Participants’ Key Take-Aways
1. This confirmed my feelings about how social media is about establishing relationships rather than just getting followers.
2. I want to explore separating our online channels to focus each tool on one audience or creating two accounts within a certain tool that each target a separate audience.
3. I know I need to work with my board to talk about our long term goals. We need to know our key messages and audiences.
4. I like the idea of using a donor-centered approach to our social media rather than an organization-centered approach.
Conversation Re-cap
| Social Media Concerns and Questions | Discussion & Conclusions |
| We have too many target audiences and we have a hard time figuring out what to post since we have different audiences. | Pick one tool per audience. Find out where your audience is online and what they are doing before you choose a tool. [Tip from Erica: If your organization has more than 5 target audiences, you probably have more than you can manage well. Narrow your list!] |
| How do we get our supporters to be involved and share with each other on our online portals like Facebook. | Know your audience so that the content you provide will spark a discussion. Some organizations have personally asked their best supporters to stimulate conversations online. [Tip from Erica: Be clear on your goals. Some organizations use their Facebook feed as a way to stay top-of-mind with supporters and therefore wouldn’t be concerned if their “likers” weren’t actively engaged in discussion. Lack of “likes” isn’t always a terrible thing.] |
| Older donors and supporters who are offline are saying that they don’t see any marketing materials anymore. | Go back to your goals. Are you meeting them? If you are meeting your goals and you have a limited budget, you’re doing fine. [Tip from Erica: Just because you “could” doesn’t mean you “should”.] |
| We see other nonprofits doing matching campaigns on Facebook where you advertise that your organization is getting $1 for every new “Liker”. Is this effective? | It depends. Who are you reaching out to? A local organization that was effective at this reached out to former tutors who were very engaged with the organization at one time. They asked them to like their page because they’d get $1 for every new like. This worked to engage the former tutors to become re-engaged. [Tip from Erica: Except in select instances, use Facebook as a way to deepen relationships so your asks are more effective, rather than a vehicle for making the ask.] |
| We’ve struggled with knowing how fun or personal we can be on social media sites. We’re not sure about what rules to create. | Social Media Policies can be helpful. Once you are clear on your audience and messaging, that will inform your social media decisions. You’ll understand your audiences better and be able to make more informed decisions about what to post and where. [Tip from Erica: Having a Brand Dashboard can help you address this issue, as well.] |
| There seems to be new tools all of the time. | Tools will change. Geolocation is becoming all the rage for example with tools like Foursquare and Facebook Places. Don’t over-invest in a tool because people will move on. [Tip from Erica: If you invest in knowing how to decide which new tools to use based on your goals and target audience(s), you’ll be in good shape long-term!] |
November Handouts and Resources
1. Read the Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide.
2. Watch Idealware’s Video: Facebook vs Twitter.
3. Read ‘5 Must-Follow Non-Profits Making a Difference With Social Media’.
4. Download and Review the ‘Claxon_4 Social Media Tools for Nonprofits‘.
5. Check out Social Media Club Seattle The Seattle branch of Social Media Club, a national organization with the purpose of sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards, and promoting media literacy around the emerging area of Social Media. Our members are present across a wide variety of networks and we encourage you to reach out and join us. (Thanks for the tip Eileen!)
Thanks to our Special Guest: Carrie Zanger
Carrie Zanger of True Good Creative shared her technical expertise with us as well as a story about the It Gets Better Project initiated by Dan Savage. Why did this become viral? There was an authentic moment and people related to that very deeply. It immediately inspired and sparked great interest. Thanks, Carrie!
