We have dug deep into the underbelly of
Transcription
We have dug deep into the underbelly of
We have dug deep into the underbelly of social networking, honed our own social media endeavors, indexed and read hundreds of posts and guides by social media experts and discovered that the key ingredients to a well-shaken cocktail of social media success are as follows… What might also be a boon to you: Social media isn’t fundamentally different from the marketing efforts you’re already engaged in. The field is just a highly variable and fast-paced way to share your nonprofit organization’s story, with its own nuances and challenges. Strategy, Prioritization and Dedication. So close out of your news feed and prepare to tweet some cutting insights while we run through how to reboot your nonprofit’s social media efforts. Don’t worry, we’ll happily break down these dense categories into simple, easy-to-digest examples, geared toward helping you personalize a truly strong social media plan that’s tuned to the unique needs of your nonprofit. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA Strategy Your social media plan’s number one goal is to have an impact—to make significant, measurable strides for your nonprofit. Without developing a honed strategy, you’ll end up spinning your wheels, working hard without any real headway. Start with a strategy to avoid future frustration and a sense of aimlessness. Use Existing Content Social media ought to be a way to amplify your existing resources, not create new headaches. The first place to distribute original content should be your nonprofit’s website and blog, the nucleus of your organization’s efforts. Imagine your nonprofit’s main website and blog as the beating heart of your vibrant online presence. Social media outlets are the network of veins that transport life-sustaining content out to the remote reaches of your online constituents, nourishing their connection to your cause. Through social media, you can extend the impact of your nonprofit’s original content, campaigns and drives. Furthermore, you’ve given your loyal constituents the opportunity to discuss, retweet and otherwise share that content over and over again, which extends the impact even further with no extra time investment on your part. Make Sure You Have a Unified Vision That’s right: Social media’s purpose should be geared toward what you want to achieve— there isn’t a single way to use it, despite what the uninitiated might tell you. In fact, certain social media forums are especially good at accomplishing certain things or reaching out to particular demographics, something we’ll cover more deeply when we discuss prioritization down the line. Consider: Some nonprofits’ Facebook Pages act as a platform to actively promote drives and conversions. Others use social media as an opportunity to humanize their organization, build trust and relate to the average constituent. Others still focus on the element of interactivity, trying to foster community and discussion. Others still just look for positive exposure. Look at your nonprofit and identify which of these goals are the most important to you, then gun for them aggressively. Some Applications • Trying to humanize your nonprofit? Gear your content to your organization’s specific, vibrant personality. Post eye-catching stories, even if they don’t directly relate to your cause. nonprofithub.org THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA • Looking to recruit volunteers or hire folks? Convey the fact that your nonprofit has a fantastic working culture. Are current employees and volunteers making unprompted solicitations of your nonprofit’s greatness? What can you do so that they are? • Shooting to maximize exposure and interactivity? Use status updates to ask for subscribers’ opinions—get them to contribute. Create addictive, shareable content, such as videos and infographics. Try offering content “rewards” if your page receives a certain amount of Facebook likes. Hone your social media message, use existing content and apply your organization’s ethic to your social media. With your strategy in mind, you’ll be ready to move on to step two. Prioritization Once you’ve established a strategy, it’s time to use that to decide your priorities. What venues will you pursue, and exactly how much should you invest in them? The Best Fit for Your Message We’ll be straight with you: We at Nonprofit Hub vouch for Facebook and Twitter as the most effective social media investments. The Lupus Foundation of American (LFA) is a great example of when a nonprofit’s social media efforts attract substantial donor engagement. After actively plugging in to Facebook, LFA improved their online donations by 790% in six months. Another example of a nonprofit who has adapted to social media with panache is The Humane Society of the United States. They’ve clearly found a social networking niche that works for them: As of October 2012 their organization’s Facebook Page has garnered nearly 1.5 million “likes.” The Humane Society uses the timeline functionality to share historic animal rights achievements, disseminate petitions, show support for their sponsors and much more. Let’s put it another way: Ever heard of Vilfredo Pareto? The 19th century Italian engineer/ philosopher after whom the Pareto Principle was named? Here’s the skinny, so you don’t have to google it: Back in the day, dear Vilfredo observed that around 80% of the peas he harvested from his garden were the product of a mere 20% of the garden’s actual pea pods. Well, this Pareto Principle has proven highly relevant to modern business economics. Any investment’s output is usually spread disproportionately to the input: 80% of a nonprofit’s active engagement is usually the result of a loyal 20% of the constituents it attracts. In an example that pushes Pareto’s conclusions even further, NPR’s radio personality Ira Glass regularly stresses during the station’s annual pledge drives that only 10% of NPR’s listeners account for the station’s pledge drive goals. Application Say a nonprofit’s cause is particularly relevant to women’s issues. That nonprofit might consider the benefits of investing in Pinterest. According to a study, 83% of Pinterest’s global users are women. This means nonprofits whose cause directly supports women would benefit enormously from the resources they invest in Pinterest. nonprofithub.org THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA Finding Your 20% Solution One way to find your 20% solution is to test your content on all of the social media platforms available. If this is the way you’re leaning, go ahead and invest in the big outlets, namely Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and LinkedIn. Then, figure out which venues provide you the best results, according to the strategic goals you’ve already set up. Finally, then pare down to the 20% of social media that’s giving you 80% of total value. But more practically speaking, prioritize Twitter and Facebook, then expand as you see fit. We’ve found that for most organizations, Facebook and Twitter is their optimal 20% solution for social media. Take the time to ensure your Facebook content truly shines, and all of the