Social media: How to grow in social networks

Non-profit goals for using social media:

1. Policy advocacy (signing petitions etc)

2. Engaging community via conversations that impact community

3. Raising awareness of issues / Sharing information

4. Fundraising

Challenges to consider:

1. What is the return of social media? How does social media create Impact?

2. What are the outcomes we want to see by using social media?

3. Social media is corporate driven; advertisement

4. Social media management might not be staff interests; would rather be physically interacting with community

5. How much of the social media interaction might translate to bodies on ground (at events)? SM used as tool to organize.

Recommendations:

1. Search/ Google “best practices of fundraising using social media”

2. Use facebook to engage volunteers; run volunteer days / tag people on photos so that it is viewable by their friends

3. Use Twitter to reach corporate donors; thank/ tag publicly

4. Use facebook url to connect and post on Twitter; can be tracked & measured on Facebook to see engagement

5. Thank followers/ supporters publicly

6. Use corporate best practices if they work, branding with logo etc

7. Use graphics on Facebook… really popular; increases engagement (likes & comments); broadens scope more followers because people are sharing

Who is the giving community? How can your social media audience be donors?

• Give ownership to community

• Give people opportunity by asking them
• Tell donors what they are giving to
• Make it EASY! Don’t make it too much work. 1 step vs 5 steps
• Make it attractive
• Memes really attractive with bitly link; some organizations have experienced that donation links are NOT too popular on/from Facebook
• Follow-up with personalized thank you written and verbal; calls via calling tree really affective

• Resource Raising vs Fund Raising: Resource Raising can be volunteer time or in kind donations that increase capacity and infrastructure of organization; non-cash support can be quantified
• Facebook good for engaging people to “take another step”
• Get/Share information such as reading an article
• Take an action on emergency
• Sign Petitions (3rd highest action); then users tweet about it or share it