Has your nonprofit's presence on an online social network been fruitful, disappointing, or neither? Has it been worth the time you have invested in it?
If your nonprofit is considering creating a presence on a social networking site,
Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites? can help you make the decision.
Joined on 08-20-2007
TechSoup Member
An interesting post, thanks for that :)
I have been working for an Australian organisation,
ANTaR for a year and a large part of my work is getting the organisation involved in social networks online. Your point #4 (You're not willing to deal with technologies that don't work as well as they could) couldn't be more true ... if an organisation wants to get involved in social networks, they need to employ a person who maintains relationships with supporters on these networks on a daily basis. Without ongoing attention to these networks, your participation in them won't be effective. After all, if you employ somebody to start and maintain relationships with your donors, why wouldn't you employ somebody to start and maintain relationships with your social network?
Social networks are just for people in their teens and twenties, the age demographic varies between each of the tools. I have found that some of our most active supporters on social networks are in their 30's, and our friends on MySpace are more engaged with us than our friends on Facebook.
I think the days have gone when a web strategy should focus solely on an organisation's website and email bulletin. Unless you're trying to attract people for a very local organisation, or only people over the age of about 45, your organisation should seriously consider incorporating participation on social networks in your web strategy. Don't sit back and wait for people to visit your website, go out and introduce your organisation to people online so they know you exist :)
Cheers,
Priscilla
(blog)
www.solidariti.com
(campaign)
ANTaR
You have give it time. You can expect to jump in and give up after a couple weeks.
I ran a little experiment for an organization I'm on the board of it - and what happened is that I connected with some so called wired fundraisers who passionate about our cause and started to help fundraise on social networking sites where didn't have a presence.
More about the experience
here and
here
Joined on 11-10-2004
TechSoup Member
Social Networking will soon become the "next" technology. Microsoft is teaming up with Facebook and Google with MySpace - Social Networking will impact everyone.
The question is how you permit it to impact your business, school, or ministry.
We looked for a few years before I finally made the decision to build our own. It's completely locked down. Reference checks are done before memberships are permitted. And we create the accounts to ensure the best protection possible from social engineering scams.
We use it as an educational tool teaching kids the appropriate use of high tech toys and personal information as well as just for fun!
Check it out at www.DailyChristianLife.org
Regards,
Joe Frost
Director of Technology
Dept. Chair Technology
Phoenix Christian Unified Schools
602-265-4707 x273
Joined on 08-20-2007
TechSoup Member
Sorry, I meant to say "Social networks are NOT just for people in their teens and twenties ..."
I agree with Beth - you have to give social networks *a lot* of time. You should allow for at least a year of regular social networking before deciding whether or not it's advantageous for your organisation. Any relationship-building takes a lot of time, and the stronger your organisation's relationship is with supporters, the more willing they are to give (money, skills, ideas, etc).
http://www.antar.org.au's work on MySpace has been most successful of all the tools we've tried. We have nearly 700 friends now, most of whom were not members before they joined us on MySpace (that's a lot for an organisation with only 4 paid staff!). Our MySpace page has been going for nearly a year. From it, we have new volunteers, potentially a regular radio interview slot, high-profile people spreading the word about us, and our combined social networking activities has increased our monthly website visitors by 300% in that time.
Joined on 02-01-2005
TechSoup Member
Thanks for this excellent article on social networking. I think that you have it exactly right. It isn't yet ready for prime time but has some interesting possibilities. It isn't worth putting a big investment in, but for some nonprofits with a youthful base it may be worth getting your feet wet.
I have begun to use the question feature on LinkedIn and have found it a great resource. It is inappropriate to use for fundraising but has advocacy possibilities.
Marion
marionconwaynonprofitconsultant.blogspot.com
Priscilla,
Thanks for the year estimate. I've been hearing a minimum of 3-6 months - it takes time for the viral effect to kick in.
Joined on 12-19-2007
TechSoup Member
There are a number of solutions out there that should lighten if not eliminate the technology and financial burden of introducing a social network - like Ning and in2commmunity - which would allow you to focus in on the marketing and promotional side of launching a social network. There are a few simple things to start with - make sure there is a link from the main navigation of your website if you are putting it on an existing one and a simple email to inform your members that you have created a new community for them to check out would get the ball going. Like with all web initiatives, make sure you include the URL on all on and off line correspondence that you send out to drive traffic to it.
