Using Social Media to Meet Non-profit Goals and Engagement

Using Social Media to Meet
Non-profit Goals…
What’s Your Grade?

B Blueprint Creative Group

Blueprint Creative Group | BlueprintCreativeGroup.com | E: info@BlueprintCreativeGroup.com | P: (305) 741-0378

What to expect…
 Going social
 Where does your non-profit fit in?
 Facebook is king!
 Posting is not engagement!
 Who’s on your team?
 Understanding Social Audiences
 Where does it hurt?
 Rubbing the magic genie
 Making the case for Twitter
 Non-profits who get Twitter right
 Do you look like this?
 Ponder on this
 Social Faceoff: Facebook vs Twitter
 Who we are

Blueprint Creative Group | BlueprintCreativeGroup.com | E: info@BlueprintCreativeGroup.com | P: (305) 741-0378 Page 2

Going Social
So you have a social media plan, right? Well, if your non-profit organization is like the majority of others, your greatest
challenge probably has a lot to do with getting the most out of social media. More specifically, how do you use Facebook,
Twitter, and the various other social media platforms to build cause awareness? How can social media be used to fundraise
in support of your organization’s development goals? Is the Return on Investment (ROI) substantial enough to make social
media worth the time? How can you extend your reach and connect with new audiences and create additional layers of
engagement for current supporters?

At the time of this writing, Facebook has recently implemented a few changes that will have a significant impact on how a
large majority of non-profits use Facebook for marketing and promotional purposes, and many other changes (or
improvements as Facebook calls it) are underway. So if Facebook has been the biggest awareness tool that your non-profit
has used, how will you adapt and adjust your current use?

With an estimated 177 to 190 million Tweets sent per day (yes, that many) and close to 500,000 new Twitter accounts
created every day, what chunk of the Twitter pie is your non-profit chewing on? As revealed in the results of the survey of
non-profit executives, that piece of the pie is pretty small and many are overlooking the opportunity to connect with new
audiences who can potentially become ambassadors and evangelists for your cause.

What about Google+ with more than 25 million users and the fastest social network to reach 10 million users in 16 days
(Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852)? Is this even in your radar along with YouTube (with over 92 billion page views
per month) and the countless other social media networks available to your organization?

This whitepaper investigates how mid-size to large non-profits are currently using social media as an integrated component
of their overall marketing and cause awareness strategy. Through qualitative surveying conducted via phone with senior
level executives, marketing directors, and development officers, the study gathered insight on current level of engagement
and the result thereof and weighed that against how they thought they should actually be engaging social media audiences.

The findings of the survey offer insights on how non-profits can optimize their social media engagement so that it is
seamlessly integrated into their marketing strategy. The implications will hopefully drive non-profits from experimentation
to actual implementation.


Where does your non-profit fit in?
Facebook is still king!
For many non-profits, Facebook is like your favorite pair of shoes. You know there are
plenty of other choices available to you but you will wear this one out until you can’t
If Facebook were a
anymore. country it would be
When asked which of the commonly used tools their organization was actively using- the 3rd largest.
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blog, video sharing sites, and/or photo sharing sites- an
overwhelming majority of respondents, more than 95 percent, said they were most active on
Facebook. In fact, most if not all of their social media efforts were heavily focused on Facebook.
Those who responded to being active on the other sites admitted to their activity being limited to
simply maintaining a profile and making periodic posts. The reason why? Most non-profits felt like Facebook allowed more
personal interaction with current and prospective supporters and was much easier to implement than say, Twitter.

According to the infographic on the following page, it’s quite obvious why non-profits prefer Facebook with the social
network laiming over 63 percent of the social media market share and 310 million daily unique visitors. Surprisingly, Twitter
only has about 1.15 percent of the social media market share, and that’s probably because Twitter is still dominated by early
adopters.

