Before You Tackle Social Media

Social media, the tools and websites used to share content and facilitate conversations online, has quickly become an omnipresent feature of everyday life. Both the number of free tools available (such as the highly popular Facebook and Twitter) and the number of users have virtually exploded in recent years. Facebook now has over 400 million active users, with over 50% of users logging into the site daily.¹ As of March 2009, Twitter was growing at a rate of 1,382 percent and was on pace for 100 million unique visitors annually.² Because of the proliferation of these networks and well-publicized success stories of fund- and awareness raising, adoption of social media tools has become extremely attractive to many nonprofit organizations. However, the popularity and availability of social media does not necessarily indicate that its usage will translate into a nonprofit organization successfully fulfilling its mission. So before creating your Facebook Page (or Group, or Cause), launching your Blog or Tweeting the world, consider the following 5 suggestions to more effectively leverage social media.

1. Don't Forget About Strategy. It's important to remember that social media tools, as new, popular and sophisticated as they may be, are still only means to an end. Organizations should consider carefully how these tools could be used to achieve the objectives in their overall strategic plan to avoid spending time and effort on initiatives that don't address the organization's mission. Before implementing any of the social media tools, the organization should develop a social media strategy, or modify its existing Communications or Marketing Strategy to address how social media will be used. While there are several approaches to creating a social media strategy, they all share several features in common: determine the objectives of using social media, specify the people or audiences you want to reach, create the strategic approaches to reach those audiences and finally, identify the technologies to employ. As part of any good strategic plan, your social media strategy should set measurable goals and plan for measuring progress against those goals so that the organization understands how success is being defined and to gather information in a timely manner to know when it's time to change direction if necessary.³ Finally, the objectives laid out in the social media strategy should be directly tied to addressing specific, measurable goals in the overall strategic plan, such as increasing the number of active volunteers or individual contributions.

2. Brainstorm Possible Uses. Nonprofit organizations new to social media may be skeptical of its usefulness, assuming its purpose is confined to sending messages and passively accumulating "friends." In actuality, there are myriad ways social media tools can further both the programmatic and administrative goals of the organization. For instance, a youth-serving organization providing a filmmaking course to its students could use YouTube to promote and distribute the students' films. This would not only broaden the films' exposure, but also enhance the curriculum by teaching students about Internet promotion and distribution of media. Along the way, the organization is also likely to pick up several new supporters to volunteer, donate or simply pass along positive buzz through their own networks. Consider the following ways nonprofit organizations are currently using social media and whether they could apply to your organization.

Publicize, organize, and manage events, including tracking RSVP's. Post follow-up information such as pictures, videos or information on the success of the event.
Connect individuals with volunteer opportunities, recognize volunteers' contributions and provide a forum for volunteers to connect with each other and provide feedback to the organization.
Appeal to potential donors and solicit gifts online. Create customized fundraising appeals with matching gifts, a fundraising thermometer, countdown or list of donors.
Stay in touch with supporters on an ongoing basis, sharing news, updates and successes from the organization; for instance, reporting back from a conference or legislative visit. Share current research, reports, videos or other content to educate your constituents on an issue.
Create your own media coverage.
Promote specific actions or petitions, such as advocacy related to an emergency situation or a key piece of legislation or public funding. Mobilize your constituents by creating a standard message that can be quickly sent to their elected representatives.
Encourage volunteer and supporter feedback and provide a prompt response.
Utilize your social networks, especially the viewpoints and content shared by constituents, as a real-time environmental scan to inform the strategic direction of the organization.

3. Recognize the Limits of Control. Social media differs from traditional one-way communications because its focus is on conversations, sharing ideas and building relationships. It's social, in other words. It emphasizes user-generated content meaning that a large proportion of information may originate outside your organization. Even nonprofits that attempt to control their message by not participating in social media are not truly in control because their supporters, donors and volunteers are likely using those same channels to communicate about their experiences with the organization – good or bad. While some tools allow the organization to restrict others' comments, it would be unsustainable to vet every comment or message. Although this all means that nonprofits will not be able to control the conversation, it is better to participate in order to understand and respond to what is being said than to opt out of social media forums entirely. To monitor what is being said about your organization, Blackbaud recommends the use of several free tools, including Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts), the search portal on Twitter (www.search.twitter.com) and Technorati (www.technorati.com) in its White Paper on Social Media.⁴ Finally, while it’s necessary to recognize some lack of control of content outside the organization, nonprofits should create and communicate social media usage policies to set guidelines for employees, volunteers and Board members. To get you started, social media policies are available online for IBM here and Easter Seals here.

