Special Guest Post from Sheetal Mehta, NESC Consultant
Social media can be very helpful in spreading the word about a nonprofit’s cause, given its vast reach, and a highly interactive and personal nature. It can also be a valuable fund raising tool, given that it’s also easy to connect offline events to social media.
Although social media accounts are free, they are not completely without costs.
They can require a significant amount of human capital to respond/interact with the stakeholders in a timely manner. Nonprofit organizations, often strapped for resources, should therefore focus on reaching the most valuable target audiences through the most engaging social media platforms.
By sharing content that’s relevant, interactive and interesting, organizations can involve the audience in the cause. Highly engaged audiences tend to be more loyal, donate more resources and spread positive word of mouth among others of similar profile. Thus, for social media programs to be successful, they should be built on a foundation of careful planning and strategy. Only then it is likely for the organization to derive a positive ROI from its social media efforts.
For learn more about social media and nonprofit, we recommend the following links as additional resources:
Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog: A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits, “11 Nonprofits That Excel at Social Media”
Nonprofit Quarterly, “Report Explores Nonprofit Social Media Trends”
Nonprofit Marketing Guide, “Need a Social Media Strategy? Start with These Three-Pronged Approaches”
Guidestar Blog, “Is social media right for your organization?”
