Social Media Marketing for Environmental Initiative Treepilya

Client

Treepilya is an environmental initiative created to compensate for the destructive impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Introduction

The war in Ukraine has severe environmental consequences, impacting the local ecosystem and Europe’s ecology. Experts estimate that over two years of a full-scale invasion, russia has inflicted $32 billion in climate damage. Fires ignited by russian missile strikes have already destroyed three million hectares of forests, which are essential for Ukraine’s environmental resilience. Explosions from ordnance contaminate fruitful topsoil, which took about 10,000 years to form. Mined areas (over 180,000 m²) threaten civilians and hinder agricultural work. This, in turn, affects the whole world since Ukraine is one of the largest food exporters. The destruction of infrastructure, particularly water supply and treatment systems, leads to water pollution.

The war has released approximately 175 million metric tons of CO₂ over two years of active fighting. This exceeds the annual emissions of the five countries most vulnerable to climate change: Haiti, Syria, Burkina Faso, Yemen, and Somalia, which emitted 169 million metric tons in 2022. Explosions, fires, infrastructure destruction, fuel combustion during military operations, and industrial site devastation are primary sources of these emissions. This exacerbates global climate change and increases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The CO₂ emissions on this scale have long-term climate consequences, further intensifying the environmental crisis. Restoring ecosystems following russia’s attacks will demand enormous resources and time, with each day of conflict worsening the ecological impact.

Military actions in radiation-contaminated zones like Chornobyl could elevate radiation levels and spread hazardous waste, creating environmental risks for neighboring European countries. This raises concerns for ecosystems adjacent to Ukraine and worsens the region’s ecological outlook. The war’s impact is a significant concern for environmental security in Ukraine and beyond, heightening vulnerability to climate change and putting Europe’s already fragile ecosystem at risk. Addressing this requires immediate action to prevent further environmental catastrophes in Ukraine and Europe.

Treepilya’s mission is to plant one million trees in the Vinnytsia region to partially offset the environmental damage caused by the war in Ukraine.

The Vinnytsia region, which offers favorable conditions for forest growth and is distant from active combat zones, was chosen for tree planting. This ensures the safety of project participants and the trees themselves.

Tree planting in Vinnytsia is vital to ecosystem restoration, as only local tree species will be planted. Using native species is critical to supporting biodiversity, as these trees are adapted to the region’s specific climate and soil conditions, enabling them to thrive without additional chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Local trees also provide natural habitats for native fauna, offering food and shelter to various species.

Planting suitable trees for each region strengthens ecosystems and improves soil and water quality. Native tree roots prevent erosion, enhance soil moisture retention, and promote water filtration, reducing runoff and pollution.

Realizing the project’s mission requires widespread support from companies, volunteers, and environmental activists. In a time when Ukraine’s ecology needs urgent protection and restoration, we must unite around a shared goal.

Environmental restoration in Ukraine is an urgent task that cannot wait for the post-war period. Starting now is essential, as it takes decades for trees to mature, absorb CO₂, and produce oxygen. Reforesting and restoring natural habitats will help stabilize ecosystems, reduce pollution, and improve residents’ quality of life. Timely restoration actions will also reduce Ukraine’s vulnerability to climate change, as the war-induced environmental issues could have far-reaching effects on European regions.

Objective

Our task within this project was to develop and implement an SMM strategy to raise awareness of the ecological harm caused by russia’s invasion and to attract financial support for the reforestation initiative.

Challenge

The primary challenge in this case was the focus of Ukrainian volunteer activities on supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and victims of russian aggression. These are crucial areas that require urgent financial support. Attracting attention to environmental issues in such a context, where other concerns seem more pressing, became a serious challenge. Many people do not realize that delaying environmental action can lead to catastrophic consequences. Trees capable of absorbing CO₂ and producing oxygen take 10 to 20 years to mature, making immediate tree planting essential.
Understanding this, we prioritized outreach to international audiences and raising awareness about environmental issues among foreign audiences.

Dmytro Kudinov, CEO inseed.marketing “We launched this project with a clear awareness that the current situation is not conducive to environmental activities. Especially among the population of Ukraine. It was obvious that the entire focus of volunteer activity was directed to military and humanitarian assistance to the army and the affected civilians. But at the same time, we could not ignore the environmental component, because the damage done today will be felt for decades. Therefore, it is necessary to act now. We know that many foreign donors cannot support military directions for various reasons. Therefore, we decided to offer them exactly such a way of supporting Ukraine that they could afford.”

