Creating Nonprofit Facebook Page

Hi Kimberly--

All the Facebook terms can be confusing: profile, pages, fans, friends, groups. t looks like you set up a profile page (as you would for an individual) instead of a fan page. This article from Wild Apricot does a good job of explaining what the difference between all of these is and walks you through how to set up a fan page. You can also look at our Facebook Resource page for more tips and how-tos.

Hope this helps--let me know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

Best,

Megan

Thanks! This helps a lot... I am going to spend sometime today looking at this...

Kim
www.endocenter.org

We're just setting up a presence on Facebook as a way to help promote both our work and our partners work (we are a non-profit that does graphic design and web development for other non-profits). We set up our own page and cause on Facebook and plan to link to (for example) groups that we have partnered with in some way, adding their FB pages as "favorites" on our page, and hopefully vice-versa.

I'm adding the TechSoup page as a favorite now. :)

CEDC's Facebook page | CEDC's Facebook cause

 We don't have a lot of fans yet but I think there is a lot of potential through FB. We'll see if it pans out.

What about transferring an account from Facebook Causes App to a Page?  ALchemical Nursery Project has a Cause that we have promoted and gotten up to about 112 members on, but it lacks functionality.  Any way to transfer those members over to a page?

~ Frank

www.alchemicalnursery.org

Hi Frank--

Good question. I did a little investigation, but didn't find a way that this could be done. I'm guessing there isn't a way to do it as there is with moving a group to a page because Causes is an outside application written for Facebook and isn't specifically a feature of Facebook (an thus, not supported by Facebook). However, the nice thing about a Facebook page is that you can easily add any existing cause(s) or new causes to your page. I'd suggest setting up the Facebook page, then add your Causes app to it and send an annoucement to everyone in the cause that they can become a fan of your page.

If I hear of a better way though, I'll be sure to post it here. If anyone else has a suggestion on this, please let us know.

Best,

Megan

Megan,

I am an intern for the YMCA of the inland Northwest and we have set up a facebook account, but we canceled it so that we can mull over the pros and cons of having it.  What would you say are some of the biggest challenges non-profits face by having an account on facebook?  We have a lot of big things happening in the near future and we realize that being on the largest social network in the world would be good for us, but we also need to be careful about who we associate with and maintaining the image of the YMCA.  Thank you! 

Aaron

Aaron, Also consider the geographic reach of facebook and your PMA.  You may want to set up a community not associated with MySpace or Face book but accomplishing the same type of communication that is more targeted to your local people and groups perhaps a blog type application.  Also Redwoods has some interesting articles on the social networking risks from the personal pages of employees.

Dave

Noted.  Thank you Dave!

Aaron

Aaron,

Please do continue to post about your progress and internal discussions about the value / risk of the social networking sites and the Mission of your YMCA.  I think there could be value to the local community with some of the social network environment,  however the reputation of the bigger social networks and the responsibility an individual has to exercise on their personal pages so as not to impact their career opportunities, can leave a confusing message if we use the same tool.

A story related by an executive about a phone interview with a job candidate, the exec told the candidate that their resume look great and related all the mission focus of the org. but he wanted to know how the candidate related the story told on the resume compared to the information on their social network page.  The candidate hung up the phone on the interview.

As part of our employment process we look for social networking listings and see what is public and if they are saying anything about their employer etc..

An alternative you may consider is to set up your own social network with a private provider like http://www.ning.com/ this would let you control your "friends" and your environment more than the public sites, the down side is your members would have to maintain ther pages in your world and their social network world.

We've had some discussion here, unfortunately you have the age gap issues of getting the people over 40 to under stand the concepts of social networking let alone the risks.

Dave

dwelp:

Please do continue to post about your progress and internal discussions about the value / risk of the social networking sites and the Mission of your YMCA.

I couldn't agree more! Aaron, you raise some great questions. The biggest value of Facebook from my own experience is the sheer number of users that are regularly on this platform. Facebook has by far been the best online channel to promote our events and campaigns and for getting people involved in our organization or finding out more about what we do. I've frequently have people attend in-person events who didn't know about our organization just by hearing about it on Facebook. There are also a number of new capabilities on the way for Facebook pages that present more possibilities for showcasing your organization. As Dave mentions, it's important to see where your constituents are online already & meeting them where they are & where others in their networks are. You definitely need to have a social media strategy or some sort of goal of what you are trying to accomplish, but also be open to experimenting and re-evaluating as needed. Regardless of what social media platform(s) you choose to use, I think the most important thing is to remember that social media is a 2-way conversation with your supporters that takes ongoing investment beyond just creating a page or a profile.

This article is a good one for determining whether social media is a good match for your org. I'd also recommend checking out this discussion that has some good insights on avoiding inappropriate comments on your social media site.

Best,

Megan

Megan/Dave

Your insight is much appreciated.  Right now I am in the midst of compiling a "pro" "con" type list for my organization.  My biggest concern with joining a social network is (as it was mentioned in several of the articles you linked) that we are going in with the wrong intentions.  It is very easy for us to view these networks as simply a way to raise brand awareness and create another meduim in which we can reach out to our audience to.  What I am getting from my research, and when I relfect on how I have used these networks personally, is that sites like facebook and myspace are more about maintaining and in some instances creating relationships with people.  My feeling is that by joining facebook as an organization you are telling people that you are accessible to them in more ways than before.  Being apart of these networks cannot just be casual endevour, it requires a much higher level of commitment than I originally imagined.  And there is a real strategy in how you go about maintaining and updating your online presence.  Again, the articles and your own experiences have been eye-opening and I very much appreciate them.

Thank you,

Aaron 

abowen09:

What I am getting from my research, and when I relfect on how I have used these networks personally, is that sites like facebook and myspace are more about maintaining and in some instances creating relationships with people. 

Very good point, Aaron. It really is about listening, not blasting a marketing message. Beth Kanter has this great post about listening techniques that helped me get my head around ways to do that efectively.

Best,

Megan

Megan:

I came across your post and thought you might be able to help me. I have a page for my organizations, but cant seem to figure out how to add my cause as a box on the left hand side to this page. Any suggestions?

I have the cause application on my page but i cant find a way to add the cause to my page (& not my personal profile)

any advice would be most appreciated! thanks!

Beckie

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Hi Beckie, let me look into that. I'll keep you posted!

Thanks! I look forward to hearing back from you!