By: Macy Kovarik
Even after the steady support of current blood donors, the growing demand of blood donations left Red Cross searching for new donors. Young adults age ranging between 16-24 were identified as being instrumental to recruiting the next generation of blood donors. Knowing this group is active on social media, avid smartphone users, and interested in belonging to interest groups, Red Cross began to develop a plan.
In addition to their yearly awareness campaigns, it was decided that a longer-term solution was needed:
- An always-on platform to reach out to the youth and existing blood donors
- A way to empower youth and donors to help spread the word when specific blood types are needed
- A cost-effective way to recruit new donors apart from periodical campaign spending
- A way to keep youths engaged and encourage participation through mobile
Keeping these goals in mind, along with the added knowledge of the interests of the target group. It was decided that the solution was a mobile app.
Through in-app push messaging and ability to interact with popular social media platforms such as Facebook the new Connection app allowed for its users to connect with their friends and ask for prayers and blood donors for a loved one in need. It turns out that the community responds very positively when the request is from a friend rather than a traditional advertisement.
After it’s launch in 2013 in Singapore, with a total population of just under 5 million people, the results are as follows:
- 41,500 followers
- 20,042 new donors found
- 18 alerts in first 3 months
- 121 360 blood donations
Find more information about the app here: http://connect.redcross.sg/
oepediadotcom 