Warka Water Inc.
Introduction
Warka Water Inc. is a non-profit organization that believes “every drop count”. This US-based company focuses on blending local knowledge and resources, visionary design and ancient traditions to provide water out of the ‘enormous lakes in the air’ (Smedley, 2018). The organization’s flagship product line is the Warka Tower, an atmospheric vapour collector. The vapour collector consists of a lightweight frame and mesh netting that captures moisture and directs it into a water holding tank (Stinson, 2015). The intrinsic characteristics of the Warka Tower lends itself to social media use in fundraising events. It is a readily identifiable design with an appealing aesthetic, allowing a good opportunity for discussion around the organization.
While they may be innovative in their ability to capture the condensation in the air through their towers, their social media presence lacks innovation and design. Our research intends to assess their social media strategy and methods.
Literature Review
Having an effective and impactful social media presence can be done by starting or owning conversations via exciting content. This can be done through major marketing campaigns. However, it is also possible through consistent posting and leveraging trends (Pearson, 2018). The frequency of posts should differ amongst each platform, with the highest rate being on Twitter and the lowest on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn (Ellering, 2019)
Methodology
Various methods were used to conduct the research. To determine the organizations’ official social media platforms the official website was used as a guide. Community content was determined through searches on these platforms. Other platforms were searched to determine if ‘spoof’ accounts existed or if the organization had a presence that was not state on their website. Traditional media coverage of the organization was determined via news searches. A search on ‘socialmention.com’ was used to determine the organization's social media reach and engagement. Out of 8 of their social media platforms, only four have an effective traffic rate: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Their Facebook is not included in the graph as they have 20,221 followers and it would skew the visual representation.
Results In general, Warka Water has been mentioned by a broad number of news and media outlets, including Smithsonian Magazine, NPR and la Repubblica, allowing them to engage with both English and non-English audiences. However, they lack a clearly defined target audience and a unified message across their platforms. Each social media has a different bio and profile picture which makes it difficult to identify the brand. They are inconsistent across their platforms in terms of posting schedules, responding to comments (as seen in the image), and do not take the opportunity to push notifications on any of their social media platforms when featured in news media. They also restrict their social media footprint to the Global North, ignoring presence on other platforms such as WeChat, which is popular in the Global South.
Target Audience and Messaging Strategy A significant issue with Warka Water Inc’s current social media posture is the lack of a clearly defined target audience. The organization’s posture and goals on different online media platforms do not complement one another. The narratives and imagery used on the organization’s website emphasise project impact and aligns with the tones used among not-for-profit and development organizations. While the narratives on the organization’s Facebook and Instagram accounts emphasise the design aspects of the organization and uses imagery more aligned with voluntourism organizations.
The Warka Water Inc website emphasises that Warka Towers not only serve a utilitarian role but also functions as a “social space where the community can gather” (WarkaWater, 2018). The product’s community social function differentiates it from other vapour collectors. The community building narrative is reflected in the organization’s prepared media packages; however, this narrative is not reflected in the organization’s social media narratives.
Breadth of Messaging Types In addition to not having complementary postures across social media platforms, the organization’s strategy within a single platform does not fully engage the audience. In a 2012 study, Lovejoy and Saxton identified three key communicative functions in the tweets of the 100 largest non-profit organizations in the United States: information, community, and action. “Information” Tweets focused on providing information on activities and news coverage; “community” tweets were direct interactions with stakeholders; and, “action” tweets encouraged stakeholders to participate through donations or engaging in advocacy (Guo & Saxton, 2014). These three communicative functions form a complementary engagement strategy. The organization’s Twitter account has not been active since 2016; however, analysis of the organization’s Facebook posts indicates a consistent and strong bias towards “information” posts.
Official Website The organization’s website (www.warkawater.org) is not optimized for mobile use as it uses pre-prepared media packages, which are resource intensive and use large files. This limits their ability to share information on social media. They also do not backlink to news articles and other media organizations that feature these articles. This is a missed opportunity. They have not updated their events calendar. It is also difficult to locate links to their other social media platforms on their website.
