How can we connect Israel and the next generation in the digital era?

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by Samuel Pordengerg Jun 6, 2023 News
How can we connect Israel and the next generation in the digital era?

Social media is filled with opinions about Israel. The authors of Ethical Tribing: connecting the Next Generation to Israel in the Digital Era map out a new advocacy route that can help change Israel's image in the world.

The founder of Vibe Israel, an organization that brings social mediainfluencers to Israel to experience and share the story of Israel with their online followers, advocates using social media influence to build support and drown out the anti-Israel hate, is part of the ethical tribing strategy.

The strategy is not concerned with politics or policy. It tries to highlight all the positives of Israel, the majority of which are not related to the conflict. The core of the ethical tribing strategy is in the field of marketing.

The kind of Israel advocacy that deals with directly addressing anti-Israel misinformation should and must remain strong. The issue of traditional advocacy is not a nice one. There is a serious threat to Israel and we are not telling traditional advocates to stop doing what they do.

The entire proportion of efforts that have been directed into traditional advocacy has come at the expense of other forms of advocacy. In their book, Landau and Golden show how effective marketing the Israel brand can be.

Anna Landau is the founder and CEO of the company.

The reality is that online traditional advocacy content doesn't interest the next generation. They haven't been poisoned against Israel yet. The data shows that the greatest share of Next Geners don't think much about Israel or Palestinians and haven't formed an opinion on the subject. There is a chance. To reach this giant demographic and create an Israel-friendly Next Gen, it's important to invest in marketing Israel.

The world is compared to a supermarket with every nation represented as goods on the shelves. The shoppers go up and down the aisle. Israel is also present. How do you get people to make a decision? Which products should be displayed in Israel? The products should be presented. How can you get people to notice those products?

Social media marketing can be used to address these questions using six broad synergistic working categories that find their basis across a variety of disciplines.

The key to successful marketing Israel is each tactic. The first tactic discussed in the book is called "RADICAL EMOTION".

If you don't do radical empathy, you'll miss the mark. The man says so. The older generation wants the younger generation to see the world through their eyes, use the same channels and act in the same way. This is a loss. It is not enough to post online. Content that interests the Next Geners is what it needs to be. Social media will not pick it up and it won't be seen.

There are many ways to use the algorithm. Partnering withinfluencers, paying for a platform to show sponsored content, posting content that appeals to peoples' interests, or simply producing Israel content that engages in trends that already have gained are some of the ways that Israel content can be produced.

This type of advocacy doesn't involve itself in the heavier, conflict-related conversations, but it still works. Positive engagement is generated by it. It shows the world that Israel is a good place to live in, it is not frightening and it is not portrayed as such in the media. Israel is a world leader and offers a lot of things that interest the viewer. The Israeli people are open and personable.

Israel has a well-oiled crisis management department with a lot of money. The marketing department has a small budget. That is no longer feasible. If people don't know about it, you won't be able to sell it. There is more that can be done in the marketing department budget.

As Israel marketing efforts increase, there is more data to support this.

Many people have come to Israel to experience and share the country with their online followers and have conducted online campaigns to draw attention to Israel. The impact of these efforts on social media can be assessed with the help of social listening software. It is possible for them to see how many people view and react to content, how effective it is at opening their eyes to Israel, and how they feel about the content.

An example of a targeted ad campaign conducted by Ethical Tribing yielded a potential reach of hundreds of millions of online views and a high proportion of user engagement.

Positive shifts in Israel's perception can be attributed to engagement. A case study in Ethical Tribing points to a study that was commissioned by Israel and involved 900 people from across three US cities who were asked about their perception of Israel.

Dramatic results were achieved thanks to the $30,000 campaign. 32% of people had a favorable perception of Israel at the beginning, but by the end it had risen to 42%. The 18% of people who had a very favorable perception of Israel jumped to 40%. The percentage of people who had an unfavorable perception of Israel went from 6 to 3% and the percentage who had a very unfavorable perception went from 2.5% to 1%.

Social media can be used to bolster Israel's image, but it is still fraught with challenges. The anti-Israel crowd is trying to create a negative narrative about Israel and has been posting videos and slogans against it.

While failing to destroy Israel physically or economically, the movement of BDS has had victories in public relations. As all of this is happening online, the issue of Jewish youth feeling less connected to Israel has been made worse.

A lot of the older Jewish community are hurt by the Next Generation. After having invested so much in programs, such as Taglit-Birthright Israel, Jewish education and Jewish camp and giving the Next Geners all these amazing opportunities, they wake up one morning and it's like "#NotMyJudaism"

The gap between generations is significant and the majority of Americans view Israel favorably. The survey showed that more young people had a negative view of Israel than a positive one. Significant action is needed to reverse the growing trend of anti-Israel youth after a study showed a positive relationship between education and favor towards Israel.

Being connected to Israel is not a priority for Jewish youth. The proportion of American Jews who view Israel as an important part of being Jewish is almost certain to fall because of the lack of action.

It is difficult to be openly Jewish in professional, social and academic settings. It can be hard to be Jewish online. It isn't uncommon for a Jewish person's comment to be spammed with replies of "free Palestine," the Palestinian flag, or something about Israel being anapartheid state The subject matter of the original post and the nature of the comment seem to have no bearing on this. Similar comments are almost always made if the post is related to Judaism.

This trend has only grown worse as we have seen from responses to social media efforts. A great majority of the Next Geners are open to seeing the real Israel and there are a lot of marketing opportunities.

Jewish youth will find it easier to take pride in their heritage as their peers become more connected with Israel.

It is of paramount importance that Israel and the Jewish community act fast. Everyone can contribute to this effort if they choose to. The ethical tribing strategy has been endorsed by some notable figures.