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To have an impact in a world that is overflowing with information, you have to shout very loudly with one voice. That is why 100 of the UK's NGOs and faith groups have got together for the biggest joint campaign since 2005's "Make Poverty History".

But the If initiative to end world hunger needs more than just attention, it needs people to understand and act.

The Kony2012 campaign was heard because it got over 100 million views on YouTube. But they didn't catch Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army, the guerrilla group in Uganda, and it might well have set back both attitudes to Africa and the idealism of those who clicked on the video but didn't get a real world result.

The danger with the IF coalition is that the public will see it as a collection of different demands rather than a clear message. Has this sector run out of communications ideas or is it now coming up against the twin obstacles of the global economic crisis and its own fundraising needs?

The development sector in the UK is one of the most sophisticated and progressive in the world. It has pioneered many of the most successful communications and advocacy strategies over the past few decades as it has become more professional. But could that increasingly corporate approach backfire in the age of austerity?

Recent work by LSE researchers and others – as well as by the sector itself – has shown that people are increasingly sceptical about charity appeals in general and development marketing in particular.

Some of this is because of ignorance or xenophobia. There are abundant myths about the amounts that we give to developing countries. This misunderstanding is not helped by politicians keen to cut the budgets for people who don't have a UK vote, such as poor people in India. But are you – a development fundraiser or campaigner, also part of the problem?

Our research on public attitudes shows that the cleverest charities no longer take the public's sympathy for granted and are adopting diverse communications tactics to earn their trust and attention. They are joining the real debate about how they must change their approach to convince the modern western public to care.

Quite rightly, the UK citizen asks what effect aid is really having. They want to know why the sector promised to 'make poverty history' and yet is coming around with the begging bowl again. They are confused about the mixture of skeletal 'victim' imagery and positive celebrity endorsements packaged as slickly as an advert for jeans or jewelry.

My most recent report, for the International Broadcasting Trust, shows that the lesson of the amazing success of the Kony2012 campaign is not that the internet will deliver you a captive audience. It is actually that you need both ethical integrity and a properly worked out, open and inclusive communications strategy if you want to survive and thrive in the digital environment.

It might be a little late for IF campaigners but what lessons for the sector can we draw from the public, the media, development critics, activists and communications experts we've spoken to?

The first lesson is don't just follow lists of 'things to do'. You have to evolve your own communications strategy that fits your policy aims, ethical stance, and organisational values. Then make that fit with the full range of media platforms available and being used by your target audiences. It's surprising how many organisations don't.

Here are four practical principles to begin with.

Keep it simple

Stick to a clear message with the right amount of emotion. People know when they're being manipulated and they see gruesome images as a cheap trick to elicit compassion. Instead, NGOs should focus on guiding people on an emotional journey through humanitarian issues.

Keep it consistent

Integration of messages is vital across all communications, including campaign, advocacy or fundraising messages. And visual integration is just as important — not only for consistency, but also because NGOs are communicating in an increasingly image-saturated market.

Take two projects that my organisation, RTI, has been involved with in El Salvador. One is the Improving Access to Employment Programme, implemented by Carana Corporation, and the other is the USAid Municipal Competitiveness Project. The two projects have different missions, but they both used Facebook to engage their audience.

In early 2012, the Improving Access to Employment Programme wanted to engage with young Salvadorans seeking employment. Project staff found that traditional media was not reaching their target audience, so they turned to El Salvador's most popular social media platform: Facebook. In El Salvador, Facebook is the dominant social media platform especially among people under the age of 26.

They launched their own page, invested $300 a month in Facebook ads and published content including job vacancies, employer highlights, and programme-sponsored training courses. In less than two years the project's fan base grew from 800 fans to more than 65,000. Of its 65,000 Facebook fans, 90% were in the 18-34 targeted age range of the project. Companies began asking if they could post their vacancies on the page. By the time the project ended, 40 private companies were sharing an average of 15 job offers every week.

In contrast the Municipal Competitiveness Project's Facebook page has just 500 fans, but it is equally successful.

The project is a joint effort between Salvadoran municipalities and the private sector, to foster economic development and growth in El Salvador. It aims to improve the country's business climate while promoting private investment.

The project created its Facebook page in April 2013 with the goal of engaging and informing USAid El Salvador, the project's participating municipalities and key stakeholders, like local partner Voces Vitales, about the project's successes, as well as promoting upcoming events.

Initially, in an attempt to increase Facebook "likes", the project cast a wide net, but they found that to be ineffective. Under this initial strategy, metrics tool Facebook Insights showed that their typical Facebook fan was female between 18-24 years old and living in San Salvador – much younger than the project's targeted audience and from only one municipality. Although the project was able to reach its audience through traditional media, it wanted to connect with municipalities' Facebook fan pages to increase engagement in project activities and raise awareness.

As part of its improved strategy, the project mentioned and tagged municipalities and their respective mayors in its Facebook status updates. So, the mentioned municipalities used their Facebook pages to repost the project's events, and the USAid mission in El Salvador also reposted the project's highlights which helped attract a more focused fan base. The strategy shifted the project's Facebook audience demographic from young women living in San Salvador to an older audience of 25-44 year-old men and women living in various Salvadoran cities. Reaching the target audience resulted in an increase in fan engagement in the posts, and as tagged municipalities reposted the project's Facebook content, the project also experienced a steady increase in followers.

To date, its most effective Facebook post was an advertisement announcing a local workshop for women entrepreneurs in partnership with Voces Vitales. That one Facebook post received 313 clicks, was shared 18 times and had a reach of more than 2,800 people. The project also followed up the announcements by posting pictures of the two successfully attended workshops. With a connected targeted audience in place, the project used social media to show how it was promoting economic development, and the funders did not have to wait for an official success story or a report to begin seeing results