How Large Non-Profits are Implementing Social Media

Why recreate the wheel when others have invented some amazing designs? There are several large non-profits out there who are using social media to their advantage and have created strategies into their fundraising agenda to make the most of this technological format. If it works for them, why not give it a try?

John Hayden writes on Razoo.com some practices that larger non-profits implement on a regular basis. “The Red Cross has 30 subject matter experts who devote 30 minutes to 2 hours each day engaging on social media around their respective areas of expertise… Elise LaPrade of Conservation International formed a social media team who meets each week to brainstorm content ideas and discuss various issues. Since the ASPCA hired a full-time social media person, they’ve seen significant growth of the Facebook Page and Twitter followers. The American Cancer Society encourages all staff to engage on social media. That might explain why they have so many mentions on Twitter. One factor that successful orgs share in common is that they approach social media strategically. They don’t just wing it.”

Now I know that not everyone can hire a full time social media manager or experts to devote two hours a day to social media, but it is still important to make your organization known using the web. You may want to consider writing one blog a week, posting on Facebook every other day or creating a monthly e-newsletter.

With the holidays coming up, this is the perfect time to advertise and inform your donors of upcoming activities and needs. Are you doing a toy drive? Do you want to suggest that parents adopt a dog for that picture perfect Christmas morning? Do you need volunteers to serve dinner at a senior’s center? Post last year’s pictures on your website or Facebook account to pull at some heart strings. Create an online fundraising website to get people involved while your organization is fresh in their mind. Fundly can help you make online donations easy with the click of a button. If donors hesitate to take action, they probably won’t do it.

It is so important to make a social media plan to use this effective tool to its full impact. While the initial costs are low, the results that could be had are immense. What you put in to it is what you’ll get out of it!