This week was 2010’s Social Media Week. This is a time we marketers take to reflect on the developments of this exciting field and its impact on businesses’ overall marketing strategy. At Kiwano, we’re taking this time to contemplate some of the best social media initiatives that promote environmental and social values… and how we can take this one step further.

It’s well known that marketers can no longer ignore social media as part of their marketing programs. Just in Canada, 9 in 10 organizations use social media, with thirty-one per cent saying social media plays a major role in public communications around their brand.

But how do you use this widespread medium to promote environmental responsibility? Here are 3 campaigns that we loved:

1. Billion Acts of Green:

The Billion Acts of Green campaign is a global effort focused on encouraging simple actions on behalf of the planet, with the goal of aggregating millions of environmental commitments from individuals and organizations to showcase the collective power of service to the planet.

Launched by the Earth Day Network especially for the 2010’s Earth Day, the Billion Acts of Green campaign featured social media tools that made it easier for the public to participate in this global effort, with Facebook and twitter apps encouraging users to pledge at least one “act of green” and share it with their social network.

The Billions Acts of Green campaign was tremendously successful, with media mentions across new and traditional media, and registered over 5 million pledges.

2. Charity: Water Twestival:

This campaign is an oldie, but one of our favourites. Back in 2009, when the number of tweets was under 22 million tweets a day (compared to 65 million daily tweets nowadays), the Charity for: Water Twestival campaign was an eye-opener to the potential of social media for cause marketing and fundraising.

On 12 February 2009, over 200 international cities hosted a Twestival to bring Twitter communities together to raise money for Charity: Water. With over 1,300,000 followers on twitter, the Twestival raised an astonishing $250,000 and brought worldwide public awareness to the global water crisis.

Charity: Water is now running its September campaign, with a rough $500,000 raised so far. Help raise funds for clean water in Africa through twitter.

3. Go Green Twitter Sweepstakes:

The Go Green Twitter Sweepstakes was another campaign especially created for 2010’s Earth Day. Spun by Create the Good and the AARP, the campaign consisted of users tweeting at @createthegood with methods for environmental action by using the #gogreen hash tag. The prize? A zero-emission trip to Washington, DC for the official 2010 Earth Day celebration. Over 150,000 people participated in this campaign and its twitter account is still running at 6,000+ followers.

What other cool social media campaigns do you know of? Share your thoughts below