The Conscious Planet social media team knew from the get-go that they have a huge responsibility on their hands – helping to spread the Save Soil message to 3.5 billion people! But they also knew that if there is any way to reach so many people around the globe, it is social media.
At the end of October 2021, there were whispers in the social media team that something was brewing in the soil. Fast forward a month to 25 November, and it was made official: there was going to be a video launch for the Save Soil movement within the next couple of days. For the last two years, Sadhguru and a small team of volunteers had quietly been working on putting together this global movement on various levels. Since then, the Save Soil movement has been growing into a bigger phenomenon by the day.
The campaign kicked off with a video of Sadhguru, launched on World Soil Day 2021. “Initially, this video was all we had because everything was so new to us,” says Rasika, the volunteer responsible for the Conscious Planet social media outreach. “I think it helped give us a lot of the momentum we needed to get going because Sadhguru has spoken so powerfully in it. He speaks plainly, and in a way that’s accessible to everyone, but at the same time it is hard-hitting.”
As unexpected as the launch of this movement may have been, Rasika and her team got organized very quickly. “That first month was a learning experience for everybody, but we soon developed a process. Social media is the quickest and easiest way to reach people after all. And we want to reach 3.5 billion people!”
Conscious Planet now has a digital presence in 43 languages. The dedicated team tirelessly churns out content for these pages, spanning from creative ideas and engagement posts to hard-hitting facts about the condition of our soil.
When asked about strategy and ideation behind the content, Rasika explains, “We created a mood board and planned a few miniseries, both to engage our audience and inspire user-generated content.”
One of the most successful of these miniseries has been #WhatsNotSoil. The idea was to make people conscious of the fact that everything around them comes from soil, from books and musical instruments to their favorite clothes and works of art.
While some ideas worked well, others did not quite go as planned. “It’s also about the timing,” says Rasika, talking about the “Soil Body Art” or “Soil Hands” posts. “People were so enthusiastic about generating content that somehow, with this series, there was more user-generated content before the official engagement post went out than after.”
Nevertheless, within the last 3 months since the social media campaign launched, the followers and individual post engagements have increased exponentially. “In the social media world, even 1% engagement rate is great. But since February, perhaps after the first Earth Buddy meeting with Sadhguru, we’ve consistently had more than 10% engagement on our posts – that is skyrocketing!” marvels Rasika.
One of the main challenges the team faces is to maintain a balance between fun, creative posts that help create an emotional connect with soil, while ensuring that the gravity of the situation is also conveyed.
“In terms of creative content, we’ve come a long way since we started. Sadhguru is literally staking his life on this,” Rasika says, talking about Sadhguru’s 30,000 km motorcycle journey. “So we also feel that it’s our responsibility to position the social media content in a more mature way. That’s not saying ‘no’ to creative and fun content. But we also need to start moving the narrative more towards the problem itself and speak more about it. And I think people are ready to listen.”
During Sadhguru’s journey through Europe, the team has planned content along that vein, getting more country-specific and deeper into the problem, whilst also drawing global attention to regional issues. The content has already started leaning in that direction.
3.5 billion people cannot be reached through hard facts alone – this is something that the team has been conscious of from the beginning.
“Music and dance are so universal; people instantly connect.” Rasika says referring to the “Soil Song,” which was officially launched on Mahashivratri.
The night brought in a new wave of followers on all social media platforms, and a “Dance Reel” challenge has been issued to keep the engagement going.
Pavan Kumar, the volunteer responsible for reaching out to social media influencers, explains, “On social media, dance and music reaches the farthest. It’s a good entry point, and once somebody listens to why something is going viral, they naturally come to the source of it. That’s what we intend to do with it.”
Volunteers around the globe have been singing the Soil Song in flights, trains, airports, and other public places, bringing attention to the movement. It is also helping in reaching out to social media influencers, with many of them already having taken the Save Soil Dance challenge.
“We want to reach out to the five thousand odd influencers that are connected to Sadhguru in some way. The dance reel is definitely one of the ways to get them on board in the Save Soil movement,” says Pavan.
Many influencers, inspired by the Save Soil message and recognizing the urgency of the situation, have been joining the movement organically. But this is not unexpected in Pavan’s experience. “When Sadhguru goes on the road, it’s going to get a hundred times bigger. This is what we saw with Rally for Rivers,” he reminisces. “All of India came together then; and this time, I have no doubt that the whole world will come together to save soil.”
Pavan Kumar, Rasika, and the whole team are deeply conscious of the responsibility bestowed upon them. As Pavan rightly puts it, “This is what Sadhguru’s inclusiveness is all about – thinking about everybody, including those who are yet to be born. It’s such a privilege and a huge responsibility.”
This volunteering effort has also helped the whole team come together as one to make this happen – which is really what the Save Soil movement is all about.
As Pavan says, “The movement has just begun to spark at this point. Soon, it is going to set the world on fire!”
savesoil.org/join
