ICVA Social Media Strategy

1. ICVAs Vision and Mission

The vision of ICVA is a world in which crises-affected populations are
effectively protected, assisted, and enabled to rebuild their lives and livelihoods
with dignity.
ICVA is a global network of non-governmental organizations whose mission
is to make humanitarian action more principled and effective by working
collectively and independently to influence policy and practice.

2. Introduction
The Social Media Strategy proposes the idea of implementing social media in
order to benefit ICVA as an organization.
CONTEXT
ICVA is a global network of humanitarian non-governmental
organizations for humanitarian action. It serves as the bridge between
NGOs dealing with humanitarian efforts and the UN by bringing fieldbased experiences to the attention of the heads of UN agencies. ICVA
is the only global alliance of humanitarian NGOs in existence. ICVA has
a unique role in advocacy, policy development, communication, and
partnership. It supports NGOs that protect and assist people in
emergencies by bringing their work and views to the attention of
governments, the UN, and other international agencies. ICVA is a
platform for increased collaboration and coordination between NGOs
and other humanitarian actors, which is crucial to improving the lives
of communities affected by humanitarian crises. It also adds value to
humanitarian action by linking humanitarian practice and policy and
facilitating coordination at the global and regional levels and in
humanitarian crises at the country level.
THE PURPOSE OF THE STRATEGY
The purpose of this strategy is to create better connections between ICVAs
members and gain new members by bettering ICVAs reputation through social
media and generating discussion online. The strategy aims to provide a clear
understanding of what ICVA is, and how social media can benefit this organization.
The strategy looks at the social media suggestions for each of the strategic
objectives laid out in the plan.

WHO IS THE STRATEGY FOR

The social media strategy, which will be used by the member of the ICVA
Secretariat who is in charge of managing the social media sites, aims to enable
ICVA to better connect with current members and NGOs that are involved in
influencing global humanitarian agenda that are potential members.
WHO WE ARE TARGETING
Members, Affiliates, Observers
The staff of our members, affiliates, and observers.
Potential Members/Non-Members
NGOs or academic institutions that carry out humanitarian programs
consistent with ICVAs mission
Governments
Governments from donors and affected states
Donors
Partners (Non-NGO)
ICVAS partners in its policy and advocacy work including IASC,
OCHA, UNHCR< and other humanitarian UN agencies.
Other Stakeholders
Other actors who are relevant to humanitarian aid.

ICVAs CHALLENGES WITH THE ABSENSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

ICVA is lacking easy and direct communication with its members
Most members use social media and we are missing out on
conversations and easy ways to provide necessary information.
If they are on social media, then YOU should be!
ICVAs leadership, legitimacy, and reputation may be questioned
due to the fact that we do not have a presence on social media
when most organizations do.

3. What the Strategy Will Achieve

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE I: A Strengthened Connection and
Engagement Between ICVA and Its Members

ICVA will improve its connection with its members as well as help
the members connect with one another more effectively. The use of
social media will allow this improvement to be made because
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are platforms that billions of people use
in order to share opinions, experiences, perspectives, and keep in
contact with one another. ICVA can engage its members on social
media sites by setting up polls on Facebook, sending mass messages
through the Facebook group, responding to discussions posted in
Facebook, tweeting live from important meetings, and having
discussions within the LinkedIn group.
Tools to use and how to use them to achieve this strategic objective:
Facebook Group: the group will be private and consist only of
current members of ICVA. Any member can post in the group to
provide important information and create discussion about
important issues. ICVA will create polls and surveys within the
group easily to gather members opinions on certain topics as
well as send mass messages to everyone listed in the group.
Twitter: ICVA will tweet information that members need to know
immediately (i.e. info from meetings) in short sentences. ICVA
will retweet relevant information from its members to share
with all of its followers.
LinkedIn Group: the group will consist of ICVA members and their
organization profiles. Anyone will post in the group to start
discussion and people can comment on the posts to give
feedback. Members of the group can sign up to receive weekly or
daily updates about the group and what is being discussed. Also,
people can follow important discussions within the group. This
is a great tool for members and ICVA to become more engaged
through informal discussion and brainstorming.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE II: A Larger, More Diverse Membership
ICVA will gain more members by using social media because
NGOs working in the humanitarian field who are looking to become
members will be able to easily connect with ICVA and do research
based on the information provided on Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Using social media will allow ICVA to better its relationship with each of
its members and therefore members will be able to speak highly of
ICVA to NGOs who are thinking about joining ICVAs network. People
often use search engines to discover information about ICVA. ICVAs
social media pages will be easily accessible to anyone searching for
ICVA and what we do. The membership will become more diverse
because social media reaches almost all regions of the world.

Tools to use and how to use them to achieve this strategic objective:
Facebook Page: the page will contain information about ICVA and
its recent accomplishments and involvement in humanitarian
crises. NGOs that are thinking about becoming members of ICVA
can read about ICVA on the Facebook page and see how ICVA can
benefit them as an organization.
Twitter: Potential members from around the world can read what
ICVA is tweeting and see how relevant it is to the work they are
currently doing. Also, ICVA will use hashtags in order for NGOs
to easily see how ICVA is involved in helping its members with
their involvement in certain humanitarian crises.
LinkedIn Company Page: the page will allow individual people in
the professional world, as well as NGOs and other organizations,
to read about ICVA and how it could help their organization with
the work they are doing. ICVA will update the page with
information about the organization and what they are currently
doing that is available to the public.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE III: An Established Position as a Leader
in Global Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy
ICVA will become a more established leader in the global
humanitarian policy and advocacy field by providing information to its
followers on social media sites. Using social media, ICVA can begin and
facilitate discussions regarding possible solutions for humanitarian
crises. Nowadays, organizations gain a sense of legitimacy when they
have a presence on social media and because ICVA is not currently on
social media, some potential members might overlook it and the work
ICVA does.
Tools to use and how to use them to achieve this strategic objective:
Facebook Page: the page will help ICVA become a more
established leader because having a presence on this popular
social media site will give NGOs a sense of legitimacy when
researching information about ICVA. ICVA will have complete
control over what is posted on the page and will post important
updates and information about how ICVA is taking on a
leadership role with helping NGOs discuss solutions to
humanitarian issues.
Facebook Group: ICVA will use the group to start discussions and
help its members successfully discuss important issues with one
another. ICVA will use what is being discussed, as well as the
results from the polls, to influence policy and advocate for its
members.
LinkedIn Company Page: the page will allow ICVA to share
information with professionals and other organizations. Having

