Well, the word "corporate" might be misleading in CSR. The actual definition of CSR covers several aspects tackling the business' conscience and lead up to a company's self-regulation in a manner that gives back to society. It only seems legit to everyone in the society, enterprises and individuals, to give back to society in a way or another. However, what about those companies that are in the gray zone, startups and small businesses?
Well. Here's a gray area for all of startups and small businesses. I would say that CSR seems like a luxury that startups don't always have. When we think of startups, we picture sleepless founders in comfortable sneakers all the time; one who wears a nice shirt to pitch the business to investors and another who is constantly developing the actual product. I guess that's the case with all startups. While an entity is ceasing to survive, it is not expected to forsake cash-flow towards anything other than developing their business and increasing their ROI. Wait a second, says who CSR is only about money?
At Crowd Analyzer, we like to involve our team in everything. After all, when a company's team doesn't occupy a three-story building, you only expect them to act like a big family. We know already know that one of the main perks of working in a startup is to get access to all job functions and acquire hands-on experience in different disciplines. That level of involvement will always keep the company's door open to new suggestions and new methods through which it can create the change it aspires to do.
Instead of just paying some money for charity, we decided to open a door for those who want to personally participate. It's quite simple; our marketing department started a campaign that encourages employees as well as other companies to participate in changing people's lives.
People feel hesitant to donate a $100, people are totally fine with donating $5 everyday. We stressed on that when we created our campaign. When our team members head to the supermarket to get some snacks, they come with lots of change that will barely affect their allowance. Hence, the title "change for change" came up, as our main aim is to collect a considerable amount of money for Baheya hospital in Egypt.
Given that our scope of work relies heavily on monitoring trending topics and measuring their impact, we grew natural sensors for trends and events. Every season is our season, whether it is a religious event, national holiday, anniversary, or just another awareness month. We aim to be involved in all means with a trend, and the best way to be involved is to make a change in any form. So, we do jump on trends and we do seize seasons when there is a purpose behind this.
Thankfully, we have been positioned as the leading Arabic social media listening tool, mainly by our client-base. This positioning does come with a price. First your startup is being watched all the time. Second, you're also setting an example. Our strategy as a company is very aware of this positioning and acts accordingly to encourage startups and small businesses to contribute to their societies in various ways.