Social Media 101 for Nonprofit Consultants

Yesterday I had the opportunity to present an introductory workshop on social media to a few of my colleagues in the Fund Builders Alliance. We covered some of the basics of what social media is and is not, got into the how-tos and whys of facebook, twitter, linkedin, and blogging, and briefly went over the variety of other services available (pinterest, storify, g+, ...). It's always a great day when you can get together with a group of professionals that you respect and teach them something new. (And thank you to Karen and Leadership Monterey Peninsula for use of the conference room!)

Here's the thing though. Although I was pleased to present this workshop, and although I do offer social media planning and coaching services, I'm always hesitant to use the title "social media expert." As I told the group yesterday, "At the end of this session you will all be social media experts, for about three hours." Social media is such a constantly changing and evolving ecosystem that I believe it is a continual learning effort. Fortunately, I am fascinated by it and enjoy that effort. But I still realize that there is always more to learn.

I've been playing around with online communities in my personal life for nearly twenty years now. On a professional level, I got involved with nonprofit online discussions as a member of HandsNet around 1996. A few years later, I wound up working for HandsNet as the Director of Online Community Development. Since then I've continued to be an early adopter of many new platforms, including blogger, facebook, youtube, and twitter. But "expert"? ...

I hope to continue to learn and fascinated by social media, and I hope to continue to bring that experience and enthusiasm to my colleagues and clients in the nonprofit sector. But if you ever catch me using the title "Social Media Expert" please splash a cold glass of water in my face. Just try not to splash my iPhone, thank you.

Oh, and if you'd like a copy of my powerpoint slides from yesterday's presentation, just send me an email (contact info in the "about the consultant" section of this blog).

Why You Have To Do It Better

The "It" referred to in the title of this post is Social Media. And the problem is nonprofits who are under the impression that Twitter, Facebook, etc., are just about marketing. They think that it's just fine if their postings consist of nothing more than a sales pitch (or, in the nonprofit case, a donation pitch).

Nonprofits can be forgiven, somewhat, for thinking that way. After all, using the news feeds from many local small businesses as examples, that's what we frequently see. But there's a huge difference between, say, a local burger joint and a local food pantry.

Think like a consumer of social media: what benefit do you get from following either of these streams?

The local burger joint can get away with not being social on social media. If I subscribe/follow/like them, the benefit is clear: cheap food. Finding out what's on special, getting that coupon code, learning today's location of the food truck. If I'm getting any of that, I really don't care if they engage in conversation, or provide any information other than saving me a buck on good food.

But what added value do I get from subscribing/following/liking the local nonprofit food pantry? Being asked for yet another donation on an hourly basis? Where's that "unlike" button?

No, nonprofits don't have the luxury of using social media just as another advertising outlet. We have to use it correctly. We have to be social on social media. We have to constantly put our audience's needs ahead of our own.

Subscribe/follow/like others, and engage them in conversation about your area of expertise. Answer questions about your organization, its mission, and the issues that your programs address. Tell about your successes as well as your challenges. Thank your supporters and show how much they're appreciated. Find out what your audience wants to hear from you, and then provide it regularly and clearly.

Sure, you can mention where to donate, or plug your upcoming events or volunteer opportunities. But not every time you sit down to tap out an update. To get (and keep) followers - and turn them into donors later on - you need to figure out your value added proposition. Otherwise, it's just a lot of spam.

Simple Answer: Boredom and Burnout

I was just checking Twitter, and saw a question from @GailPerrync: "In general, only 1 in 10 donors keep on giving indefinitely. Why?"

Well, I'm sure Gail has her own well-researched reasons why, but the answer that popped right into my head was, "Boredom & burnout; not being shown how their $$ led to progress."

Think of it, year after year, you've been giving a particular nonprofit. And, year after year, their appeal letters have been pretty much the same. The children are still hungry, the water is still filthy, and they're still asking you for another $50. When does it get better?

It's been said a thousand times before, by many more famous nonprofit consultants than myself, but donors prefer to invest in success than to be guilted into giving, yet again.

Do the appeals your organization is sending out make these mistakes? Or are you first explaining what progress you made since your last ask, the results that money led to, and what exactly you'll be doing with the next donation? Did you remember to thank the donor, and let them know how instrumental they are in your continued success?

Or did you just tell them how awful everything has gotten, and expect them to still be paying attention?

Join the conversation over on Twitter - I'm there as NonprofitKenG.

The Engaged Board Member

Here's a bit from a twitter exchange between @npmaven, @alexandrapeters, and @GailPerrync:

"A perpetual question! ... but I always wonder, what does "engaged" mean for a board?"

Unfortunately, my answer takes a little more than 140 characters, so it will have to be a blog post.

My first thought on "engagement" is that it is demonstrated by involvement beyond speaking up at board meetings: committee work, volunteering for tedious tasks (envelope stuffing anybody?), sending out minutes on time...

But that's simply activity. To some extent, it's busy work. Engagement goes beyond that, to less tangible, but far more critical, elements.

For board members to be fully engaged, they should not just care about the organization, but about the cause. The nonprofit's mission must be something that touches them. Even if they weren't on your board, they would still be reading articles about the issues you work on, and discussing them with their friends, and doing so in a way that demonstrates both knowledge and understanding.