4. Inspire with Content. Once your organization has decided to use social media and has selected the appropriate technologies, you will need to develop content to share. This can include the traditional items from your newsletter or annual report, but social media works best when the content is so engaging that your followers are compelled to pass it on. With so many nonprofit organizations all competing for attention in cyberspace, creativity is critical. Consider ways to use pictures, video or animation to make a compelling statement about your organization, your clients or your cause in general. Your social media approach should involve more than simply promoting your own organization. According to Primal Media's 5 Rules of Social Media for Nonprofits, "Don't just talk about yourself. Ask questions, engage people and link. Most of all, be inspiring."⁵

5. Be Realistic About Effort. Unlike static communications (e.g. emails, newsletters), social media is highly interactive and dynamic. Networks and communities need to be maintained and managed on a continuous basis. This includes posting new content and responding to your followers as well as reviewing and following other people and organization's pages. All these tasks will require effort from your staff (or volunteers). When creating and implementing your social media policy, be clear as to the level of effort necessary to sustain your strategy and be realistic about where those responsibilities can be assigned without overloading your staff. If possible, include social media as an aspect of professional development and encourage staff to further develop their skills and knowledge on effective use of the cutting edge tools and techniques.

For more assistance formulating a social media strategy or policy for your organization, contact Shawn Sheridan at Dewey & Kaye: ssheridan@deweykaye.com or 412.434.1335

