Social Media Basics for Nonprofits

Presented by

@alanpruittBusiness Analyst

@ AWC Small Business Development Center

http://www.flickr.com/photos/batega/1596898776/

What Do YOU Want to Get Out of This Class?

Listen

Powerful Tool For Good

Power of Social Media

• Be a super hero for your cause

• Create real connections with real people

• Confront misinformation and negative chatter head-on

• Most of it is free, granted it takes time, but it's free!

Power of Social Media

• It’s a new avenue to raise advocacy, awareness and funds

• Answer questions/increase customer service

• Have real conversations across time/space boundaries

• Information sharing

Take Time to Plan

Share the Love

• Listen• Engage• Audience • Content Focus • Frequency • Responsible • Launch date

Pick Your Perfect Combo

• Facebook = Friend Builder• Twitter = Broadcast & Community Builder• YouTube = Broadcast Content to the World• Flickr = Photographs to Inspire• LinkedIn = Professional Connections• MySpace = Talk to Teens and Musicians• Blogs = Your own online newspaper• Social Bookmarking (Digg, Stumble) =

Sharing information

Listen

Need Something to Say?

Keep talking…

• Share news articles– Set up a Google Alert about your cause and share

daily headlines– Share your organization's press releases and media

coverage• Use your website

– Link to teasers to pages on your website to entice people to read more about you

• Use content already created– Brochures, photos, video, annual reports– Create separate updates for newsletter articles

Yap, yap, yap…

• Correct misinformation– Monitor via Google Alerts or Twitter monitors tools

and reply to users who are damaging your brand or spreading misinformation about your cause with a simple offer of sending them more information

• Event Ideas– Online Q & A – Set a time when an expert from your

cause answers questions or tweets during an event– Meet-Up – Have your online community meet offline

at a restaurant or small venue– Offer social media friend only offers or fundraisers

Chatty Cathy

• Customer Service– Ask followers to let you know when they have great or

bad customer service – Make sure you RESPOND to these quickly

• Encourage supporters– Reply users who are talking about your cause

• Be a real person & have fun• Interact, interact, interact• Monitor your cause via HootSuite or TweetDeck

Superhero Tool - HootSuite

• Website to do Facebook, Twitter, Blog Updates

• Update Scheduling • URL shortener• Track click-thru• Update from multiple accounts

individually or aggregate• Live search to engage in

conversations and find new accounts to follow

• @ Reply– Make a link from your status updates directly to your friend’s

accounts. Just type an @ before their name and it will pull up your friend list.

• Fan Page – • http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/The-Childre

ns-Hospital/53924096165

• Cause Page for donations - http://apps.facebook.com/causes/154254?m=4c64c1a1&recruiter_id=30718049

• Pieces of Flair - http://www.facebook.com/dawn.a.crawford#!/apps/application.php?id=3396043540&ref=search&sid=625642620.3800128674..1

• Mascot profileshttp://www.facebook.com/nesslie.lives

• Build a community around your cause• Be a real person!• Photo sharing

– Twit Pic – http://www.twitpic.com– 5 Ways to Share Photos on Twitter -

http://mashable.com/2009/05/19/twitter-share-images/

• Video sharing– Twit Vid – http://vidly.com/?twitvid – 5 Ways to Share Videos on Twitter -

http://mashable.com/2009/05/23/video-for-twitter/

Superhero Tool - TweetDeck

• Downloaded from Tweetdeck.com

• Do live search on keywords about your cause

• Monitor “competition”• Can retweet, reply and

DM from this software

• Make a profile for yourself with detail – great way to be a resource to other nonprofits

• Create a group– Allows supporters to connect professionally– Share media coverage and newsletter articles– GREAT idea for membership organizations

• Publicize events• Stalk donors, volunteers, future employees

Listen

Grow Your Community

Bringing More to the Flock

• Include your social media channels on your collateral – websites, brochures, newsletters, etc

• Engage your followers regularly

• It takes time – be patient and stay true to your cause and your community will grow

• Do special friend or fundraising drives to increase your followers

Listen

Making It Work for Your Org

Engage in 20-Minutes a Day

If you are short on time, you can schedule your updates to go out when you are not at your

desk

1. Use your Google Alerts for headline updates

2. Respond to @ replies from the previous day

3. Check your monitoring application and respond to users with more information or encouragement

– HootSuite allows you to schedule your updates

Team Updates

Share the opportunity of maintaining your Twitter community with your staff and volunteers

1. Train different members of your staff & volunteers to update your accounts

2. Have them add updates throughout the day to your organization's accounts

3. Monitor their work and correct as needed

“CoTweet: The Twitter CRM Tool of Choice for BestBuy, JetBlue, and Ford” - http://mashable.com/2009/03/27/cotweet/

Spread It Out

• Use social media as a transitional tool between projects

• Release creative energy

• Enjoy engaging with your followers

Listen

Super Stars to Listen To

Listen To These Guys/Gals

• Beth’s NPO Social Media Blog – http://beth.typepad.com/

• Kivi’s NPO Communications Blog - http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog

• Donor Power Blog - http://www.donorpowerblog.com

• Socialize Your Cause – Top 12 Blogs - http://www.socializeyourcause.org/top-12-nonprofit-blogs/blog/

Listen To These Guys/Gals• Arts = Think 360 Arts

– http://www.think360arts.org/– http://twitter.com/Think360Arts– http://www.facebook.com/think360arts

• Human Services = Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont– http://www.goodwillsp.org/ – http://www.facebook.com/goodwillsp– http://twitter.com/goodwillsp– http://www.youtube.com/goodwillsp – http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodwillsp

• Healthcare = Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition– http://www.childrensimmunization.org– http://www.twitter.com/immunizecokids– http://www.facebook.com/immunizecokids– http://www.youtube.com/user/immunizecokids

• Foundation = Triangle Gives Back from the Triangle Community Foundation– http://www.trianglegivesback.org

What’s Next?

Make Sure It’s Working

Experiment

Fail Epically

Have FUN!

Thank YOU!

Alan Pruitt

@alanpruitt

928-317-6151