an informative page on LinkedIn shows that ICVA is involved in

the professional field and is a leader in policy and advocacy.
LinkedIn Group: ICVA will use its LinkedIn group to start
discussions and post important information for its members to
help them in their efforts.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE IV: Improve ICVAs Reputation and

Brand
Social media is perfect for branding and helping ICVA get an
even better reputation in the NGO world. It provides free, accessible
tools to communicate, access to a lot of information, breaks down
boundaries of space and time, document our work, and a way to easily
share relevant information to members. Social media allows ICVA to
establish a voice that is consistent and helps to show what ICVA
stands for. By improving ICVAs brand, we can create greater social
impact and tighter organizational cohesion. Social media also makes
finding new employees and interns easy.

Tools to use and how to use them to achieve this strategic objective:
Facebook Page: the page will show what ICVA is all about on the
most popular social media site, therefore getting its name out to
NGOs who are eligible to become members.
Facebook Group: the group will continue to show ICVAs voice
based on what is being posted and discussed.
Twitter: ICVA will be able to participate in worldwide, public
discussions and thus getting its reputation out in the open.
LinkedIn Company Page: the page will information for the public
to access about ICVA and what has been accomplished in the
past due to ICVAs efforts and role in the world of policy and
advocacy in the humanitarian field.
LinkedIn Group: the group will allow ICVA to easily communicate
with its members. The members of the group can recommend
ICVA to other NGOs that are eligible to become members and
therefore help ICVAs reputation.

SUMMARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA

TOOLS
Tool

Useful Features

Facebook Page

Facebook Group

Twitter

Main purpose: provide information about ICVA and

post updates. People and organization pages like
the page in order to receive updates posted on the
ICVA page and have access to information about
ICVA. The page represents ICVA and only ICVA staff
can post things that are important to share with
the followers. The page is more for others to easily
access information about ICVA than ICVA
facilitating discussion.
All status updates show up on peoples newsfeed
About section: basic info about ICVA and the
purpose of the page (discussion, info-sharing)
Post link to ICVA website in About section
Like other pages (shows up on profile)
Post photos, videos, events, links, etc
ICVA is the only one that can post on page:
complete control of context
o People can only like and comment
Public
Main purpose: discussion, keep members informed
about current events and accomplishments.
The group can be private allowing only current
members to access information and post within
the group.
Any member of the group can write a post and
share information with each other, allowing for
easy discussions.
There is an Ask Question feature that allows ICVA
to take polls on certain issues.
It is easy to create events within the group where
members can RSVP directly on Facebook.
Groups allow easy connections with all members
because ICVA can send messages to all the
members easily as well as share documents, links,
photos, videos, and more.
Main purpose: quickly share information with
members about recent projects/meetings; quick
headlines.
ICVA posts updates and information in under 140
characters for its followers. These tweets can be
information, links, photos, or responses to others
tweets.

LinkedIn
Company Page

ICVA can follow other organizations and retweet

relevant information.
ICVA can measure its success by the number of
followers, retweets, and favorites.
Post updates/info under 140 characters (almost
like headlines)
Can be private or public
See how many followers ICVA has
Others can tweet at ICVA to communicate
Reply to tweets (somewhat like discussion)
Tag followers in tweets to draw attention
Use hashtags that are trending to become involved
in major issues
Live-tweet meetings
Main purpose: provide information about ICVA as
an organization in general
Provides information about ICVA to anyone on
LinkedIn
Only ICVA posts updates (people can comment or
like only)
Post links, photos, and statuses.
Products tabs: lists description of documents or
other accomplishments of ICVA that people can
recommend or share
Shows list of people who recommend ICVA
products
Shows number of followers
Used for people to inform themselves about ICVA
and keep updated on what ICVA is doing
Updates show on followers home page

LinkedIn Group

Main purpose: create discussions and allow

connections between members
Can be private
Mainly for discussions
o Any member of the group can post
Members can receive daily or weekly updates
You can follow specific discussions within the
group
People join groups because they are interested in
topic (unlike company pages)
Serves as a community
Send messages to group members
Make subgroups
o By region? By type of NGO?
Easy for ICVA members to connect with each other
Automatic message to new member of group
o If not an ICVA member, can send why to join
ICVA info

Tool
Facebook Page
Facebook Group
Twitter

LinkedIn Company Page

LinkedIn Group

Desired Result
The ICVA Facebook page will serve as a
place for anyone to get information to
learn about ICVA and what we do.
The ICVA Facebook Group will serve as a
place for discussion and information
sharing for members of ICVA
The ICVA twitter account will allow ICVA
to provide breaking news and
information to its followers quickly and
easily.
The ICVA LinkedIn Company Page will
serve as a place for professionals and
organizations to obtain information about
ICVA as an organization
The ICVA LinkedIn Group will create
dialogue between members and allow for
easy communication between ICVA and
its members