An engaged board member doesn't need to be asked twice to solicit their friends for a donation, and doesn't shrink and hide when asked to speak to the press or elected officials on behalf of your cause.

The engaged board member is an activist, an advocate, and a leader, as well as a hard worker who shows up on time having read the board packet before the meeting.

What does "engaged board member" mean to you? Post a comment here, or join in the conversation at twitter: I'm there as "NonprofitKenG."

Now Tweeting ...

First, a quick reminder that there's still a few days left to enter the 2010 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards. Each year I'm pleased to help promote this fun approach to encourage and recognize great marketing by our nonprofit community. This year - for the first time - organizations can enter a tagline for their program (product or service), fundraising campaign and/or special event, in addition to their organizational tagline. But hurry, the entry deadline is July 28 - See http://bit.ly/cQjUsw to enter now.

Since my posting here a couple of weeks ago, taking a nonprofit to task for "over-tweeting," it has come to my attention that I am not "practicing what I preach" or modeling proper twitter behavior or, frankly, even tweeting at all from an account associated with my consulting practice. I've been on Twitter for a few years with a personal account, but I've kept that separate from my professional life.

Well, that is being corrected. I have opened a second twitter account - #NonprofitKenG - for professional purposes. I will be tweeting about nonprofit issues, news, and ideas, as well as linking back to this blog when new posts are added.

To see if I follow through on my own tweeting advice, simply go to twitter.com/NonprofitKenG and click on the "Follow" button.

"I had to unfollow because..."

From time to time I've used this space to encourage nonprofit organizations to use social media to help get their message out, connect with supporters and community, and engage in conversation. A good social media strategy can include all or any of blogging, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or any number of other platforms.

Last year, to the question of "Should Your Nonprofit be on Twitter?" I answered an enthusiastic, "Yes!" But in that posting, I emphasized that "Twitter requires listening, as well as frequent posting," and that ignoring that warning could cause your social media strategy to backfire. Yesterday, it did backfire for an organization I was following.

This organization had always had a habit of tweeting in spurts, posting five to ten links or comments at a time, then nothing for 24 hours. I understood this, as the person doing the tweeting has many other duties as well, and she did a good job of listening and responding to others.

But what happened yesterday was a spurt of several hundred tweets within a three hour period before I had to click "Unfollow."

Regardless of how useful and valuable the information in a tweet might be, and regardless of what other benefits such a promotion might bring, she forgot to consider the effect it would have on those who are already their supporters and followers.

For me, it rendered Twitter useless for those several hours before I pulled the plug. Within the hundreds of messages from that organization, I lost messages from other groups and individuals, and there was no possible way to read all the tweets this one group was sending - nor could they have been paying any attention to replies during this period.

Overwhelming is not informing, and drowning out is not communication. Even well-intentioned tweets or emails can become spam when the tools are abused.

This morning, they have posted an apology and explanation, promised a return to "normal tweeting," and I have re-followed. But if my loyalty to this person and this organization had not been so strong, I would have un-followed quicker, and not come back.

So, how often should you tweet? As far as spurts, I'd say that if you need to tweet more than five times in a 30 minute period, or more than twenty tweets per day (not counting replies), you should have written a blog post instead.

A handful of useful tweets each day, plus responding to supporters tweets, keeps you part of the conversation and relevant, and - most important here - not annoying.

Should Your Nonprofit be on Twitter?

By now, I'm sure you've all heard of the micro-bloggging platform, Twitter. In a nutshell, micro-blogs - or "tweets" - are posts of 140 characters or less, typically answering the question, "What are you doing now?" Twitter is also the hottest thing going right now in terms of web 2.0 / social media. But is it right for your organization?

First, some of the criticisms of Twitter: "It's shallow." "It's vapidity to the point of depravity." "Who cares what you're doing right now?" And, when users take the "What are you doing now?" question too literally, those criticisms can be very valid. Posts of "Waiting for the bus," or "Just finished lunch, need to burp," are hardly useful or inspirational to anybody but the person who posted them.

On the other side, a few months back when a US Airways plane made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, Twitter got out the news quicker than any official media and carried the first photo of the evacuation of the plane. The presidential campaign of Barrack Obama demonstrated to community organizers worldwide how Twitter could be used to promote events, get out a message, and raise money for causes. But, again, is it right for your organization?

I personally love Twitter, and previously on this blog I've encouraged all nonprofits to use blogs and other social media as a communications tool. But on Twitter, I have to say that it may not be the best choice for smaller organizations who don't have staff dedicated to either outreach or public relations.

This is because the best use of Twitter requires listening, as well as frequent posting. One of the simplest, but most powerful, tools within Twitter is the reply post. Beginning a tweet with @(username) makes it a reply to that user.

If you're not prepared to quickly read and follow-up on replies to @yournonprofit, your use of Twitter could backfire. Rather than be seen as involved in the community and wanting two-way communication, you risk appearing out-of-touch or as putting yourself above your supporters.

For those organizations who have staff whose primary role is public communications, and who are tech-savvy, Twitter can be a great way to connect with potential supporters, organize activities, and (yes) raise needed funds.

But if Twitter is going to be an after-thought to an over-worked staffer who's focus is elsewhere, it's probably best to stick to traditional blogging for now. But, what you can do is encourage your supporters who are on Twitter to give you plugs (with links) on their Twitter feeds.