How To Break Into Social Media: A Cheat Sheet

Creating an online presence isn’t a fast process; it takes time, work, and attention. Whether you’re a social entrepreneur, a nonprofit, or a grant-making foundation, getting online is a critical and money-saving step to significantly increase your promotional efforts and public relations profile.

But How Do I Get Good at Social Marketing?
Social marketing is best done by employing copious amounts of extroversion and diligence! That said, here are a few tips for those starting out (and a few reminders for those who are already in the mix).

• Dedicate Resources: Even though there are enough anecdotal statistics these days showing that an online presence is worth spending time and money to create, many nonprofits and foundations are unwilling to dedicate resources to continued online efforts.
  
  
  Guess what. You have to. It’s not a question of whether you need to get online, it’s a question of how soon you’ll be left behind. Some of the greatest available wealth is sitting in the pockets of a very young generation — and this generation is looking online to figure out where to distribute that wealth. Any resources you give to creating an online presence for your organization or product will be paid back in spades — financially and/or via public relations — in the next 10 years.
  
  
  Find someone on staff who’s energetic, outgoing, able to maintain and monitor relationships, and knows his or her way around a computer. Carve out 50% of this person’s time and dedicate it to building and maintaining an online presence.




• Figure Out An Online Message: Spend a week figuring out what your main online message will be. Your mission statement is fine, but you can’t fit it into 140 characters on twitter. Break it down into a short, emotionally-charged concept — that’s your online message. Everything you post in a social media context should relate back to that.




• Start Small and Steady: Don’t worry; you don’t have to join every social media service or hire someone to create a documentary for YouTube just yet. As we said, building up your online presence takes time. It’s cumulative. The more twitter followers you have, the more free PR you’re going to get from them tweeting about you. So start small and dedicate consistent time to building up and maintaining relationships online.
  
  
  First steps here:
  • Start a blog. It’s really not that hard to do. Go to Wordpress, follow the instructions, and you’re on your way. Start with one post per week; keep it short and specific. Give your opinion on a recent Op Ed. Upload pictures and info from a recent event. Highlight an important donor or grant recipient. Tout an upcoming program.
    
    
    If you already have a website for your organization, considering incorporating your blog into your current website domain. If you don’t have a website, you can use your blog as your online presence for now. Once you’re comfortable, considering purchasing a domain name and hosting services for your blog.

  
  

  • Create a twitter account (you can find me at @ModernGiving) and start following like-minded organizations. ALWAYS tweet about your latest blog post. And be sure to have conversations via twitter, re-tweet others’ interesting information, and build relationships. This is one of the best ways to get to know other players in your field. Here’s a primer I wrote about using twitter as a resource.

  
  

  • Start a facebook account, a fan page, and a cause page. Search for likeminded organizations and people, and “friend” them. Give facebook status updates linking to your most recent blog posts, and be sure to upload photos of what’s happening as a result of your good work!

  
  

• Look for Synergies: With a blog, a twitter account, and a facebook account, you can cross-promote online the work you’re doing in the “real world.” You don’t have to join up with every single online application; simply look for a few that you can use in tandem to reach a wider audience.
  
  
  Here’s a great example using the applications described above: Let’s say you have an upcoming event next Saturday. You write a blog highlighting the event, including details, dress code, and where to buy tickets. Next, you tweet about the blog post, which prompts 5 of your twitter followers to re-tweet your message to their 500 followers. Then, you ask your facebook fans to spread the word about the event and to “share” the blog post link with their facebook friends. 10 of them do so. As a result of that 30 minutes of work, you’ve just created a massive buzz of FREE advertising and promotion! Add to that a year or so of building relationships online, and you can easily reach hundreds of thousands of people with the click of a mouse.

Resources
Social Edge, a program of the Skoll Foundation, is a dedicated online community for social entrepreneurs and other nonprofiteers connect.

A few months ago, I came across their Social Media Cheat Sheet, which I think is one of the most comprehensive lists of resources for breaking into social media, networking, and online marketing — especially for nonprofits, foundations, and social entrepreneurs.

While you’re building your online messaging, check out these services and get to know how they work. Understanding the ins and outs of what’s available will go a long way toward deciding what’s right for your organization, and, more importantly, how these services can work in synergy to best promote your organization.