Aimen Barma
You Caring
Social Media At The Heart Of YouCaring Global CMO’s Strategy
Most people probably think of crowdfunding as a great way to generate money for a startup. YouCaring, on the other hand, sees another possibility: crowdfunding as a way to help people in need. Whether it be for medical bills, funeral expenses, or college tuition, the “compassionate crowdfunding platform” is there to help people meet expenses.
Aimen Barma, global CMO and head of product for YouCaring, relies on this same sharing impulse in her marketing techniques. “A large part of our incoming traffic comes from social media, and it’s really a result of people, both beneficiaries and their friends and their network,” she said.
Sharing helps the actual fundraising as well. According to Barma, “We’ve been able to calculate that every share that occurs on a campaign brings an average of $37 to that campaign for the beneficiaries.”
Obviously, the personal stories told on the YouCaring platform focus on the people in need. But they also build the YouCaring brand by helping to generate earned media. “Most of the PR we find comes in naturally,” Barma said, “because local community news outlets come to us with an interesting story, looking for more information.”
Highlights from this week’s Marketing Superstars podcast include:
How YouCaring came about (3:30)
Partnership marketing (9:20)
The power of social media (10:15)
Balance between stories and brand (13:45)
Using stories to build the brand (16:35)