Social Media Strategyfor Nonprofits

Kirsten Eamon-ShinePeace Learning Center & Shine Social

The Plan

• Check In & Room Survey

• How Organizations Use Social Media (whirlwind style)

• Plus / Delta Reflection

• Best Practices – ARM

• Three Social Media Steps – FIG

• Making It Yours

• Questions & One Word Whip

Check In

Name

Organization

One thing you want from today.

Vote with Your Feet

• Strongly agree

• Undecided/

kinda sorta

• Strongly disagree

Social media is not worth the time

that staff have to put into it.

I have a clear sense of how to define

success in social media efforts.

My organization’s leadership

understands and values

social media as a tool for our mission.

Why Social Media?

• People are there.

• It’s FREE! (with exceptions)

• It’s a good idea – if it aligns with your primary program and communications goals.

• You can create a personal connection to your mission AND motivate action.

• It adds more spokes to your outposts.

Outpost & Home Base Perspective

Image from ProBlogger.net

Inspired by Chris Brogan – chrisbrogan.com

Spokes

Primary Social Media Tools

• Blogs

• Twitter

• Facebook

• Niche Social Networks – Smaller Indiana, Southeast Works, Musical

Family Tree, etc.

• Other Tools– Flickr, Youtube, E-newsletters…

WHAT Organizations Blog

• Publicly state positions or perspectives* • Provide insight into internal operations*• Highlight people served by your programs

and those who support your programs*• Highlight and discuss a specific short-term

project*• Share information critical to your constituents

or service population

*attribution to Beth Kanter

Publicly State Positions & Perspectives

Provide insight into internal operations

Highlight People Served by Your Programs & Supporters of Your Program

Highlight & Discuss Specific, Short-Term Projects

Share information critical to your constituents or service population

What Organizations Tweet

• Share information about your organization’s events, services, resources, needs

• Retweet others’ tweets to forge alliances and collaborations

What Organizations Tweet

• Provide personal connection to mission – pictures, reminding them you exist

• Connect with press• Recognize staff,

volunteers, donors, clients, etc.

What Org’s Do on Facebook

• Highlight programs, successes, volunteers, supporters, etc.

• Connect with like-minded organizations.• Publicize and invite people to events.• Use built-in applications to communicate and

gain donors.• Utilize the “Ads” application to hyper-target

audience (ZIP code, interest, age, musical taste, etc.) and only pay per click or per impression.

What Nonprofits Do on Niche Social Networks

• Gain access to very specific groups.

• If you’re active, you can provide a personalized connection to your organization’s mission.

• A lot the same as Facebook…

• But you can also focus on local or topical impact of your work.

Plus / Delta

+ Δ

Best Practices

AuthenticityHARD TIMES AROUSE AN INSTINCTIVE DESIRE FOR AUTHENTICITY.

+COCO CHANEL

ReciprocityWHAT YOU DO NOT WANT DONE TO YOURSELF,

DO NOT DO TO OTHERS. +CONFUCIOUS

MeasurementNOT EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE COUNTED COUNTS, AND NOT

EVERYTHING THAT COUNTS CAN BE COUNTED. +ALBERT EINSTEIN

Best Practice: Authenticity• Build real relationships• Encourage your staff to be themselves in social

media – the mission should be personal to them• Engage when it’s easy & when it’s hard and

always be honest• Ask for help when you need it• Make it about people (staff, volunteers, clients)

– not just about services• Know that your message is built by your

community – not by your PR plan

Best Practice: Reciprocity

• Be a part of the conversation that already exists – don’t try to force it

• Celebrate the successes of partner organizations and those with similar missions

• When you read something great, share it – and attribute it loudly

• Be grateful, be cool, be kind.

Best Practice: Measurement

• There are a wealth of tools to measure impact, but you’ll have to consider WHAT you want to measure…– Clicks, Conversations & Mentions;

Impressions; Donations; Links; Friends, Fans & Followers

– Some tools – Google Analytics, Google Alerts, tw-everything, bitly (etc.), HootSuite, Facebook measures, others?

Three Steps for Social Media

1. FrameGet as much thinking, hearing, exploring done before you

jump into the water

Align to existing goals and prepare to measure

2. InitiateGet in and do it, but plan to keep doing it.

Build your audience – get them engaged.

3. GrowKeep planting new ideas

Refine your practices by checking in with goals & modifying them

Framing: Second Helpings1. Goals = Give people insight into the human side of Second

Helpings & motivate them to act.

2. Listen = Use Google and Google Alerts, Facebook knowledge, and Twitter monitoring to identify potential audiences.

3. Staff & Voice = Ben & Nora are early adopters and offer balanced perspectives; Voice will be responsive, interested, positive.

4. Strategy picked: Utilize Facebook, Twitter, and Blog to communicate thought leadership and impact in area of hunger. Measurement tools in place, but goals are fuzzy.

Initiate & Grow: Spirit & Place

Goals = Attract new audiences & utilize social media to continue critical community conversations.

1. Create (or re-create) online identities that focus on fostering conversation and dialogue AND on sharing information.

2. Be social – in the first five months, built interaction with related organizations and thought leaders – sparked conversations and intentionally @-signed as many potential, past and current partners as possible.

3. Track everything you can – demonstrated value through retweets, through follower/fan numbers, through (once we could) impressions and – most of all – through conversations that were supported.

Your turn

• What’s one of the core communication or program goals for your nonprofit?

• How can social media support that goal?

Common Concerns• You can’t control it.

– True, but you can’t control what people say about you offline, either.

– But you can be a part of it online – which is an amazing opportunity.

– Also, moderation and delete buttons are helpful.

• Our donors aren’t on there.– Um, yes, they are.– The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is

composed of those 35 & older.– People in their 20s will be in their 30s really soon –

start cultivating your next generation now.

Common Concerns

• Staff will just be playing around on there.– Staff should be trained and, as always, should

have measurable goals.– Staff will have the chance to activate their

network to support your organization.– Yeah, it is social by nature, but so are

traditional communications and development.– Why not go where everyone else is?

Common Concerns

• There’s no point.– 500 million people log in to Facebook monthly

and interact with an average of 124 friends. – Online donations are growing rapidly for

nonprofits. More than $6.7 million were donated JUST via Facebook Causes through October 2010.

Smarter People Than Me• Beth Kanter -http://beth.typepad.com

• Amy Sample Ward –

http://www.amysampleward.org/

• Katya Andresen –

http://nonprofitmarketingblog.com/

• Robert Egger - http://www.robertegger.org/

• Michelle Murrain –

http://www.zenofnptech.org

Be in Touch!

Kirsten Eamon-Shine

email: kirsten.eamonshine@gmail.com

linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kirsten-eamon-shine/6/791/560 (or just look me up)

twitter: keeeksy & peacelearning & spiritandplace