Other interesting Facebook stats:

 Facebook has over 500 million users
 Facebook has added over 400 million users in less than 2 years
 If Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest
 One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook
 People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
 Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site
 30 billion pieces of content is shared on Facebook each month
 The average Facebook user has 130 friends
 California is huge on Facebook with over 15 million users (41% of the population)
 70% of users live outside the USA
 Women aged 55 and up are the fastest growing Facebook demographic in the USA
 Australian’s spend more time per month on Facebook than any other country at over 7 hours on average


Facebook is king!

*Search Engine Journal


Posting is not engagement!
Perception is not reality!
When asked how well of a job their organization does at using the more commonly used social media platforms (Twitter,
Facebook, video/photo sharing sites) to 1) build cause awareness, 2) connect with new supporters, 3) solicit online
donations, and 4) cultivate supporter relationships, the common response was that their organization was doing above
average except when it came to fundraising through social media, which many still struggle with.

However, when asked to describe their level of activity and how they engage
For the most part, many their online community, many admitted that it was all 1-way with little
interaction with followers. As explained, their activity was limited to maybe 1-2
non-profits are just Facebook posts on an average day and maybe a handful of Tweets in a week if
scratching the surface that. As part of the research, we dug further and analyzed the Facebook pages
and experimenting with and Twitter profiles for each responding non-profit and the proof was definitely
in the pudding. Non-profits simply aren’t engaging their community enough, yet
social media. they believe that posting is engagement. For the most part, many non-profits are
just scratching the surface and experimenting with social media.

Consider these stats
by KRG Research


Who’s on your team?
Sounds familiar?
Part of the survey was to uncover how non-profits were managing their social
media efforts to understand the level of strategy that went into planning and
execution. We also wanted to identify who within the organization was
leading social media- a specific business unit, a specialist, or completely
handled externally. What we found was no surprise but also still surprising
nonetheless.

For larger organizations with annual operating budgets of more than $10
million and a communications department, social media was obviously
managed internally by their communications department. However, that’s
just the only difference between these larger organizations and smaller ones.

For the most part, many non-profits indicated that social media was managed within fund development. Can you believe
that? What does fund development know about communications, and how in the world will they strategically position
messages and engage a diversity of audiences? Apparently, many of these same organizations are of the school of
thought that as long as one knows how to post messages in 140 characters then they are qualified to manage and direct
the organization’s social media strategy. No wonder fundraising on social media has been a tough challenge.


Understanding Social Audiences
Who are you speaking to?
Now there are a few reasons why social media should be managed and directed by someone with deep understanding of
digital engagement, but we’ll just mention the most important reason for now and elaborate later in this paper. What we
found while conducting this survey is that non-profits get in where they fit in. In other words, they jumped on the social
media bandwagon because it was almost necessary, assigned someone to ‘do it,’ and sat back waiting for results…and most
are still waiting. What this leads to is social media mass marketing. With today’s complex marketing environment you
wouldn’t dare think about mass marketing in the physical world. So why do it in the virtual world?

Did you know about the
different social media
audiences?


Understanding Social Audiences
So again, who are you speaking to?
Understand this. Facebook, Twitter, and the like is not a strategy- they are simply tools to connect with audiences.
However, these tools and how you use them do need to fit into your overall marketing and communications strategy, and I
would hope that there is an integrated approach with how social media fits in.

So again, who are you speaking to? You have a clear understanding (hopefully!) of your key audiences to be engaged and
outreached to as part of your marketing strategy. I’m also certain that your communications approach is different
(hopefully!) for each key audience group whether it’s donors, volunteers, supporters, prospects, policy makers, partners,
industry, etc. So does your organization approach your social media communications in the same manner?

As an example, if you find that your Facebook community is dominated by Creators and Spectators while your Twitter
following is mostly Conversationalists, how is this reflected in your social media strategy? More specifically,

 For Creators, how does your social media strategy empower them to create content specific to your cause?

