The Ritter Group

When talking about nonprofits and the use of social media the focus is often around fundraising. This is valid given that nonprofits are businesses and they need revenue just like for profit businesses. Unfortunately focusing on fundraising with social media can lead people away form the basic premise of how social media is used, to build community. If a nonprofit does not know how to build community on social media, or does not focus on that goal they will not find success in fundraising through social media. This is the same concept as a business that focuses solely selling their products or services and not on building a community. People will ignore you, turn you off and choose not to follow you and you will not be successful in reaching your social media goals in your business for profit or non profit alike.

Here are some simple tips I have picked up along the way that can help anyone build community on social media:

1. Talk more about others than about yourself or your cause. A lot more! Like 10 times more about others. Seriously quite talking about yourself all the time or your cause because people will tune you out.
2. Look for people that you can follow who have similar cause interests as your nonprofit.
3. Create a blog that offers something that others will find valuable. If you are a nature nonprofit than create a blog about nature, getting outside, tips for staying active, etc. If you are a nonprofit that provides job training, perhaps your blog focuses on advice for career building. Be creative and think about how you provide value to others. What can you give them.
4. Ask questions. Everyone likes to feel important, so ask meaningful questions of the people who follow you. Those questions should not only focus on your nonprofit mission, but can be broad or very specific about simple things like computers software, service providers, etc.
5. Look for opportunities to promote what your followers are doing. Events, blog posts, good news, etc. When you promote others they will want to promote you.
6. Track and Monitor what people are saying about your general cause and your nonprofit through Google Reader & Google Alerts. You can find conversations happening throughout the social web and become a participant in what is being said.
7. Ask to meet people in real life to discuss the conversation deeper. These meetings should be scheduled with people you think could be strategic to the growth of your nonprofit or who have shown interest. You are not meeting to ask for money or volunteer time, just to get to know the person and establish a real life connection. Once you meet it will increase your connection online and will hopefully increase their interest in your organization offline too.
8. Use hashtags, search for relevant hashtags and follow hashtags that are relevant to your cause. Talk to people who are having discussions about your cause. For more information on hashtags click here.
9. Invest in a social media strategy. Bring a professional to the table to help you plan a strategy that makes sense to your organization. A social media marketing plan is a tool that every nonprofit should invest in. Planning will make a difference.
10. Comment on blogs. This is a great way to get known in the social web. You should keep track of where you are commenting and follow up as the discussion continues.
11. Help connect people who would benefit from knowing one another. Social media is just like networking in real life. If you connect two people who benefit from knowing one another believe me they will remember you and your organization.
12. Ensure your online presence is neat, professional, clean and consistent in all places. Your website should be your hub and connect people to all your other social networks. Invest in your website. Invest in your digital presence. This is the future and it is here now! Don’t leave your web design to a volunteer or amateur. Your website is the go to place for all communications. Make sure people feel you are professional, organized and worth investing time, money and energy in.
13. Produce good content. Have keyword research done and make sure you think of your messaging and create content that is consistent with both. People like to share good content and when they share something you say it will help grow awareness about your organization.
14. Be willing to keep learning new things. Social media is a new frontier and you need to constantly be willing to attend webinars, seminars, social media meet-ups and other events that you can learn from. You need to be following blogs that talk about social media and understand what is happening in this ever-changing landscape.

These tips apply to all businesses, whether non-profit or for-profit. You have to engage in the social media, be active and interact with other users. If you simply create a Facebook page, Linkedin profile, Twitter account or other social media account and you don’t do anything to engage with the other users you will fail. Social media is not about pushing a message about yourself out, it is about interacting with others, finding people who have similar interests and sharing your interests. So jump in, engage and be social…your community is waiting for you.