The brief
International Migrants Day is observed on 18 December. For an organization like IOM, the UN Migration Agency, it is one of the most important dates in the year to tell the stories of migrants and to explain the work being done with and for them.
IOM asked PI to manage the social media side of the campaign. The goal was simple to state and hard to do: reach as many people as possible across Iraq with content that respected the subject and held attention in a crowded feed.
The results of that work are two numbers. 8.8 million people reached. 406,870 interactions. Everything below describes how we approach a campaign of this kind so those numbers make sense.
How we run a social media campaign for an international day
A one-day moment needs weeks of preparation. Our social media management process has five stages.
- Strategy. We agree the goals, the audiences and the channels with the client, and we set the content pillars the campaign will be built on.
- Content. Our team writes, designs and produces the posts, stories and short videos for each platform, and the client approves everything before it is scheduled.
- Scheduling. Content goes into a calendar that builds towards the day itself, with the key pieces timed for when the audience is most active.
- Community management. Comments, messages and mentions are answered in the organization's voice, and anything sensitive is escalated to the client.
- Reporting. We report on reach, engagement and growth during and after the campaign, in a format that works for program reviews and donor updates.
What made the difference
Reach on this scale rarely comes from one viral post. It comes from a steady build. We plan international-day content as a sequence rather than a single announcement, so the audience sees the theme several times in the run-up and again on the day.
The second factor is fit. Each platform should get content made for it rather than one asset copied everywhere. Short video and stories usually carry the emotional weight, and static posts carry the facts and calls to action.
The third factor is the community work. Interactions are not a byproduct. When comments are answered quickly and in the right tone, the platform shows the content to more people, and the audience feels that someone is listening.
The results
The campaign reached 8.8 million people across Iraq. That is the number of individual accounts that saw campaign content at least once.
It earned 406,870 interactions. That covers reactions, comments, shares and clicks, which is the figure we care about most because it shows people did something rather than scrolled past.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| People reached | 8.8 million |
| Interactions | 406,870 |
| Service | Social media management |
What partners say
This is a separate engagement, not the IOM campaign, but it describes the way we work with international organizations. Wisam AlTaha, IRIL Digital Engagement Officer at Oxfam International, wrote: "This assignment has been excellent in both results and communication. We really appreciate all your support and great work!"
What other organizations can take from this
You do not need an IOM-sized audience to use the same approach. The habits that produced these results work for a program page with a few thousand followers.
- Start early. Treat the international day as the end of a campaign, not the beginning. Three to four weeks of build-up is a sensible minimum.
- Pick one message. A single clear theme, repeated in different formats, travels further than five messages shared once each.
- Make content for each platform. Vertical video for stories and reels, concise text and strong images for feeds, and a longer piece for LinkedIn if your audience is there.
- Plan the community work. Decide in advance who answers comments, how fast, and what gets escalated. Interactions grow when people get a reply.
- Report on what matters. Reach and interactions are useful, but tie them back to the program goal, whether that is awareness, sign-ups or donations.
- Keep a record. Save what worked, including the posts, times and formats, so next year's campaign starts from evidence rather than memory.