Think Pink October!
Breast Cancer Awareness, a Brief History
Pink ribbons are often worn to commemorate a survivor or a love one who lost the battle. In recent years, corporations sponsored events, organizations put on races, grocery products were imprinted with pink ribbons. The goal has been increased awareness of and raising of money to fight breast cancer. Many of these campaigns continue. Some are still successful while others have not been. (More about that shortly.)
In 2007, viral marketing expanded reach of this campaign with the launch of television shows dedicated to breast cancer awareness – Deal or No Deal and Warriors in Pink were dedicated to raise awareness of breast cancer.
Social Media has gone pink for October in 2008.
Pink Social Media
Avatars on Twitter, a microblogging & socializing network, went pink on October 1, 2008. My initial reaction was, “I’m not going pink for the latest fad!” I quickly found that SEO Rockstars from 3 Dog Media, Greg & Barbara Boser, posted Turn Twitter Pink. Here is what Mrs. G wrote about breast cancer awareness and the value of Social Media during October:
“…you can help spread the word by focusing on the topic for at least one month. It’s easy. All you have to do is stumble, delicious, digg, reddit, kirtsy whatever article you see related to increasing awareness.”
I immediately had my hair done at the local Social Media Salon with a hot pink hairdo! Why? I joined the cause to display pink to have an opportunity to share about breast cancer awareness.
Shown right are some of my “friends” on Twitter with their unique pink avatars.
Pink October is more than a bandwagon.
Multiple colors represent causes. Pink for breast cancer. Differences, however small, can be made.
Yellow LiveStrong bracelets were made popular by Lance Armstrong. Wearing them became a fashion statement and an association with America’s Tour de France hero. Some joined the LIveStrong “bandwagon” because others were doing it. However, I met quite a few people as a result of those bracelets and heard some heart-wrenching stories about how cancer affected their lives. I have a close friend who fought breast cancer while pregnant, before and after her baby was taken early by C section. I shared her story, and others prayed for her as a result. I did the same as my eyes opened to the devastation of this disease as stories were shared.
Conversations occurred because of those yellow bracelets. I hope you enter into conversation about breast cancer because of Pink October.
Pink October is more than conversation.
Social Media is based on conversations. The power of conversations, thus the power of Social Media, is sharing!
Sharing happens when others post messages. Sharing happens when we link to stories and articles on the Web. People share by posting links and by voting on articles in a number of different Social Media spaces. Reread what Mrs. G wrote above about “stumble, delicious, digg, reddit…” These sites are places where people share their interests. That shared linking builds value for those Web pages. Ahhh… LINKS!
The formula is simple:
More Links = Higher Search Engine Rankings
Pink October helps Search Engine Optimization.
Going pink in October and sharing on Social Media sites does more than raise breast cancer awareness, it raises the stories up in the search rankings. Pink October helps SEO!
Search Engine Optimization involves a number of factors. One of the most important strategies for SEO is link building. When you link to a site, you essentially give it a VOTE. Help increase rankings of your favorite breast cancer stories and campaigns by voting. It’s easy. Link!!
Where do you go to link?
The following Social Media sites are popular. Exposure on these sites increases incoming links.
Submit, or vote, for your favorite breast cancer awareness article or campaign.
I especially liked the following post by a new “friend on Twitter, Twitterbo. He shared his organization’s Cancer Research Survey in which they donate $1 for each story.
Viral Pink
Sharing and creating a presence on multiple Social Media sites is key to viral marketing.
One example of going “viral pink” is a campaign launched by General Mills on MySpace called Pink Together. Marketing Sherpa gave them a 2008 Viral Hall of Fame Award for this effort. Sponsors include Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Cheerios, Progresso, Nature Valley, Yoplait.
Pink Together has 6884 friends on MySpace! As of this writing on October 3, 2008, there were 799 comments by these friends. People are talking and sharing their stories. Their forums are not as successful; they ask these questions:
How have you been affected by breast cancer? 0 Posts (zero)
What hopes and experiences can you share with those currently in the fight? 0 Posts
How will General Mills measures the success of this Pink Together campaign? I don’t know. Successful blog participation? Failed forum discussion?
