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How Small Nonprofits Light Up Social Media

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Are you a small nonprofit organization, based in a single community?  Congratulations: you have natural advantages when it comes to social media.

What are your advantages?  The same strengths that social media maven Mark Schaefer sees for small businesses–only more so.

Local angle.  “I could care less about a tweet from a mega-brand,” Schaefer writes, “but I would certainly be interested to get to know a local shop owner in a personal way.” The people you serve, their families, your staff and Board, their families and friends, your city council, your school committee, and all your donors and volunteers are interested in you in real life.  They might be interested in you on Facebook or Twitter, too…but only if you show you’re interested in them.

Personal touch.  As a small nonprofit, you can know more of your supporters personally.  This one is always talking about raising a biracial child.  That one prides herself on her mouthwatering vegetarian recipes.  When you can provide useful information on a subject they care about , your supporters will notice.  (And they will always appreciate a compliment!)

Relationships. Businesses, and large nonprofits, are tempted to look at everything in terms of ROI, Return On Investment.  They miss the intangible results that small nonprofits perceive. If your supporters are telling you, “I loved that picture you posted,” or if they’re sharing information that you put out, or if municipal officials are treating you with more respect, you know you are building loyalty that will help you sooner or later.

Don’t Hide Your Light

“But I don’t know how to use social media,” you say.  “And I don’t have the time.”  You do know how to be social in real life, right?  A good consultant can train you on how to do social online.  A consultant can also help you use your time to best effect, or you can pay him or her to be your online voice.

Is it worth it?  Using social media well means getting closer to the people who matter most to your organization.  Yes, that’s worth doing.  You are ideally positioned to do it.  Go ahead: let your light shine!

Should You Worry about SEO?

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You get them by email.  You see them as comments on your blog.  You read them through the Contact Us section of your website.  And they want you to worry.

They’re the SEO fearmongers.

My wife Rona Fischman opened an email that began politely, “I thought you might like to know some of the reasons why you are not  getting enough search engine & social media traffic on your website.”  It went on–mostly in bold blue font that screamed from the page–to list the same useless advice that she and I have both seen from search engine optimizers over and over again.

Why useless?  Because it’s generic.  The fearmongers don’t know you and they don’t know your audience.  Here are three reasons not to worry about SEO:

  • You might not need to be found.  If you’re a nonprofit, these days you may already be serving more clients than you can handle!  If you’re a referral-based business, random searches are the equivalent of cold calls.  They’re low-percentage sources.  Why attract people who may never do business with you when you can spend the time and money attracting people who already want your services?
  • Social media may do better for you than search.  If you do need to be found, wouldn’t you rather be found in good company? People are not just Googling “realtor” (for instance) and calling the first on the list.  Instead, they’re asking their friends to recommend someone.   Facebook or Yelp may be more important to you than Google or Bing.
  • What do they find when they get there?  Improving the content on your website may get you better results for less money than increasing the number of people who ever happen to take a look at it.  Spend your resources on content creation and content marketing.

You shouldn’t worry about SEO–but paying just a little bit of attention to it might be worth your while.  Here’s a piece I wrote about “How To Get Found: SEO and the Small Nonprofit.”  It includes ten tips on getting more eyeballs to your site.  But most of them are not SEO.

Don’t worry, be effective!

The Tao of Twitter, for Nonprofits

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Author Mark W. Schaefer

Mark W. Schaefer, author of The Tao of Twitter

I started tweeting about nonprofit communications a year and a half ago. I would say, “The Tao of Twitter is the book I wish I had read back then,” except that might give you the impression it’s only for beginners. That would be untrue.

The Tao of Twitter is basic in the sense that it focuses on the basis underlying all successful social media–and a lot of life.

1. Targeted connections. “Systematically surround ourselves with people likely to want to know us, learn from us, and help us.”

2. Meaningful content. Write, blog, and tweet for the people you want to reach. Make sure what you say will be important to them.

3. Authentic helpfulness. Don’t sell. Connect. Find ways to help without already seeing (let alone asking for) a favor you can get in return.

One-third of the book elaborates these principles. One-third tells you how to put them into action through Twitter. And one-third tells you how to build on the basics and succeed.

Nonprofit organizations are in an especially good position to practice what Mark Schaefer preaches in The Tao of Twitter.  We may call it outreach, coalition-building, collaboration, or whatever, but acting together with a mission in mind is in the nonprofit DNA. Doing it online is just a natural outgrowth of what we do already.

Nonprofits know a lot about our subject matter, too.  When we write, blog, or tweet in order to be useful to our community, it does more for us and our reputation than if we blow our own horn.  The nifty new name for this approach is content marketing, but it’s how nonprofits have always made our reputation.

So I encourage you to read this slim book, then decide whether Twitter is the right medium for you.  And if it is, tweet me…and Mark.  I’m sure both of us will be happy to hear from you!

 

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