Many of us know the National Geographic Society. Nat Geo is known for its magazine and social media. They are full of amazing wildlife, scientific and anthropologic photos and media. They are one of the biggest non-profits out there in the realm of science and exploration. They want to change the world or really they want to help YOU change the world. As a non-profit a lot of their work and presence revolves around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programs and missions. They have a lot going on. Their social is so informative of news finds and scientific advances. The website is a great source of information too. The only problem is that they aren’t always so great at making sure that information is easily accessible or navigable online. Below, I will discuss three ways Nat Geo is losing at their CSR game online and on social media from most prominent issues to least.
1. Ever Heard of Information Overload?
The NAT GEO website is the prime place for someone to find out what CSR they are doing right now. The thing is that the NAT GEO website has too many tabs to navigate. The front page has tabs like impact or education that lead you to CSR content like their initiatives and projects worldwide but there are too many separate tabs and subtabs to find this information quickly. The bottom section has a ton of separate and overlapping tabs as well that lead to sections they don’t readily denote. Such as the press, tv screeners, and blog being under Careers rather than News and Impact or a separate Press tab. Or how Youth Initiatives such as Photo camps are not under education and vice versa.
2. Or Local Engagement?
NAT GEO explains under their education tab how they make educational Resources available for free. They provide free diversity and social justice courses, free conservation classes, free resources to classrooms, and free professional development courses but Nat Geo do not share any tangible evidence of those experiences. They don’t appear grounded locally to viewers without some specificity on who those resources have helped and how. Even something like statistics on the reach and usage of these resources would help give a real indicator of what these resources can do and therefore encourage more use and support for them
3. Or What about the little guy?
NAT GEO lacks a clear small scale, local CSR presence on social media as well. There are little to no posts which highlight local examples of the CSR programs they have on their website. In order for their CSR programs to have a greater reach and impact on their audience engagement and perception of the brand, Nat Geo should implement more local programs in addition to their global and regional programs.
As a non-profit focused on social and scientific change, National Geographic is essentially founded around CSR. That being said most of their programs and initiative have to do with proving for communities and regions worldwide. Their focus is sometimes too broad. It might benefit them and engagement to make sure local initiative and programs get a spotlight as well as the global CSR. Brian Honigman, a content marketing consultant, in his Huffington Post article says that a good corporate social responsibility program should be relevant to your customers. Do you guys agree that these suggestions would their audience and bolster their CSR content?