Strategy

With limited financial resources, we focused on SMM as our primary awareness tool.

Defining the right target audience for our communication was crucial. We identified three primary donor audiences:

1. Individual donors – people willing to make small contributions to address specific social or environmental issues.

2. Companies and organizations that support environmental initiatives as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy.

3. Bloggers, influencers, and media focused on sustainable development and environmental issues. This audience helps expand our reach and attract more donors.

For each audience, we outlined two main objectives to guide our SMM strategy:

1. Raise awareness of the destructive impact of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine’s and Europe’s ecosystems.

2. Establish Treepilya as a leading CSR solution for companies.

Content created for Treepilya highlighted critical environmental issues in Ukraine and global climate change. By emphasizing the war’s ecological consequences, we aimed to underscore the connection between Ukraine’s and Europe’s climate. This approach positioned Treepilya as a reliable source of vital information and increased public awareness of critical environmental issues.

Effectively addressing the war’s impact on ecology required developing core messages that we conveyed through social media content categories. Our content strategy was based on several key categories:

▪️ Introduction to Treepilya: This section provides information about the project, its mission, values, history, team, partners, news, and media mentions to increase awareness of Treepilya’s purpose.

▪️ Informational content: Research, articles, and facts about Ukraine’s environmental state to draw attention to critical issues linked to the war. Many people do not realize that war brings destruction not only to people and cities but also to ecosystems, making it essential for us to highlight this problem to the audience.

▪️ Environmental issues in Ukraine: The country’s general ecological problems and the war’s impact. The influence of Ukraine’s ecology on European and global environmental security.

▪️ Call to action: We encourage donors to support the project, inform them about donation options, and highlight companies actively supporting socially essential initiatives.

▪️ Timely content: This category allowed us to quickly respond to relevant topics and events related to ecology.

To reach various audience segments, we use several primary social media platforms:

▪️ Facebook and Instagram – to reach a Ukrainian audience with Ukrainian content tailored to local users.

▪️ LinkedIn – to communicate with companies interested in CSR strategies, positioning Treepilya as a relevant solution. The content here is in English.

▪️ Twitter – to reach an international audience, attracting influencers and journalists who are often active on this platform. Communication here is also in English.

Design

Maintaining visual consistency is crucial when developing and implementing communication campaigns. Thus, all content created for social media is styled uniformly, reinforcing Treepilya’s brand recognition through cumulative exposure as users regularly engage with familiar visual elements and imagery.

Results

We have developed a cohesive SMM strategy that serves as the foundation for regular content creation for Treepilya’s social media pages, and we continue to implement it.

We can already report some preliminary results. Content created for the project has generated active audience responses. The ER (Engagement Rate) is 6.9% on Instagram (average is 5.6%), 10.7% on Facebook (average is 3.8%), and 9% on LinkedIn (average is 2.1%).

These results confirm that audiences are willing to support critical environmental initiatives despite the relevance of other social issues.

Vika Fialko, cofoinder of Treepilya We are deeply grateful to the inseed.agency team for their work on our project. First and foremost, for their in-depth understanding of the topic and structured approach. Each post for Treepilya was thoughtfully crafted. The agency has been providing us with informational support from the very start and continues to keep our audience informed on environmental issues. We especially appreciate that the inseed team consistently guides and checks our decisions and requests. Working with inseed.agency has been both pleasant and productive.

Natalya Ulyanova, cofounder of Treepilya Working on environmental projects is a complex process, but with inseed, we developed a vision and strategy for Treepilya, which greatly simplified our task. From the outset, they listened to our goals and proposed solutions that best served our project objectives.I’m grateful to the team for their in-depth engagement with our project’s topic and their genuine interest. Together, we continue working toward a greener future for Ukraine.

Conclusions

The Treepilya campaign has been a vital example of how to engage audiences in environmental initiatives, even with limited resources and a public focus on other pressing issues. We have prepared an effective platform for the project’s continued promotion, allowing us to attract new followers and donors in the future.

If you have a similar request, please contact us at partnership@inseed.marketing.

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