Green marketing utilises social media

17th June 2008

Social media marketing is playing a part in the convergence of green concerns with the internet, it has been claimed.

Movements such as Al Gore's The We Campaign are utilising online advertising strategies such as viral marketing, video ads and social networking advertising, eMarketer notes.

A substantial portion of The We Campaign's $300 million (£150 million) budget is being directed towards internet-based tactics such as social media strategies, the report observes.

Paul Verna, senior analyst with the organisation and author of a new report entitled Green Online: Growing Awareness, says that such strategies indicate the growing importance of the web to ecological awareness.

"[The] internet provides a powerful forum for corporations, marketers, policymakers and average citizens to engage in active conversations about how to approach the issues," he says.

With the aim of halting global warming through consumer education, The We Campaign is a project of the nonprofit, non-partisan Alliance for Climate Protection, founded by the former vice-president Mr Gore.