Learn how the European Center for Digital Action utilized SoSha in this year's EU elections, and how the same strategies can be used with success in the US election cycle.
With less than 75 days until the U.S. election, many organizations have filled their social media feeds with content, from voter registration info to petitions and fundraisers.
However, shifting algorithms make it difficult for followers to see much of the content produced, let alone attract new supporters. Additionally, legislation in many countries protects private data, complicating the generation of new email lists.
SoSha offers a solution: organic social sharing tools that go beyond generating impressions to drive crucial metrics like list growth acquisition and donations.
We chatted with the European Center for Digital Action (ECDA), a non-profit organization that works with progressive organizations across Europe to use digital solutions to address social issues.
Their team utilized SoSha to build toolkits, collections of ready-made posts, for activists and supporters to share on their own accounts. These toolkits were instrumental in their petition and fundraising efforts leading up to the European Union elections in early June.
SoSha was used by eleven progressive organizations, including trade unions, political parties and non-profits in countries all across the European Union, such as Hungary, Germany, and Spain. Between the 48 toolkits built by these orgs at the time, they garnered 7.5 million estimated social impressions.
Ultimately, ECDA found SoSha to be the most successful organic tool to gain new email subscribers and donations for the European election cycle.
The following are a few takeaways from members of the ECDA team, Dominik Kubik and David Csepregi, exploring how ECDA partner organizations used SoSha to empower their communities and what strategies could be used by progressive organizations in the current U.S. election cycle.
How does SoSha help?
Animate Your Community
More than ever, people worldwide are passionate and eager to find ways to utilize their platforms online to get involved with causes in the political and advocacy space.
According to Colin Delany, a leading expert on internet advocacy and online communications, the key for progressive organizations is to “understand this enthusiasm and channel it toward positive ends.”
By building a toolkit with SoSha, you’re providing your community another opportunity to get the word out about causes that they are passionate about, something ECDA's Campaign and Movement Advisor David Csepregi knows the importance of in his work with other European progressive organizations.
“A really powerful way to organize now is to give ordinary people the chance and the tools to be the trusted messengers of the issue in their own communities - their friends, their family, their neighborhood," noted David. “SoSha proved to be a great tool for filling in the space there.”
One of ECDA's partner organizations Arcigay, Italy's first and largest worldwide gay non-profit organisation, utilized SoSha toolkits to boost support and awareness for LGBTQ+ causes in the 2024 EU Election.
While it’s simple to build a toolkit with a few posts, the outcome is exponential.
For instance, the ECDA team found that for every hundred shares by those who had already signed a petition, around 32 new signatures were generated. In high performing campaigns, this number increased to as much as one new signature for every two shares.
The power of trusted messengers is clear as 58-75% of the signatures from SoSha-powered posts came from people who were not previously on an ECDA email list.
SoSha empowers individuals to become "mini-influencers", advocating for your cause within their circles and bringing in new supporters. These individuals act as trusted messengers who are more likely to resonate with individuals than the traditional methods of online advertising.
While working with ECDA this year, we saw that for every 100 clicks/visits generated by SoSha on a petition page resulted in 51 conversions on average, or a 51% conversion rate.
That is orders of magnitude higher than conversions resulting from paid advertising. For instance, sponsored visits on Change.org only result in a mere 3.5% conversion rate. Our approach proves significantly more impactful in driving not only engagement but tangible results.
List Growth Acquisition
The ECDA team found that SoSha was the “most effective organic tool” for generating new emails, when used alongside ads. It is especially challenging for organizations in Europe to build new email lists due to General Data Protection Regulations. ECDA's partner organizations used SoSha as a solution to follow these regulations while generating new email subscribers.
In ECDA’s case, they used our platform to embed ready-made posts in emails or in follow-up pages after signing a petition.
“Unlike organizational posts that often have limited reach, posts shared via SoSha appeared on many friends' pages, greatly expanding visibility,” explained Dominik. “Posts coming from individuals rather than the organization itself added credibility to the cause and since the text was crafted by the organization, it included well-argued points, essential details, and action links, ensuring that the shared information was comprehensive and impactful.”
SoSha’s toolkits effectively generate new email subscribers by encouraging your organization’s followers to reach out to their like-minded peers, as opposed to solely relying on curating the organization’s own social media profile.
Increased Donations
While impressions and clicks are helpful for social media metrics, the real impact lies in conversions.
For example, the ECDA team ran a campaign with Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras, Spain's largest trade union, and embedded SoSha posts on their donation page for one important local campaign. Out of the 327 shares generated from 549 donors, they received 17 direct donations, which was 10% of the total amount of donations raised.
Remarkably, in this campaign we saw one direct conversion for every 10 organic visits to a donation page, driven by SoSha's organic social shares. Overall, SoSha has the power to not only generate shares but for those shares to help you reach your fundraising goals.
Final Thoughts
“Progressives need to fight on two frontiers now: protecting rights we already have and fought for, and also standing up against new injustices’” emphasized David. “This can only be achieved if we have a deep understanding on how people think of social change and how they see themselves as agents in it.”
Looking ahead to November, these findings from our partners across the pond can easily be applied to progressive digital campaign strategies in the United States.
SoSha effectively reinvigorates your audience, providing more opportunities to share about a cause or candidate. Moreover, organic sharing through SoSha not only reaches followers but also taps into new circles, generating tangible results like new subscribers and donations.
Written by Areti Livanos, Email Communications Lead
Want to learn more about SoSha or understand how SoSha’s features would work in your current digital strategy? Curious if SoSha is right for your organization?
Visit our Request a Demo page to schedule a free 15-30 minute consultation with our team to learn more!
To learn more about the European Center for Digital Action, visit their website.