My presentation on Feb 29, 2012 to the North Shore Community College class, Social Media for Nonprofits.

1. CSP002–ACN 17510
Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits
February 29, 2012
North Shore Community College
JULIA CAMPBELL, MPA
978-578-1328
JCAMPBEL04@NORTHSHORE.EDU

2. GREAT TO MEET YOU!
 Where do you work?
 What is your experience with social media?
 What do you hope to get out of this course?

3. GETTING STARTED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
 What is social media and why is it important?
 Importance of a good nonprofit website – components
and characteristics
 Email Marketing- what makes a great email newsletter
and why it is vital to a nonprofit
 Blogging – what is a blog, how to set it up, how to create
content, why it is important
 Social media strategy and social media policies
(internal and external)

4. MANDATORY READING FOR NONPROFITS
 Information in this
presentation is taken
from:
 Social Media for
Social Good by
Heather Mansfield

5. WHAT IS “SOCIAL MEDIA”?
Think of regular media as a one-way street
where you can read a newspaper or listen
to a report on television, but you have very
limited ability to give your thoughts on
the matter.

6. WHAT IS “SOCIAL MEDIA”?
Social media, on the other hand, is a two-
way street that gives you the ability to
communicate too.

7. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
 Social Jumpstart put together a great infographic showing
just how much happens per minute on the social web.
 http://www.socialjumpstart.com/
 Here are a few tidbits:
 1090 Pinterest Visitors
 7610 LinkedIn Searches
 700K Facebook messages sent
 175K Tweets on Twitter
 2 million Youtube video views — WOW!!!

8. IMPORTANT TO NOTE
 You will need to be adaptable.
Technology shows no signs of
slowing down.
 You should not expect
customer service or help lines
(unless you are paying).
 Tools are low-cost, but not
FREE.
 Fear is counterproductive –
this is no longer new.
 Building communities is not a
waste of time.
 Less is more. Quality over
quantity.
 Just jump in!

9. YOU TAKE THE GOOD, YOU TAKE THE BAD…
Pros Not really free. (Sorry!)
Free! Requires time commitment
Can level the playing field – and certain level of skill.
budgets do not dictate Can be overwhelming.
success. Hard to measure ROI –
Successful nonprofits are takes time to build
now able to use these relationships and convert
tools to increase word- leads.
of-mouth. (Though this is changing…)
Increase genuine interaction
and relationships.
Cons

10. WEB 1.0 – THE STATIC WEB
YOUR
MESSAGE
HERE

11. SORRY WEBSITE GATEKEEPERS…
The frustrating,
time-consuming and
expensive model for
website creation and maintenance
is now completely
avoidable and
totally unnecessary.

12. 4 MUST-HAVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A
NONPROFIT WEBSITE
1) Easy to use CMS (Content Management
System) – WordPress, Joomla!, SquareSpace
 Customizable themes
 Ability to incorporate a blog
 There are some ―one stop shops‖ that offer
everything – Blackbaud, Donor
Community, Convio

13. 4 MUST-HAVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A
NONPROFIT WEBSITE
2) Good writing.
 2-3 sentence paragraphs – one idea per
paragraph, 100 words or fewer
 No rambling, cliches, fluff, jargon
 Spelling
 Grammar
 PRECISION

14. 4 MUST-HAVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A
NONPROFIT WEBSITE
3) Professional graphics and photos.
 Strong visuals
 Graphic design (banner for the top of the
website, blog and email newsletter, Donate
Now/Subscribe buttons, social media icons)
 Start a digital library
 Purchase stock photos

15. 4 MUST-HAVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A
NONPROFIT WEBSITE
4) Simple, consistent
navigation.
 Consistency is key!
 All pages the same
dimensions
 All photos the same
size and in the same
place

16. WEBSITE DESIGN BEST PRACTICES
 Simple, visually powerful home page
 Avoid clutter and too much scrolling!
 Consistent design
 Limit colors to 3 or 4
 Short paragraphs
 2 or 3 column layout
 Subscribe to e-newsletter
 Social media icons
 Donate Now button on every page
 Host your blog within your website
 Donate Now button prominent

17. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENCE - WEBSITES
 http://www.idex.org/
 http://cure.org/
 http://afaint.org

18. 5 MUST-HAVES FOR A “DONATE NOW” PAGE
 It has your organization’s branding and colors
(not PayPal or Google Checkout)
 Give donors to ability to opt-in to your email
newsletter
 Give donors the option to give monthly or
quarterly
 Give donors the option to give in honor of
someone or as a gift
 Expediency and ease!

19. ONLINE DONATION VENDORS
 Network for Good
 JustGive.org (operated by Guidestar)
 Blackbaud, Convio
 What about PayPal?
 Some people don’t trust PayPal
 No branding options
 Technical issues
 People think they have to create
an account
 Small potatoes

20. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE E-NEWSLETTER
 Email is NOT DEAD.
 Email is the only tool used by large numbers of
people from all generations. – Pew Research
Center’s Internet & American Life Project
 NOT simply an electronic version of your print
newsletter!
 Must be able to scan it quickly
 Call to action
 News story
 More like an ―e-bulletin‖

21. DO NOTS
 Do not send through Gmail or Outlook
 Do not send more than two per month.
 Do not get discouraged – 20% open rate is
considered average in nonprofit sector.