 Alternatively, for audiences more likely to consume media than create it (Spectators), why type of low-engagement
social media tactic are implemented to inspire activity within their comfort level and at least get them to respond to
your messages?

 For Conversationalists on Twitter, are you doing more talking or listening? How are you engaging this audience
segment so that they stay engaged and you remain at the forefront of their conversations? Conversationalists are
important because of their potential level of influence and ability to become an evangelist for your non-profit.


Where does it hurt?
What communications strategy do you believe the majority of non-profits
struggle with the most?
The overwhelming response to this question was the struggle to increase
awareness and visibility and improving donor relations. This is no surprise
considering how communications has implications for the strength of awareness,
Many non-profits
visibility, fundraising, and donor relations campaigns. The truth is that many non-
profits are overburdened, understaffed, and underfunded resulting in team
struggle to find
members wearing multiple hats. At some point this does create gaps and their voice.
inconsistencies with the communications pipeline.

Furthermore, when asked to rate the quality of their organization’s communications as it
relates to communications planning, media relations, development of marketing
materials, online communications, and communications evaluations/metrics, an
overwhelming majority of respondents rated evaluations/metrics and communications planning the lowest as being fair and
even poor. This is astonishing. If the communications plan is weak or isn’t filling the gaps and if communications programs
aren’t being evaluated and measured against benchmarks, then how do you move forward with building cause awareness,
soliciting donors, engaging supporters, and cultivating new supporter relationships?

What are your organization’s most pressing challenges related to PR?
Many non-profits struggle to find their voice. They have a general understanding of what their message is, but they haven’t
quite figured out how to summarize it so that it captures audiences instantly. Even when they do know their voice and what
makes them memorable, they don’t know how to tell their stories in a compelling way nor do they know how to create their
own stories. Even when they do know their voice and story, they don’t think media is interested either because their story
isn’t hot enough or because they lack access to media.


Rubbing the Magic Genie
If social media could solve one thing for your non-profit, what would it
be?
The responses to this question were as plentiful as there are social networking platforms to choose from. Some of the more
common responses are listed below followed by a case study on how social media is in fact helping non-profits achieve
their goals.

 Help us connect with younger audiences
 Recruit more volunteers
 Increase awareness for our cause
 Connect us with more donors
 Stay in the know with what other similar organizations are doing
 Help us promote our fundraising events
 Help us get more media
 Improve our external communications
 Raise more money
 Connect with external audiences
 Garner mass support for legislation, advocacy, etc.
 Increase traffic to organization’s website
 Mobilizing people as advocates

Isn’t social media already doing these very same things that non-profits said they would want
social media to solve for them?


Making the Case for Twitter
Facebook is good, but….there’s more!
As mentioned earlier in this whitepaper, Facebook is still king among the majority of non-profits. No news here. The news is
that you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to capture new audiences and to further extend your brand. Yes, Twitter is a
totally different beast. It’s fast, there’s a lot of clutter, and it’s coming at a hundred miles a minute. However, the active
people on Twitter are usually Creators and once engaged there’s an opportunity for them to help with your brand’s viral
ability.

Believe it or not, Twitter does have some advantages over Facebook. First, Facebook is more of a pull tool than it is a push
tool. Facebook’s rules of engagement limits how much you can say. Say too much and you will easily be ignored or even
worse, unfriended. Generally speaking, one to three posts max per day is a safe level of activity for Facebook. Engagement
on Facebook comes when you responded to other’s postings. However, when you’re a non-profit with a page, engaging
with followers isn’t the same given that you can only comment on postings made to your page. So with pages, engagement
has to be more strategic.

At the time of this writing, Facebook has disabled the ability for group owners to send messages and has also changed how
events are promoted. For a large majority of non-profits, Facebook’s event promotion feature was how attendees were
mobilized, but now Facebook has disabled message sending for events. News is that more changes are underway.

