ONLINE EVENT: Overcoming obstacles

What's the biggest obstacle you are finding for using social media? Time? Resources? Concerns from your organization?

Part of my job at TechSoup is to figure out how TechSoup can help overcome technology obstacles of all kinds, including social media. Where might TechSoup be able to help with overcoming these obstacles?

Megan,

Time and resource management is a huge issue for non-profits - especially if specific goals are not established prior to jumping in.

Chris recently wrote a post on this topic called: The Art of Getting Things Wrong. Also see My Productivity Secret - The Joy of Flow State.

I wrote a post a couple of months ago called: How To Avoid The Social Media Time Suck.

Some tips that have worked for me:

• Use a timer. Set it for 30 minutes and focus on a specific task. For example, promoting my friend's articles on StumbleUpon, or reading and commenting on my favorite blogs.
• Turn of the phone. Obvious one.
• Only have one browser open. Don't toggle over to Youtube until the 30 minutes is up.
• Don't spend an hour on getting things perfect, when 70% will work. See The Art of Getting Things Wrong for more about this.

Another issue to consider are getting your advocates to work social media.

Great webinar today!

John

The biggest obstacle I'm facing is pure ignorance. I mentioned in a staff meeting that I was exploring the possibility of using social media (not plans to implement -- just starting to think about maybe exploring the possibilities of somewhere down the road -- you get the idea), and people just jumped all over it as a horrible idea from which nothing good could come.

Not that another single person in that room actually uses any kind of social media, but they all simply saw it as evil and wasteful. At this point, my biggest hurdle is overcoming preconceptions and horror stories that people are all too willing to believe rather than facts and actual experiences.

CIRwebmaster,

This is such a common problem - it actually gets me a bit peeved. It's almost like people 70 years ago saying "The telephone is evil. We should never use it - or get one! Our staff will be on the phone all day long... we can't afford it."

Here's my Dear Abbyish advice:

Is it in your heart? Ask yourself how much you care about the issues your fighting for. Forget your non-profit - are you passionate about THE CAUSE?

Get results first. Start a Facebook Group about that cause. Don't name the group "Acme Non-profit", name it: "Imagine a world where there are no hungry children" (insert your cause, but make it positive, not negative). Start engaging, inviting, connection and developing advocates for the issue. Then, in six months, walk into a board meeting and say: "Hey, check out the 3,000 people that want to support what we're doing." Wendy Harman from the Red Cross got results first, then approached management.

Stop complaining. If you're complaining about this to your friends and family, it will just erode your heart.

Think long term - 5 years. That's why my first point is crucial.

Hope this helps, please connect with me on Twitter so that I can keep up on what you're doing.

And thanks for attending today.

John

CIRwebmaster,

This is such a common problem - it actually gets me a bit peeved. It's almost like people 70 years ago saying "The telephone is evil. We should never use it - or get one! Our staff will be on the phone all day long... we can't afford it."

Here's my Dear Abbyish advice:

Is it in your heart? Ask yourself how much you care about the issues your fighting for. Forget your non-profit - are you passionate about THE CAUSE?

Get results first. Start a Facebook Group about that cause. Don't name the group "Acme Non-profit", name it: "Imagine a world where there are no hungry children" (insert your cause, but make it positive, not negative). Start engaging, inviting, connection and developing advocates for the issue. Then, in six months, walk into a board meeting and say: "Hey, check out the 3,000 people that want to support what we're doing." Wendy Harman from the Red Cross got results first, then approached management.

Stop complaining. If you're complaining about this to your friends and family, it will just erode your heart.

Think long term - 5 years. That's why my first point is crucial.

Hope this helps, please connect with me on Twitter so that I can keep up on what you're doing.

And thanks for attending today.

John

johnhaydon:

Time and resource management is a huge issue for non-profits - especially if specific goals are not established prior to jumping in

Agreed - and would add that from an executive perspective, some social media content and outlets are seen as doorways to organizational chaos. I'm not suggesting I agree with this perspective however it can present a very real obstacle.

Cheers, Don  

donc:

...from an executive perspective, some social media content and outlets are seen as doorways to organizational chaos. I'm not suggesting I agree with this perspective however it can present a very real obstacle.

Cheers, Don  

Don,

What has been your experience managing this obstacle? I'd be interested to hear what the obstacles were and how you dealt with them.

Thanks,

John

Hi John,

My first experience (many subsequent) of management uncertainty over social media occurred back in 1995. At the time I was tasked with managing a project to implement the web and community presence for one of our largest NPO's; potentially providing an online community for 70,000 volunteers and a larger community of interest of 2.5 million people.

After numerous meetings, presentations and representations we placed a pilot online and introduced it to the larger volunteer community-base... people began to use it... people began to participate and contribute... people began to speak their minds about certain aspects of the NPO... and senior management promptly pulled the site offline.

Lesson number 1 - Always make sure management knows what to expect when considering social media. It will open a very public doorway into the organization (whether acknowledged by SM promoters or not).

So the next part of this project was even more interesting - having been given a voice and had it so promptly taken away again many people simply moved to different forums and continued the conversations they had started; notably this time even less complimentary of the NPO and more in the public space.

We had opened Pandora's Box...

What followed was a lengthy process of rediscovery, albeit the process we probably should have commenced with (we really were one of the first large NPO's ever to travel this road so it was a huge learning curve) - We conducted interviews and surveys of what people wanted from a social media experience. We explained the implications to management, and we listened to management concerns. We created smaller pilots and involved all the NPO's stakeholders. We created structures able to address concerns raised in the public space so they wouldn't become wildfires. We involved people who could promote and educate on the online space.

What we really learned was that incorporating social media into an NPO was just as complex, and just as requiring of effective management and processes as any other significant initiative. We needed to do a lot of work. Social media, is media.

The good news - This NPO's web presence remains as one of the largest NPO Internet community's. I haven't been involved with it now for quite a few years however I do think all this preliminary effort (after our first crash) was worthwhile - What we did worked, but it was a tough learning curve for all involved.

donc:

...having been given a voice and had it so promptly taken away again many people simply moved to different forums and continued the conversations they had started; notably this time even less complimentary of the NPO and more in the public space.

Ouch!

Don,

Thanks so much for sharing this. Now I get what you meant by "organizational chaos".

Huge lessons here:

People will continue the conversation - no matter what.

Expectations about possible outcomes AND buy-in from management should be secured before rolling out a comprehensive social media effort.

Thanks!

John