Shaheen Samavati recently spoke with Valeriia Voshchevska, a London-based social media strategist who’s originally from Ukraine. Valeriia is the global social media manager at Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights NGO. In this conversation, she highlights the importance of social media in the nonprofit sector, dives into the details of cultivating a global network, discusses how the current crisis has affected her work, and provides inspiration for anyone who wants to use social media to make a meaningful impact.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on our YouTube channel, listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and read our recap below.

Key takeaways

• Amnesty International aims to create an engaged global network of supporters. When it comes to social media, this means listening to audiences, creating relevant content that they care about, and sharing information among branches worldwide.

• Amnesty has launched new campaigns to connect, educate and support people during the coronavirus crisis, which is making activism more digital than ever. 

• The platform depends on the project; for some campaigns, Facebook is more effective, while for others Twitter or LinkedIn may drive more engagement and action.

• Social media management is much more than just posting things online. It’s about developing and interacting with audiences, creating a strategy, commissioning content and expanding an organization’s global reach.

• Social media can be a valuable tool for social justice, allowing people to create communities of like-minded individuals to exchange ideas and plans—and this is especially relevant now, when the most vulnerable populations are so exposed.

• Important questions to ask ourselves right now: What is the new normal going to look like? Do we want to go back to letting the most vulnerable people continue suffering? Are we going to let climate change do its thing? Are we going to go back to a world that doesn’t respect people’s rights? Or are we going to actually learn our rights, and create a more value-based world going forward?

It’s important for organizations like Amnesty to be able to take a stance on some issues, to speak out and say what’s right and wrong, because some things really are non-negotiable.

Rapid-fire recs

What’s an app or tool that you can’t work without?

Telegram. It’s the only messaging app I know of that lets me transfer files of an unlimited size from my computer to my phone. I think this is something that a lot of social media managers struggle with on a daily basis: sending content to their phones to post on Instagram or other mobile apps.

A marketing influencer in Europe who you follow?

Matt Navarra. I think everyone who does social media follows him!

Also check out: 8 inspiring content and marketing influencers to follow

A valuable resource, event or group?

My friend and I set up a Slack group for people who work in social media at nonprofits. It has loads of social media managers from different organizations, from Greenpeace to UNHCR to Oxfam, and it’s been the best tool for me so far.

Editor’s note: If you’d like to join this group, get in touch with Valeriia on Twitter.

Also check out: 7 online networking groups for content marketers on Facebook & LinkedIn

Connect with Valeriia and Shaheen on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Melissa Haun, a freelance content creator based in Lisbon.

For more insights into impactful social media marketing campaigns:

Creating content to spread awareness – Dimple Vijaykumar, UNHCR global social media manager

Encourage engagement through social media – Harriet Drudge, social lead at The Athletic UK

Provide value on social media – Bianca Spada, social media manager at Red Bull

To see the full transcript, click on page number 2 below.