On Twitter, how you use it is wide open. You can be a chatter box if you like, post as much content as you want, and engage
with your followers as often as you like. Of course, there are rules of engagement, but the barriers are definitely much
smaller compared to Facebook. What I like most about Twitter is its list feature. Users are often organized into lists, which
makes it easier to identify how the Twitter community views and identifies them. For example, if your non-profit is listed a
few times in lists related to food banks then it’s safe to say that awareness is spreading for what your non-profit does. I also
like that I can organize followers into lists and can follow other people’s lists without having to actually follow the people on
my own profile.

For non-profits, you should love that Twitter allows you to more quickly distribute short bursts of information and trigger a
higher response if executed strategically. I love that Twitter allows you to keep up with what other likeminded
organizations are doing, which can be useful for your own strategies. Twitter also has a high sharing ability.


Non-profits who get Twitter right

Notice how Goodwill uses
Twitter lists to identify
partners and volunteers,
monitor key bloggers/media,
and stay connected to other
Goodwill locations. This
allows them to quickly scan
activity among their
stakeholders and add value
to the conversations. Also
notice how many lists
Goodwill is listed on, which
is a good measure of
awareness.



Charity: water is a
textbook case study of
how to do Twitter right
using global Twestivals to
raise $250,000.

Charity: water shows donors the
specific impact of their
contributions. Transparency is
monumental to their success.


The goal: Raise $10,000 in 48
hours

Tactics:

 Asked twitterers to tweet
their gratitude using the
hashtag #tweetsgiving
 Multiple initiation points
enlisted top Twitters,
bloggers, and their existing
community
 Recognized those who
donated over $100 with “Top
Turkey” designation
 Twitter campaign personally
connected community to the
theme of gratitude
 Went where supporters were

Results:

 3,000 gratitude messages
tweeted
 1,337 new twitter followers
 Tweetsgiving top trending for
48 hours
 15,830 page views from 7,563
visitors in 101 countries on
website
 107 press and blog mentions


Do you look like this?
These are your tools.


Ponder on this…
Questions to ask of your non-profit’s social media strategy
 How are you measuring the results of your digital engagement strategy against your non-profit’s communications
goals? What key metrics are you using to measure engagement, awareness, fundraising, etc?

 How are you integrating your organization’s social media efforts into your overall marketing strategy?

 Where, if at all, have you leveraged social media in support of the organization’s fundraising goals?

 Is your current level of social media efforts building your inner circle i.e. donors, supporters, advocates, etc?

 Do you know who you’re targeting online and have you activated them to action? What type of audience segments
are even following your non-profit on your social network profiles?

 Are you leveraging social media in support of your traditional media tactics?


Social Faceoff: Facebook vs Twitter
The discoveries of this survey have led us to further explore non-profit’s use of Facebook as opposed to Twitter. Part 2 of
this survey will result in a whitepaper that explores the following questions:

 Are non-profit organizations marketing laggards and
choosing to opt for more mainstream tried and true
marketing and communications approaches?

 What type of success have non-profits really had with
Facebook in terms of ROI and fundraising?

 What are the characteristics of non-profits who avidly use
Twitter as opposed to Facebook?

 Comparison of non-profits on Twitter vs Facebook and
their following and traction.

 Who generates more traffic to your organization’s
website: Facebook or Twitter?


Who we are
Blueprint Creative Group
For brands and non-profit organizations who want to improve their internal/external communications, have challenges
reaching new audiences, want to refresh their brand, and/or enter new markets, we refine their go-to-market strategies by
developing integrated communications programs that execute smart brand positioning, engage audiences more effectively,
cleverly shape audience perceptions and move them into action, use digital influence to drive online interactivity, and
strengthen visibility to drive bottom line sales and revenue goals.

Contact Us

(305) 741-0378 | info@BlueprintCreativeGroup.com | www.BlueprintCreativeGroup.com | @blueprintcg_pr


Using Social Media to Meet Non-profit Goals and Engagement

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