22. E-NEWSLETTER BEST PRACTICES
 KISS (Keep it simple, silly!)
 500 words or less
 One to two news items
 Donate Now button and
Social Media icons
 Make it personal
(we/us/together)
 Make it sharable
 Screenshots of videos
 Send test versions
 SUBJECT LINE!
 Don’t/do send it like clockwork

23. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENCE –
E-NEWSLETTERS
 http://www.care.org
 http://www.oceana.org

24. WEB 2.0 – THE SOCIAL WEB

25. BEFORE YOU START, GET ORGANIZED
 Define your goals and objectives.
 Raise money?
 Secure new volunteers?
 Increase website traffic?
 Build online brand?
 Foster social good?
 Create social change?
 Write down 5-10 goals for your social media
campaign.

26. BEFORE YOU START, GET ORGANIZED
 Create a Social Media ROI spreadsheet
(uploaded to Pipeline)
 Receive Google Alerts and New York Times
alerts for your nonprofit and your industry
 Secure all Vanity URLs
(facebook.com/jcsocialmarketing)
 Save usernames and passwords!
 Need a square version of logo for avatars
 Learn basic HTML
(http://www.diosacommunications.com/htmltipshe
et.htm)

27. BEFORE YOU START, GET ORGANIZED
 Social Media Dashboards
 Schedule in advance
 Monitor topics
 HootSuite
 Remember, it is always most effective to login
and monitor each site individually.
 Get buy-in from Executive Staff.
 Follow organizations with similar missions and
programs.
 Follow other local organizations (no politicians!!)

28. SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY (INTERNAL)
 Samples at Pipeline
 Should provide basic guidelines to staff members
and volunteers
 What is appropriate to post
 Overview of privacy and legal issues
 General rules about using social media during office
hours
 Message should be one of education and
empowerment, not control and restriction.
 Short and sweet.
 Big picture!

29. SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY (EXTERNAL)
 Samples at Pipeline
 To post on your Facebook Page (Info), LinkedIn
Group, anywhere people are interacting.
 Guidelines for your online community
 What will be deleted
 No spam

30. WORDS OF WISDOM
 ―Asocial media policy needs to be a living
document. It isn’t a bunch of boilerplate written
by a lawyer that sits in a drawer. Training and
education must accompany the policy – and of
course there must be a culture of
learning, not blame.‖
 Beth Kanter, The Networked
Nonprofit, www.bethkanter.org

31. BLOGGING
 ―Our blog is the hub of our organization’s
social media strategy. It provides us an easy
way to tell our stories on Facebook and
Twitter, and because our blog posts are more
personal than press releases and Web page
text, it really allows people to get a sense of
who we are as people, and not just who we are
as an organization.‖
 Allison Palmer, director of digital initiatives, GLAAD
(Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)

32. BLOGGING – IT’S VITAL!
 It’s not blogging like
it’s 2005 – no long
editorials please!
 Add a human
voice.
 Once or twice a
week is just fine.
 There’s always
room for a well-
designed, well-
written blog.

33. BLOGGING ADVANTAGES
 Old news gets ignored.
 Allows your nonprofit to have a
consistent stream of
fresh, timely new content for
social media!
 Tell your stories
 Comment on breaking news
 Share resources
 Grow number of fans and
followers.
 Improves SEO!
 Helps build your e-newsletter
list.
 Valuable statistics and data
 Keywords searched, referral sites

34. BLOG DESIGN BEST PRACTICES
 Integrate with your website
 Feature ability to subscribe to e-newsletter and
join social networking communities
 Limit the widgets!
 Consistency with each blog – photos same size
and in same place, same font, same colors, same
size fonts, etc.
 Allow Comments, but MODERATE.
 Add Share functionality
 Add Search functionality

35. BLOG CONTENT IDEAS
 Before starting, create a
calendar.
 Share and comment on
breaking news.
 Post calls to action.
 Share
stories, photos, videos
 Event recaps (visual!)
 Organizational updates
 Stories from the field

36. BLOG CONTENT IDEAS
 Interview experts
 Allow Guest
Bloggers to Post
 Share Resources
 Share Useful Tips
 Solicit feedback and
direction from your
supporters
 Write numbered
lists!
 Highlight special
donors, volunteers

37. 9 IDEAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
A NONPROFIT BLOGGER
 Does not need to be a
professional writer
 Be confident
 Be curious
 Be disciplined
 Be gracious
 Have a thick skin
 Be organized
 Have some SEO and
HTML knowledge
 Enjoy social media!

38. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENCE – BLOGS
 http://www.charitywater.org/blog/
 http://www.itgetsbetter.org/blog

39. RESOURCES
o Google for nonprofits -
http://www.google.com/nonprofits/
o HubSpot.com
o SocialMediaExaminer.com
o Mashable.com
o Beth Kanter – http://www.bethkanter.org
o John Haydon – http://www.johnhaydon.com