social media – Doing good better

There is certainly a lot of “buzz” about social media within the nonprofit sector, and according to a recent report from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, nonprofits are adopting these tools more widely than their corporate counterparts. Despite this, I would say that a good chunk of nonprofit organizations still have a long way to go in using these tools to their full potential. So where’s a nonprofit professional to begin?

I would suggest you get involved for yourself, before you start representing your organization. This gives you a little more room for mistakes. Don’t sign up for everything at once; you’ll never be able to keep up with it all. Just start with one, and add another as you feel comfortable. Here’s how I’ve gone about it.

I started with facebook, not because I wanted to increase my social media savvy, but because I wast starting my Master’s program and it became a great way to This is a great way to stay connected with people as an individual, but with an account you can check out nonprofit groups, fan pages and causes , which will give you a lot of insight into what tools are available and how they can best be used.

LinkedIn is another site I became involved in because of business school. This is a great way to connect with people you know professionally, as it gives you an opportunity to peek into their other work experiences (so long as they have completed their profile). This becomes particularly helpful as you conduct a job search and/or look to make a new connection with an organization or business. Through this system, you are able to search not only the profiles of your friends, but also their friends (depending on privacy settings). Clearly there is a lot of opportunity to grow your network this way. Of course, you have to be proactive about it. Additionally, individuals can find a lot of value in LinkedIn by subscribing to groups, where they can connect and share news/ideas with like-minded people.

Although some nonprofits have attempted to develop LinkedIn groups, I would say that really there’s only two types that have been able to maintain activity in the long-term: (1) nonprofits that act as associations, bringing nonprofit professionals together, and (2) nonprofits that produce alumni from their programs. The LinkedIn group provides a way for these people to connect with each other, which can add significant value not only to the users but also to the nonprofit, who can keep a pulse on what it’s members are involved in.

Last but not least, I opened my Twitter account. Twitter is a tremendous resource for those people looking to get more informed about social media in the nonprofit sector. I’ve already blogged about some of the amazing people I follow; they will share all sorts of information, from examples of best practices to recent statistics and much, much more. Plus, through Twitter’s search tool it is very easy to see what is being said about your organization or issue area. If you find that Twitter is a useful tool for you, then I’d suggest you check out TweetDeck or a similar desktop application to manage your tweets.

This clearly highlights only three of the social media platforms out there, but I think these are great places to start. The key learnings from my experience so far have been:

You have to set your own boundaries. I personally keep my Twitter profile public, but restrict my facebook to my friends. I also maintain my tweets seperately from my facebook updates. My Twitter and LinkedIn definitely have more of a professional feel than my facebook, but I make sure that there is nothing posted on my facebook that would stand out in a negative light should a prospective employer run across it.
Twitter is all about the conversation. If you aren’t listening to and/or engaging with people at some level, you are certainly missing the mark. Along the same lines, don’t get sucked into the numbers game. More followers does not equal a better Twitter experience.
Maintain your social networks. Visit them daily – if only for a few minutes at a time. The longer you neglect them, the more overwhelming it will seem when you have to “catch up.”

That’s my experience. For those of you who are newer to social media, let me know how it goes. For those of you who have been at it for a while, please add your insights to the comments. Thanks!

There is no doubt that individuals have seen their power grow relative to that of institutions. Whereas we were once reliant on a set of encyclopedias to bring us basic background information, we now create and share this information through Wikipedia. Whereas we were once dependent on the company and the advice of a few friends in trying to assess a new product or service, we can now go to a number of online review sites where thousands of strangers will provide insight to their experience post-purchase. In actuality, we don’t even need these sites – through facebook we can access our hundreds of friends to ask their advice instantly. The Internet has made people more connected to each other than ever before, and this has given individuals a tremendous source of power. It is this that keeps many brand managers up late at night, constantly reviewing Google alerts and Tweetbeeps, and as a result of this shift we have seen major investments by corporations in social media tools. In the nonprofit sector, lots of discussion occurs around how much staff time should be devoted to these tools, and whether or not the organization should be getting involved or if that just makes it more vulnerable to attack.

There has been a lot written about why nonprofit organizations should be engaging in social media (for example this post by Debra Askanase). However, what I think is really exciting is the opportunity for nonprofits within this power shift. On the one hand, you can grumble about the ability of one person to damage your brand (Domino’s Pizza has certainly felt this, and I’m sure the Dell Hell blog gave executives a headache). On the other hand, you can embrace the opportunity for outsourcing. Nonprofits almost constantly lament the lack of available resources; funding is tight and our staff are stretched as thin as possible. So rather than use resources to fight the power of the individual, why not leverage it. Give individuals the power to ask for support on your behalf. Just imagine what reach your fundraising campaign would have if you had access not only to the supporters in your database but to their friends as well. Allow clients and donors alike the opportunity to help you construct new programs and initiatives and find new and creative ways to measure them. Provide people with the tools they need to be an ambassador for your organization; make it easy for them to be your advocates. Rather than fearing the individual, take advantage of their brilliance; the ROI could be phenomenal.