Social media marketing is all about creating connections, about building relationships between businesses and the people they serve. Behind each one of these businesses, of course, are also people – so on a very basic level, social media marketing focuses on bringing people together.
The growth of any online community depends on the strength of the interactions between everyone involved – the people behind the business, and the people for whom their product or service fills a need. The more an online audience works as a true community, in which people help each other, the more successful it will be.
The same is true in the real world. The more connected we are with our fellow man, with our community, the better off we’ll all be.
The amazing thing is that technology now allows us to connect with people in even the most remote locations so that when people are in need, it doesn’t matter where they are – we can help.
Of course, there is the not-so-slight problem of logistics. A person or an organization can have all the good intentions in the world, but without the practical means of getting people and supplies to those remote areas – especially when those areas have been affected by some sort of disaster – sending real help can be nearly impossible.
Enter Aidmatrix.
Aidmatrix is a global organization based in the Dallas area that provides supply chain management technologies for humanitarian relief efforts. From managing donations to handling transportation, warehousing, distribution, and more, they offer solutions to meet any nonprofit’s needs, no matter where they need to go.
We here at Zen Media are proud to be able to say that one of our own employees, Paula Gean, sits on Aidmatrix’ Communications Committee, helping to promote the annual Aidmatrix Digital Ball fundraiser via social media – and helping to make ever more connections within the community.
The power of technology to make connections and build communities of people helping people is incredible. Melis Jones, Vice-President of Aidmatrix, had the following to say about the way technology helps in disaster relief efforts:
“Take, for example, Superstorm Sandy. When SuperStorm Sandy hit the East coast of the United States just one year ago, it impacted millions of people across multiple States. Coordinating relief into this large geographic area for such a large percentage of the population was a challenge.
However, Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network, already had food banks in the disaster zone. Feeding America uses Aidmatrix’ supply chain technology to manage their flow of food across the country every day, this amounts to about $780 million in food every year. When the storm hit, the two food banks in New York and New Jersey experienced a huge spike in the number of people they needed to serve. Using the same systems they use every day, they were able to scale the ordering and distribution of more food for their agencies.
They saw a 4x increase in the amount of food processed during the first month after the storm. That added up to an increase from their normal 2.6 million pounds of food to 9.8 million pounds of food in response to Superstorm Sandy relief – a monumental testimony to the work these food banks do. Feeding America and the food banks of New York and New Jersey were able to surge their transaction load seamlessly to increase operations and serve those in need and Aidmatrix’ supply chain technology helped enable them to meet their mission.”
Without the technology provided by Aidmatrix, this would have been an insurmountable task.
Right now, Aidmatrix is deeply involved in Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts in the Philippines.
And we’d like to ask our own online community – the people we’ve connected with via social media, blogging, and email – to help out, as well. Let’s use technology to help our fellow man in ways never before possible. Let’s make connections with people in need halfway around the world. Let’s build even more communities that start online and end up in the real world, doing real good for real people. And please, let’s start today, by digging deep and giving what you can to help those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
(Image: Lakeview Images/Shutterstock.com)