Twitter Their Twitter has been mentioned by a handful of verified accounts including @Uberfacts, @SmithsonianMag and @DesignMuseum (see image below). In their 22 tweets, Warka Water has effectively used hashtags and mentions to increase their reach and create more conversation. However, they are an unverified account and have not posted since January 2016. They have 319 followers.
Facebook Warka Water’s Facebook presence is fairly consistent. However, their engagement numbers are incredibly low in comparison to the number of posts and followers that they have. As mentioned, they have over 20,000 Facebook followers.
Instagram Their Instagram is aesthetically pleasing and keeps with a consistent brand. However, they currently have two Instagram accounts and it is difficult to determine which one is their official account. The account linked from their website, @Warkawater, has not been active since May 2017. It has 930 followers. @Warkawaterinc, only has 395 followers and posts frequently and within the past week. This account’s post schedule is inconsistent. For example, they will not post for two weeks and then will post 8 times in one day.
Discussion/Recommendations
Social Platform Alignment Warka Water needs to define their brand and make it consistent across all platforms. This includes bios and descriptions, profile images, and the messages they chose to promote. As they are a global brand, they should expand their social reach to other social media platforms, such as WeChat. It is recommended that Warka Water follows a consistent posting schedule (see graph below) on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. This also encompasses their issue regarding replying to other’s comments or questions, which should be done within one hour of the post (Fylan, 2019). Other than their YouTube and Flickr pages, which are excellent tools for posting videos and images to their website, Warka Water should delete their other platform accounts. Their links should also be removed from their website. Their website should be modernized to be accessible on all devices. This can be done by using smaller sized files that are not pre-packaged. The media on their website should be playable on their website and should link directly to their Instagram and YouTube accounts. Finally, all of their social platforms should use the same hashtags to create a hashtag umbrella. #WarkaWater would be a good option.
Leveraging Design Characteristics The design characteristics of the organization’s primary product line are not being fully leveraged. The unusual design characteristics of the Warka Tower lends itself to use on social and traditional media. The “instagrammable” nature of the highly stylised towers can encourage individuals to share images of the tower; while, the unique aesthetic can encourage can attract media coverage. In addition to increasing brand visibility, leveraging the design characteristics to attract media attention may have second-order effects on fundraising. A 2013 study noted that increased in media coverage of natural disasters did not translate to increased donations to development organizations; however, when individual organizations were named in newscasts there were “noticeable, same-day spikes” in donations. (Walters, 2013).
Conclusion Warka Water has the opportunities available to them to effectively use social media to promote discussion around their initiatives and designs. However, their lack of brand consistency, online presence and their outdated use of technology limit their capabilities. With a clearly defined brand, a consistent schedule and more modern website design the company can become a conversation leader on social media.
Works Cited
Chao, G. & Saxton, G. (2014). “Tweeting Social Change: How Social Media Are Changing Nonprofit Advocacy” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
Ellering, N. (2019). How Often To Post On Social Media? [Proven Research from 14 Studies] Retrieved from https://coschedule.com/blog/how-often-to-post-on-social-media/
Pearson, M. (2018, May 12). How traditional companies are using social media in unexpected ways . Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/traditional-companies-use-social-media-in-unexpected-ways/article17564456/
Smedley, T. (2018, September 7). How to drink from the enormous lakes in the air. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180821-climate-change-may-force-us-to-conjure-water-from-thin-air
Stinson, E. (2015, January 15). “A Bamboo Tower That Produces Water From Air” Retrieved April 02, 2019, from https://www.wired.com/2015/01/architecture-and-vision-warkawater/
Warka Water Inc. (2018). “Warka Tower” Wakra Water Inc. Retrieved March 31, 2019, from (http://www.warkawater.org/warka-tower/).
Waters, R. D. (2013). “Tracing the impact of media relations and television coverage on U.S. charitable relief fundraising: An application of agenda-setting theory across three natural disasters” Journal of Public Relations Research
Fylan, J. (2019, March 12). How to Reply to Comments on Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.falcon.io/insights-hub/topics/social-media-management/how-to-reply-to-social-media-comments/