content you produce gets funneled into the Twitterverse. Look into investing in other social media platforms if they seem like an especially great fit for your nonprofit’s message. Keep in mind that it’s often a good idea to claim your “real estate” in major social media outlets, as you never know when those outlets will be where your organization needs to communicate. The important message: Don’t go for 100% engagement in 100% of social media and stretch your efforts too thin on venues that won’t give a great return on your social media investment. Think 20/80, like our friend Vilfredo Pareto did. Dedication If you haven’t first taken the time to develop a clear, unified strategy, then focused on a few key social network platforms to prioritize, no matter how much effort you put into your social media, it won’t be enough. You might as well try to move a mountain by pushing on it through willpower alone. Dedication has to be the final step, once everything else is in place. With perseverance, all your social media efforts can blossom and create a dynamic social media presence for your nonprofit. Time to Make a Commitment Once you’ve set up your social media network, the most important thing is to devote daily time and effort to keep it well maintained. Most people don’t work at a given investment long enough for it to actually pay off, and tragically choose to jump ship right before they see returns on their hard work. Let us give you an example. Imagine you pay twenty dollars a month for a gym membership. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA You go to the gym once the first month, and then cancel the membership, having noticed no observable improvement in your physique since joining the gym. What a waste of money! While it’s obvious in this example the party to blame is you for being a couch potato, the same principles apply to dedicating time to your social media. If you don’t put the requisite effort into your initial investment, don’t blame social media when you don’t reap the benefits. The typical social network users who stumble onto your content aren’t what you’d call “hot leads”—while they might be interested in your cause generally, they’re typically just tuning in for information and a reason to trust your nonprofit. These potential donors need to be nurtured. Give them great content and reward them for their loyalty, and they’ll have plenty of goodwill toward your organization when they probe your organization’s main website, replete with your strongest calls to action. The great thing about social media is that you don’t have to get out of your chair and head to the gym to make a good return on your investment— in fact, you often don’t even need to create much unique content. Dedication simply means committing to a system of regular posting and updates, making sure that your network stays vibrant and active. Curate Your System To create a successful social media plan, dedicate staff time and energy into making regular posts, tweets and pins (depending on your earlier prioritization). After all, the point of social media is to be social. At the end of the day, you are fostering a relationship between you and your donors. And as in any relationship, a variety of interesting, relevant interaction is the only road to growth. Commit to a certain amount of content every week—or preferably, every day. Obviously, it’s going to depend on your platform: A couple tweets a day won’t even register to your followers on Twitter, unless those tweets are massively retweeted. Keep your content streams active. Figure out what posting interval works best for you. Ideally, you want to stay fresh in your donors’ minds, but not be so present that they’ll either ignore you or unsubscribe to get away from an unending torrent of updates. Measure responsiveness. One of the best ways to keep you accountable to your social media plan is to automate it. Preload and schedule your content using services like Hootsuite or Buffer so that your sharing will be spread throughout the day at organic intervals. Again, try mixing up the times you post content throughout the day. Psychologists who study behavior have determined that intermittent rewards are more effective in determining behavior than scheduled ones. Use science for your cause’s good. The other essential for a developing digital relationship: interaction. Dedication is required when responding to tweets, comments and community questions. Creating a social media network is like planting a garden: If you want a vibrant community, you’re going to have to water those plants, and occasionally maybe even pull up a root or two. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA The final step of dedication is having the determination to fix things when you see they aren’t working. Mercilessly test and vet your social media priorities and adjust your methods until you see progress. Applications • Use services like Google Analytics, Kred, and Klout to actively measure your social network efficacy. When you vary your posting times, which times garner the most responses? Focus on those! • Get notified. Make sure your system (Hootsuite, Buffer, etc.) notifies you of any “gap times” when your social network hasn’t been active for a significant amount of time. This ensures you avoid long spells of inactivity or didn’t up your scheduled postings. (You have set up scheduled posts, right? Good.) • Post media that encourages sharing and response. Producing content that’s likely to be shared effectively automates your network. If three people share your infographic and three of their friends repost it again, your message immediately has nine times the traction. Ah, the beauty of the web. Congratulations in Advance Here’s your mantra: Strategy: Devote your social media efforts to create a unified strategy. Prioritization: Decide which venues to pursue based on your newly minted strategy. Dedication: Develop a system to consistently create and share rewarding content that advances your nonprofit’s goals. How is your nonprofit going to apply your new knowledge? Have a question, concern or suggestion? We’re standing by—tweet us one thing you learned from this report @nphub. Tell us one specific way you applied your knowledge from this report. We’d love to hear from you. It’s ok to be extraordinary. TWEET US! We got your back—and wish you more than luck. Now head to the interwebs, and make use of what you have learned. Who We Are – Nonprofit Hub.org Nonprofit Hub.org is a proud part of the Digital Community Foundation (DCF), a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to educate and empower people on issues related to technology and marketing. Our foundation offers grant opportunities for nonprofit organizations wishing to improve their online presence. You can learn more about the grant application process on our website, digitalcommunityfoundation.org to see if your nonprofit can take advantage of this opportunity. We launched Nonprofit Hub to scour the internet for the most relevant content that affects your nonprofit. And if the Hub still overwhelms you—we post several times a day—we’ve further made your life easier with our weekly Hubcap newsletter. nonprofithub.org