Social Media for Nonprofits

Social Media is a cross functional – corporate culture related engagement – not a marketing campaign

Social Media sites, tools and techniques provide a new way to connect with donors, volunteers, prospective donors and partners

The main objective of any social media engagement should be to create a better customer experience for an organization’s ecosystem

It’s not about the tools… but a holistic understanding of the impact of Social Media to the organization

Your organization’s profile is key to everything you do in the Social Web – make sure it is complete and makes the right impression

Having a comprehensive strategy in place removes the fear of managing the Social Web

Interestingly enough, the needs for the different stages of volunteerism correlate toMaslow's Hierarchy of Needs which is a theory that attempts to explain how and whypeople pursue certain actions.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7VEndgAwlAc/SnHDfRuMPTI/AAAAAAAAAPs/pYmwOS8EBWc/s800/VolunteerProgression_Final_Large_v2.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Listen | Individually meet with / get to know your volunteers. If you don't have time to meet them on your own, make sure to have a small committee of committed volunteers to help. You can call them your Volunteer Relationship Management Team (VRMT)

Understand | Based on the progression of volunteer needs and Maslow's hierarchy, understand why each individual volunteer has engaged with you and your cause

Recognize | Give appropriate recognition that is specific for each volunteer. Avoid mass thank you letters, and instead, leveraging your VRMT, thank each volunteer individually in a manner that relates to the need of that volunteer. For example, a "healing" volunteer might look for recognition that they are a part of the "family" while a "helping others heal" volunteer might want confirmation that they are a "real leader"

Ask | Ask your volunteers to come back. Nothing shows that you valued a volunteer's time more than if you personally ask that volunteer to come back and help again.

Social Media for Social Causes Study: The Results | March 28, 2009 | by Geoff Livingston

Times are changing though: Currently 45 % of 30-49 year olds prefer social networks and 31 % of those over 50 also use social networks


61% of those aged 30-49 trust social networks and blogs to provide important information, as is the case with 44 % of those 50 years or older


81% want information from a highly credible or quality source

77% from a trusted organization

59% would like to interact with other donors

58% want to interact with philanthropic experts

41% want to lead a public conversation

36% would like to lead discussions of their own


86% want information from a highly credible or quality source

84% from a trusted organization

56% would like to interact with other donors

52% want to interact with philanthropic experts

38% want to lead a public conversation

32% would like to lead discussions of their own


80% organizational impact

74% success stories

71% learning more about the organizations they are participating with

70% want information on causes they care about

43% want information on financial accountability


86% organizational impact

80% success stories

80% learning more about the organizations they are participating with

78% want information on causes they care about

47% want information on financial accountability


71 % of 30-49-year-olds directly looked to the charity they support for information; and

63 % trust referrals from friends

In comparison:

78 % of those 50 and older directly look to their charities; and

72 % trust referrals from friends


Nonprofits and charities have a strong opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations (that may lead to contributions) with the Social Media savvy (30-49 and 50+), especially those who are uncultivated

Clear indicators reveal types of conversations the Social Media savvy are seeking

Social Media is all about building relationships and learning to leverage the conversation


Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Groups:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Google

Yahoo

Gain insights about audiences and issues

Spread important ideas and create awareness

Share resources and opportunities

Build networks and social movements

Strengthen trust in your organization

Looking over your communications plan (or your organization’s strategic plan)—identify goals that could be supported by using Social Media in one of the five ways listed on the previous page.

This little match game should highlight areas that hold the most promise for your social media use. Refine and prioritize these into a set of social media objectives (what do you’d like to accomplish).

Before you start investing in Social Media, listen to what’s already being said about your organization and your issue. Get the “feel” of these media and how people are using them.

Even if you’ve decided social media isn’t a good investment for you, every nonprofit should at least have a listening outpost. Set up Google alerts for your organization’s name, executives, news release titles, and issue keywords. Research which bloggers are writing about your issues through Technorati or Alltop and subscribe to their blog feeds.

If you have a strategic communications plan you already know who your key audiences are. If you don’t, use your organizational strategic plan and ask these questions:

What changes are we trying to make in the world?

Who can make those changes happen?

Those groups are your key audiences. Be very clear about what they need to do to make the changes you desire happen—those are the actions you’re aiming to trigger through your communications.

If you don’t feel that your listening outpost captures your key audiences well enough, enhance it so you can find out more about what these particular groups of people think about your organization and its work. You especially want to find out which social mediums are popular with these folks.

Do you need to start tracking Facebook because your audiences are there?

Are they Twittering?

What blogs do they follow?

Are there other online communities they participate in?

What kind of research do you need to do to find out where they are congregating online? It might also be helpful to scout out which social mediums your peers and competitors are investing in.

Once you know who you’re trying to reach, what you want them to do, and what social mediums they’re using—you’re more than halfway home.

Remember, just developing a deeper relationship with your key audience members can be an “action” goal.

Stick to your objectives and key audiences. Pick out a couple of Social Media platforms that offer the most promise of reaching your key audiences, then focus on going deep with those.

Once you’ve chosen them, think about the larger picture. How are these Social Media tools going to integrate with your website, email strategy, publications, media relations, and special events? Write down your integration plan, even a starter time line for the next few months.

Get creative about how you repurpose content in all these media so you’re not reinventing the wheel but still providing valuable content in fresh ways.

Now comes the tricky part. Who’s going to be responsible for what? Who’s going to generate the content and when? Who’s going to do the organizational listening? Who’s going to handle IT and legal support if needed? Do you need outside expertise? How are you going to measure ROI? Who’s going to gather that data?

Are you opting for an organizational voice or are you inviting employees to participate as individuals? How will you handle negative online comments about your organization? What are the budget and staff implications?

If you want estimates about how much time Twittering, blogging, managing a Facebook or YouTube page takes—ask one of the nonprofits successfully using these media. From my own experience, listening and Twitter take me about an hour a day, and blogging takes 3-4 hours a week.

Even with a modest investment in Social Media, you also probably want to create a short user-friendly policy for your organization. Try to keep it in simple-to-understand language.

Social Media for Nonprofits

Technology

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