³ Assuming your social media strategy employs Facebook, Twitter or both, the 2010 Nonprofit Social Media Benchmarks Study by M+R Strategic Services provides excellent external effectiveness and efficiency benchmarks for your organization. The study is available at: www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/socialmedia.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Before You Tackle Social Media By Shawn Sheridan, Dewey & Kaye Social media, the tools and websites used to share content and facilitate conversations online, has quickly become an omnipresent feature of everyday life. Both the number of free tools available (such as the highly popular Facebook and Twitter) and the number of users have virtually exploded in recent years. Facebook now has over 400 million active users, with over 50% of users logging into the site daily.¹ As of March 2009, Twitter was growing at a rate of 1,382 percent and was on pace for 100 million unique visitors annually.² Because of the proliferation of these networks and well-publicized success stories of fund- and awareness raising, adoption of social media tools has become extremely attractive to many nonprofit organizations. However, the popularity and availability of social media does not necessarily indicate that its usage will translate into a nonprofit organization successfully fulfilling its mission. So before creating your Facebook Page (or Group, or Cause), launching your Blog or Tweeting the world, consider the following 5 suggestions to more effectively leverage social media. 1. Don't Forget About Strategy. It's important to remember that social media tools, as new, popular and sophisticated as they may be, are still only means to an end. Organizations should consider carefully how these tools could be used to achieve the objectives in their overall strategic plan to avoid spending time and effort on initiatives that don't address the organization's mission. Before implementing any of the social media tools, the organization should develop a social media strategy, or modify its existing Communications or Marketing Strategy to address how social media will be used. While there are several approaches to creating a social media strategy, they all share several features in common: determine the objectives of using social media, specify the people or audiences you want to reach, create the strategic approaches to reach those audiences and finally, identify the technologies to employ. As part of any good strategic plan, your social media strategy should set measurable goals and plan for measuring progress against those goals so that the organization understands how success is being defined and to gather information in a timely manner to know when it's time to change direction if necessary.³ Finally, the objectives laid out in the social media strategy should be directly tied to addressing specific, measurable goals in the overall strategic plan, such as increasing the number of active volunteers or individual contributions. 2. Brainstorm Possible Uses. Nonprofit organizations new to social media may be skeptical of its usefulness, assuming its purpose is confined to sending messages and passively accumulating "friends." In actuality, there are myriad ways social media tools can further both the programmatic and administrative goals of the organization. For instance, a youth-serving organization providing a filmmaking course to its students could use YouTube to promote and distribute the students' films. This would not only broaden the films' exposure, but also enhance the curriculum by teaching students about Internet promotion and distribution of media. Along the way, the organization is also likely to pick up several new supporters to volunteer, donate or simply pass along positive buzz through their own networks. Consider the following ways nonprofit organizations are currently using social media and whether they could apply to your organization. Publicize, organize, and manage events, including tracking RSVP's. Post follow-up information such as pictures, videos or information on the success of the event. Connect individuals with volunteer opportunities, recognize volunteers' contributions and provide a forum for volunteers to connect with each other and provide feedback to the organization. Appeal to potential donors and solicit gifts online. Create customized fundraising appeals with matching gifts, a fundraising thermometer, countdown or list of donors. Stay in touch with supporters on an ongoing basis, sharing news, updates and successes from the organization; for instance, reporting back from a conference or legislative visit. Share current research, reports, videos or other content to educate your constituents on an issue. Create your own media coverage. Promote specific actions or petitions, such as advocacy related to an emergency situation or a key piece of legislation or public funding. Mobilize your constituents by creating a standard message that can be quickly sent to their elected representatives. Encourage volunteer and supporter feedback and provide a prompt response. Utilize your social networks, especially the viewpoints and content shared by constituents, as a real-time environmental scan to inform the strategic direction of the organization. 3. Recognize the Limits of Control. Social media differs from traditional one-way communications because its focus is on conversations, sharing ideas and building relationships. It's social, in other words. It emphasizes user-generated content meaning that a large proportion of information may originate outside your organization. Even nonprofits that attempt to control their message by not participating in social media are not truly in control because their supporters, donors and volunteers are likely using those same channels to communicate about their experiences with the organization – good or bad. While some tools allow the organization to restrict others' comments, it would be unsustainable to vet every comment or message. Although this all means that nonprofits will not be able to control the conversation, it is better to participate in order to understand and respond to what is being said than to opt out of social media forums entirely. To monitor what is being said about your organization, Blackbaud recommends the use of several free tools, including Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts), the search portal on Twitter (www.search.twitter.com) and Technorati (www.technorati.com) in its White Paper on Social Media.⁴ Finally, while it’s necessary to recognize some lack of control of content outside the organization, nonprofits should create and communicate social media usage policies to set guidelines for employees, volunteers and Board members. To get you started, social media policies are available online for IBM here and Easter Seals here. 4. Inspire with Content. Once your organization has decided to use social media and has selected the appropriate technologies, you will need to develop content to share. This can include the traditional items from your newsletter or annual report, but social media works best when the content is so engaging that your followers are compelled to pass it on. With so many nonprofit organizations all competing for attention in cyberspace, creativity is critical. Consider ways to use pictures, video or animation to make a compelling statement about your organization, your clients or your cause in general. Your social media approach should involve more than simply promoting your own organization. According to Primal Media's 5 Rules of Social Media for Nonprofits, "Don't just talk about yourself. Ask questions, engage people and link. Most of all, be inspiring."⁵ 5. Be Realistic About Effort. Unlike static communications (e.g. emails, newsletters), social media is highly interactive and dynamic. Networks and communities need to be maintained and managed on a continuous basis. This includes posting new content and responding to your followers as well as reviewing and following other people and organization's pages. All these tasks will require effort from your staff (or volunteers). When creating and implementing your social media policy, be clear as to the level of effort necessary to sustain your strategy and be realistic about where those responsibilities can be assigned without overloading your staff. If possible, include social media as an aspect of professional development and encourage staff to further develop their skills and knowledge on effective use of the cutting edge tools and techniques. For more assistance formulating a social media strategy or policy for your organization, contact Shawn Sheridan at Dewey & Kaye: ssheridan@deweykaye.com or 412.434.1335 ¹ http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics ² http://mashable.com/2009/04/17/web-in-numbers-social-media/ ³ Assuming your social media strategy employs Facebook, Twitter or both, the 2010 Nonprofit Social Media Benchmarks Study by M+R Strategic Services provides excellent external effectiveness and efficiency benchmarks for your organization. The study is available at: www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/socialmedia. ⁴ http://internet.blackbaud.com/atf/cf/%7BA1758E1C-C5FF-4DC3-89ED-DC2343EF76A3%7D/8-09.BBIS.SOCIALMEDIA.WHITEPAPER.PDF ⁵ http://www.primalmedia.com/blog/social-media-non-profits
Dewey & Kaye