Project Execution

“We realised that social media is one of the most effective methods to propagate our agenda towards sustainable living practices,” says Laxminarayana when explaining how the need for this project arose, “We wanted our motto to reach as many people in the committee as possible.” Thus, they decided to invite applications for volunteers who could help them create a robust social media strategy for their organisation and to execute it by promoting the products made by the tribal communities they support. 

Mohana Vaishnavi really appreciated the clarity with which the NGO started the project, praising how “the agenda was set very clearly in the initial stages, we were all on the same page from the beginning.” They initially planned that they would be dividing the work based on skills, with one volunteer working on the content and one strategizing and designing. “We identified which skills we are good at and we divided the work according to that. I was good at content creation and Mohana was good at strategizing, so we were able to divide the work equally and support each other,” Vedhashri explains. As the project progressed, they realised that it would not work well if they both work on completely separate aspects. Hence, instead they divided the products and themes amongst themselves, and started working on the marketing of each product from start to finish. 

The initial weeks of the project were spent on understanding its scope and objectives. The goal was to market the products that the NGO was getting from the beneficiary tribal communities after training them on various activities. Along with the NGO, they shortlisted the products that they would be highlighting across social media and started to create content around them. The third month of the project was focused on traffic generation, for which the volunteers put in a commendable effort according to Laxminarayana. The end result was a very successful increase in the online reach of the organisation, ensuring their products were made available to larger audiences, and the work the NGO was doing was showcased effectively. 

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Challenges faced

“Four months for developing large amounts of online traffic for the NGO was a challenge,” says Mohana. “The deliverables were a little difficult to deliver in the timeline we had, but we did our very best to ensure that we met them.” Laxminarayana echoed her sentiment, stating that it would be even more beneficial for an NGO if they are able to engage the volunteers for a longer period of time. 

What motivated Mohana to stay dedicated despite the difficult timelines was the project progress itself. Personally seeing the traffic that was being generated on the pages, and the organic inquiries that started coming in after the volunteers took over really encouraged her. “On top of that, the weekly mailers were the best thing to keep me motivated. The continuous support we received from Chezuba and TataEngage really made it possible for us to complete the project successfully,” she says. 

Before the start of the project the NGO thought that the volunteers lacking subject knowledge would be a challenge. Since the work they do and products they showcase are from a niche category, they were worried about the volunteers being able to properly create content and promote them due to their limited exposure. This, however, did not prove to be a problem for the volunteers who according to the NGO “overcame it because of their passion and dedication towards the project.”