Montreal, Dec 3 (IANS): To drive more young men and women towards supporting good causes, engaging them on social media is the best approach but only if it is done by tapping the right emotions, a new research from Concordia University says.

While the innate empathy of women spurs them to action, men need to be approached with an emotional appeal in order to get support for charities, the study found.

"Facebook is the most important tool for engaging millennials in charitable causes because it lets them get involved, find out more and spread the word," said the study's senior author Michele Paulin, professor of marketing at Concordia University's John Molson School of Business in Canada.

Because participation in social media is by nature an emotional experience, non-profits that want to engage millennials need to focus on the feelings of their potential young donors, he said.

In campaigns targeting both millennial women and men, marketing personnel must focus on how others will benefit from their donations - be it money, time or other support.

However, they need to keep two key factors in mind.

"Female millennials tend to automatically engage with a cause on an emotional level while male millennials need specific emotional prodding to channelise their empathetic concern for a cause," Paulin added.

The findings can help charitable organisations and their corporate partners take the right approach to garner millennials' support for social causes.

"To be successful, charities using social media have to take into account the gender of their audience, as well as the type of event," said Paulin, who had more than 500 students interact with two charitable appeals on Facebook for the study.

The study is forthcoming in The Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing.