Recently I came across an interesting infographic made by Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, on how the most proactive and tech-savvy non-profits use social media. The main idea was to discover how their net income influenced the effectiveness of their social media strategy. Do non-profits get better results by having a bigger budget for their online interaction? The study had a lot of different numbers, characteristics and metrics to compare and analyze and the result was quite interesting. The research showed that 92 % of the top 50 nonprofits have at least 1 social media button on their homepage and the most popular ones are Facebook (92%), Twitter (90%) and YouTube (70%). The American Red Cross was the first early adopter on the list to create a Twitter account and now has 534 006 followers. PBS has the most followers on Twitter – 840,653, but is in the bottom quarter bracket on the list of net income.
So, the main outcome of this survey is that the income and time period of a social media presence don’t appear to be the main reason for non-profits success on social media. The most engaging social media channels do not necessary belong to the non-profit organizations that have more money to spend. As Craig Newmark says: “The deal is, it’s not about money, it’s about getting people to talk with each other to make people’s lives better”.
It’s definitely very inspiring research for charity organizations and non-profits who have less funding, but want to spread their message and get more followers by using social media. The question is how do non-profits successfully reach and engage their audience in order to build an internet community around their main purpose? Here are 4 key ideas on how non-profits can use social media to achieve their social goals.
1. Use a blog as the main diary of your organization. Focus on telling a dynamic and positive story about the work that you do, how it brings value to the society and how it’s important to be a part of your group.
2. Share your story through multiple social media channels.
3. Connect with active bloggers and twitter users in your area. Extend your outreach by building a relationship with your community.
4. Post pictures and video. Adding videos and pictures about the activists of your organization and the work that they do is a great way to create an emotional connection with your audience. Don’t forget to tag people on your videos and pictures on Facebook.
Remember, you don’ t have to have the biggest budget to have the greatest impact for your organization through social media.
What are you social media success stories done on a small budget?
Mariya Newman
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A NEW Social Media Lunch Session is coming up! We are extremely happy to invite business professionals to our VERY popular monthly lunch session on August 18, 2011.
Getting to the top of Google Search Results (which is known as search engine optimization) is one of the most important marketing tools for any business. There are 1,000,000,000 searches on Google every day, and if businesses are not on the front page of search results they are missing out on huge potential opportunities. Social Media can be one of the best drivers of search engine results, and this session will focus on how to help your website get to the top of search engines.
Many small business owners are getting more and more into social media. Social media has a tremendous impact on today’s marketing evolution. With the fundamental shift in the way we communicate these days it’s no wonder that companies want to be a part of this new conversation. Social media gives you a perfect opportunity to successfully market your business without spending millions of dollars! It’s a great way to build a community and gain recognition from your customers. While big corporations are trying to humanize their companies and show people behind their brand, most small business owners are already demonstrating their personality in day to day communication with their clients. Why not expand this humanized personal interaction with your clients through the vast and reaching world of social media?
7. Measure, Measure, Measure….and Adjust
During this extremely popular 2-day training class business professionals learn exactly how to use internet marketing and social media to grow their business. The course is designed for both the new to social media as well as the avid user. Social media is growing very fast and is not going away. With over 700 million users on Facebook and more people checking Facebook each day than listening to the radio or reading a newspaper, you can’t afford to ignore social media any longer.
Each month we’ll be hosting a one and a half hour lunch session that will cover different topics and trends in Social Media Marketing. We want you to stay on top of all the changes in the social media field, have your questions answered and be very successful in implementing your social media marketing strategy. The goal of Boot Camp Digital’s Social Media Lunch Sessions is to provide business owners, marketing professionals, ad agencies and other business managers with a full understanding of the social media landscape and with the latest updates in this quickly changing environment.
