Social Media 101

Web 2.0 overview
Google Alerts
Twitter
Blog
Facebook
Now what?
Today’s Agenda

Facilitating communication
Information sharing
Collaboration
Social-networking
Video-sharing
Wikis
Blogs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
What is Social Media?

Increase in time, but not (necessarily) money.
New way to connect donors and others interested in your organization.
Invite conversation instead of simply sending out press releases.
Encourage your supporters to really engage with you.
… and Why Bother?

You cannot CONTROL what people say about you.
However, you can INFLUENCE what people are saying.
But will I lose control of my message?
Once you decide on your social media outlet, consider setting a policy and deciding which staff or volunteers can speak on behalf of your organization.

LISTEN!
Where to begin

Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts

Google Alerts Choosing comprehensive alerts pulled from the web in general and included blogs.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets . Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter According to a Pew report, 19% of online Americans use twitter. As of October 2009.

Which one best describes you?

Before we talk about H ow , let’s talk about Why and When ….
Short snippets of information
Wanting to send out regular updates
Notify community of upcoming fundraising event
Easy to share responsibility among staff
To get quick news updates
Learn how other nonprofits are using it
You have 10 minutes available several days a week.

A better way to search is to visit http://search.twitter.com

I’m not quite ready for an account. Can I see what it’s about? Yes. Go to search.twitter.com

NOTE: All the listed tweets have the word “nonprofit”. In green, below the tweet, you’ll see Charleston, SC as the location of the “tweeter”. This is because we selected tweets in a Charleston zip code (29403).

http://twitter.com/TinaArnoldi/chsnonprofits You can also watch what other nonprofits in the Charleston area are doing by going to the web site listed below. This is a list Tina compiled of 50+ local nonprofit organizations on twitter.

Usernames:
Keep it short
Don’t use characters, such as underscore (if it can be avoided)
Don’t use numbers if your name is already taken (ex. Tina8534)
Consider using your first and last name (@TinaArnoldi)

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog ) is a type of website , usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

You can commit to posting at least once a month (preferably twice).
You have stories to tell.
You’ll take the time to monitor and respond to comments.
You have more than one person willing to commit.
You have quietly practiced blogging for a month.

You can drop in different “gadgets”

Getting Started
Read and comment on other blogs. It is about the message you are spreading more than where you are spreading it. (Two great ones are www.ccfblog.org and http://nptechnology.blogspot.com/  )
Decide on authors
Practice first before going live!

Set up an account

Well…. What do I write about?
What have I read lately? What points were interesting? Can I add more to it?
Who do I admire? Can I write something about them that explains how to emulate those traits?
What kinds of thoughts will inspire my audience to contact me (or support a cause, or buy your product, or support your interests)?
What do I want to know that I can ask my community?
Chrisbrogan.com

Facebook is a free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. [1] Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook Facebook is the 2 th most trafficked web site in the world!! Source: Alexa.com, 06/10

Someone on staff is already on Facebook, or is willing to set up an account.
If you are already blogging or tweeting, you can easily tie those posts into your Facebook page.
Are your donors and prospects on Facebook? Then you should be too.
Can someone spend 10 minutes on most days checking your page for new comments from “fans”?
There is a large number of potential prospects who may not know you exist.
You can invite people to events for free.

These three notes feed in from our blog.

Both
Allow discussions
Let you message all members (groups) and fans (page)
Allow picture exchange
Pages (Coastal Community Foundation)
Page category can not be changed *******
Pages can be customized with different applications (“widgets”), which
can't be added to groups.
Pulls in blog posts
Groups (Center for Women)
Groups make it a little easier to send out “bulk invite” & are a little better for viral marketing (meaning that group members can also send bulk invites to their friends).

A warning about privacy…

Measuring Return on Investment (ROI)
# of comments
# of friends, fans, followers, etc…
# of hits/views (Google analytics)
# of donations
# of new donors
# of new volunteers
# of new email addresses collected
$ raised

Now what…? I’m not sure I have time!
Set up a Google alert on your organization.
“ Listen” to people on twitter by going to search.twitter.com
Read blogs that interest you and comment where appropriate.
If you don’t already have a Facebook account, set one up, and see what other nonprofits are doing with pages and groups.

http://www.blog.tinaarnoldi.com	56
http://nptechnology.blogspot.com	18
http://xmlgrid.net	1

Social Media 101

by Coastal Community Foundation

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 75

Statistics

Social Media 101 Presentation Transcript