Enlist a social-media army for your nonprofit

Michele Savoldi | March 5, 2010

Michele Savoldi

Social media can be a nonprofit's dream.

This relatively new, basically free venue can create awareness, cultivate relationships, and steward current supporters. What better way to help spread the word then enlisting a social-media army?

The beauty of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogging and other social-media platforms is that you can spread your message, connect with individuals and create calls-to-action.

Social media is extremely viral. You start with a message and - if it is interesting and captivating - it will spread through various social-media channels.

How can you use this tool to increase your nonprofit's awareness? Instead of spreading your message alone, consider recruiting some of your volunteers and supporters who are using social media and ask them to help you create awareness.

After all, social media is the online version of the classic word-of-mouth advertising, and it can be very powerful. With the help of others, your nonprofit could reach double, even triple the fans and followers it could garner alone.

Social media also can be a great way to add new depth to your speaker's bureau.

Let recipients of your mission tell their story through YouTube or a blog. Using the Internet is a great way to reach a brand new target market.

But before enlisting your army, make sure to have a strategy behind your social-media plan. This should include, at the very least:

• Setting measurable goals and objectives
• Defining specific target audiences
• Crafting key messages (based on the audiences and objectives)
• Including specific calls to action (what exactly are you asking them to do?)

Once your plan of action is in place, enlist volunteers, supporters and others who already care about your cause.

In order to control the message and maintain brand consistency, create a daily key message and disburse it to your army.

They can then utilize Twitter, Facebook and any other social-media platform to spread the word. Be sure to add a link your organization's website in each message to give the recipient a place to find more information.

Social media is a great platform for nonprofit organizations and it has power in numbers. Start enlisting your social-media army today.

Michele Savoldi is a nonprofit marketing consultant based in Columbus, Ohio and an Affiliate with Shoestring Creative Group (http://www.shoestringgroup.com/). Michele can be reached at affiliates@shoestringgroup.com or 1-888-835-6236.

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