Joined on 01-13-2008
TechSoup Member
[duplicate message deleted by admin--please see this
thread]
Joined on 01-14-2008
TechSoup Member
I led a large, non-profit that was largely run by undergraduate students at thirty universities around the world. Of course, everyone had Facebook accounts, and it was immediately the best way to casually stay in touch one-to-one. It helped to see how we were all connected, and if any opportunities existed for marketing or getting in touch with third parties.
More than that, however, we learned that it was a great way to market the entire non-profit as one organization. As soon as Facebook became global (or public), we were able to create a group where all members of the non-profit could join. This not only put faces to names internally and externally, but it showed others that we were not kidding that we had hundreds of members around the world. They could look us up and count the individuals to see for themselves.
Ultimately, it's not the best tool for getting started or everyday use, but it's handy for networking here and there, and establishing a presence in a very global, growing community of social networkers.
Best,
--
Mizel
Joined on 01-31-2008
TechSoup Member
I am curious if people think that social networking as it pertains to Facebook and MySpace is a viable marketing tool for the long-term? Do you see many conversions or donations via this type of social networking? I personally hesitate to give too much weight to MySpace and Facebook, etc. when they are sites that are more about the "me" and less about organizations. It's one thing to get a bunch of "friends" - it's another to see results from that group.
Joined on 03-21-2001
Los Angeles
I saw
this new "Ribbit" service yesterday. Includes "Caller ID 2.0 - dip into the social web and know not just who is calling but what the caller has been doing."
I don't know if I like this idea. I see little or no benefit to letting people I call on the phone know what I've been doing in other activities. (To put this in context, I withdrew from Facebook, and covered my tracks as much as possible, soon after trying it. And a lot of what I do on the www does not have my name on it, and I'll be even more obscure if this idea becomes popular.)
An interesting article today on
Facebook fatigue.
Although the tone of the article is perhaps overly negative and dramatic, the author presents information from web analytics firm comScore showing that social networking sites are losing some of their luster. Membership is in the millions but growth has slowed and the amount of time that members spend at sites such as MySpace and Facebook is diminishing.
Feel free to draw your own conclusions about the significance of the statistics.
-ENO
Joined on 08-20-2001
San Francisco, CA and the web
Jesse, I share your concerns about privacy. However if you're looking at it in a strictly marketing perspective, it's exactly this kind of personal data, freely given of a large group of people that makes social network very viable as a marketing tool. I know recent efforts like the Giving Challenge on Facebook explored how nonprofits could very effectively raise funds using social networking platforms. I think it's still early in the game to have a lot of examples for long-term effectiveness, but I think online social networking in some form will be viable (even if the platform isn't necessarily MySpace or Facebook).
--Megan
Joined on 03-21-2001
Los Angeles
Megan,
I see that I was a bit off the topic, "nonprofit's presence on an online social network...." My response was from the personal perspective because we have not really tried social networking on behalf of the organization. I see a few reasons for this: (1) my organization has not yet developed a robust marketing effort, (2) I'm the only person here with interest in technology and I'm unable to get our marketing person to adopt a technology-oriented program, and (3) I feel so uncomfortable with marketing (and I already have too much to do) that I will not take responsibility for much of marketing.
I agree that NPOs should see and should selectively use the same marketing resources that other businesses are exploiting on the web. Maybe I should give serious thought to efficient use of social networking on behalf of the org, so that I could feel that I could afford the effort, but many commentators have said that it is a somewhat arduous task to establish a respected presence on a social network. (See, e.g., the first response in this topic, "if an organisation wants to get involved in social networks, they need to employ a person who maintains relationships with supporters on these networks on a daily basis.")
So my comment might be viewed as cautionary; this social networking thing is new and it is not going to be what it first appeared to be. I feel that the exploitation of social networking is almost like computer viruses; soon intelligent people will be doing all they can to protect themselves from it, which will really change the online environment.