I am presenting tomorrow at Columbus Business First's 2011 Social Media Summer Camp. We’ve all heard enough of the WHY social media can be an amazing tool. During the Social Media Summer Camp for Nonprofits we'll be discussing the HOW.
Integrate the social media into your organizational goals and efforts. Most of your communication methods should already include an action request. Social media is no different. What do you want to occur through your outreach / marketing / communication? More Donations? More Volunteers? More members? More Advocates? Change of public perception? Change in public behavior? Whatever it is, think carefully about how use of social media may help you reach your goals.
Through your use of social media, you are creating relationships. Those you connect to will feel closer to your organization (and if its clear) the person(s) behind the social media. Your social media strategy needs to include who from your organization will be using social media. Some will do so as the organization. Others use social media as themselves but their connection to the organization is clear and thus they can impact the relationships developed with the organization. Do not discount the value of staff, board members, volunteers use of social media impacting the organization. There are certainly concerns with messaging but all these people have networks that could be utilized for the benefit of the organization.
To choose the tool(s) best for your organization, use the tools yourself, as an individual. You will not understand all the features and limitations of a tool unless you use it. The right tool for your organization’s goals will be based upon the features of the tool and the population currently using the tool or likely to use the tool.
The presentation I am using for the workshop is below. It contains examples of the strategies noted in this post.