Did they choose the right avenue to go viral pink? This may be a case where MySpace is not the place where users participate in forums.
Exploitation of Pink?
Pink has also been exploited by corporations to sell products. This unfortunate situation is called “disease marketing.” The corporate world markets products that make us feel good for our consumption. “Pink Ribbons, Inc.” is a book that talks about this cash cow approach.
Do some companies jump on the pink bandwagon because it sells products?
In 2006, Yoplait’s fight breast cancer campaign raised $36.00. That’s “thirty six dollars” for saving those little foil lids. That same year, Campbell’s Soup only donated 3.5 cents per can of soup. Come on! How did they measure success? Successful press coverage? Failed efforts to raise money to find a cure for breast cancer?
DISCLAIMER: I am not inferring that Pink Together on MySpace above is exploitation since the same companies are involved. I’m simply sharing what I’ve learned about these breast cancer awareness campaigns.
Positive Pink Outweighs Negative Pink
You can make a difference with a positive approach. What’s the takeaway for you?
- Go Pink in October.
- Donate to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
- Link to stories and campaigns on Social Media sharing & voting sites.
There is power in participation to raise awareness and money for breast cancer.
Remember the power of Social Media and Pink October:
Awareness + Conversations + Sharing + Linking = Higher SERPS (Search Engine Results)
Tags: breast cancer awareness, Delicious, Digg, Link Building, October, pink october, pink ribbon, pink social media, Propeller, Reddit, SEO, sharing, StumbleUpon, Twitter, YouTube
I am such a dork for mentioning this, but I am one of the (evidently few) who actually sent in the pink lids from the Yoplait containers! I really felt like I was helping, too
But seriously, my time is precious and I’d rather just give money than save little foil lids and take the time to mail them in. Sort of a silly way to do fundraising.
Thanks for this post, Dana, you made me think of a lot of ways to help with breast cancer awareness.
Lori, You’re funny! Many of us want to do the right thing and save lids, etc. to do whatever we can.
I did learn a lot by researching the cause and how people effectively go pink for October. Individually, we can do a lot on our own as well. Yes, giving money to a reputable organization may be on of the best ways.
I just learned about, PinkforOctober.org, a site that discusses the online pink for October movement and displays some cool pink graphics & buttons: http://pinkforoctober.org/downloads/
Cool post. I’ve always resisted jumping on bandwagons. I still don’t have a yellow bracelet (though I’ve donated plenty to LAF and other cancer funds). Trends (like bracelets, be they yellow or one with a soldier’s name on them worn by presidential candidates) bore me. I never understand why people race to display their group affiliations on their bodies. Pink Avatars and blogs for one month I suppose are acceptable!
Now, that aside and the fact that I don’t disagree with the Pink for October goals, but does anyone have a problem with the color pink and October? I mean, couldn’t they have picked a better month? Don’t most people associate October with orange and yellow? The Pink Cancer cause should have picked a cold winter month (jan/feb/march) or a spring month! It’s just fashionably wrong to make October pink.
I just cannot in good conscience wear or display pink in October… unless someone blogs about ways to wear pink and orange fashionably. But i’ll give to the cause.
What’s Next? Meditating While Texting?:
Julie, You have such a flare for the logic! It would be interesting to find out why the National Breast Cancer Society chose October (or why the drug company who actually founded it did so).
Interestingly, Red October, the movie, has been playing recently. October 2008 may go down in history as Black October. I’m looking forward to days of green again, and they will come.
Colors and their representations have such an effect on us. I am enjoying the orange, red and yellows on the trees. You’re right…we don’t even see pink flowers blooming now.
Now, thinking about pink and orange, these two colors, in their deep, bright shades, are the hottest colors for branding right now. What to wear? For fun, do a search for “hot pink orange fashion” – wardrobe enhancements coming?
Thanks for the insight!
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