5 Key Strategies for Social-Media Success

Whether your organization utilizes social media today or not, this wildly popular new medium will be vital for fundraisers of all shapes and sizes in the very near future, if it isn't already. It is, after all, the channel of choice for the younger generations, and an ever-increasing number of baby boomers and mature donors are adopting social media as well.

But with this new technology comes new headaches. How much time should you spend on social media? How do you use it to engage donors and/or raise funds? Is it something your organization can keep up with? The list goes on and on.

In a webinar last month presented by FundRaising Success and sponsored by Avectra, “Leverage Online Communities & Social Media Strategies to Engage Donors and Other Supporters” (available for free on-demand), social-media fundraising experts James Ward, vice president of vertical market strategy at NFi Studios, and Christina Johns, online media manager at International Fellowship for Christians and Jews, shared some social-media best practices and examples of organizations that utilize the channel effectively.

Here are five key strategies for social-media success Ward shared during the webinar.

1. Work it backward
When embarking in social media, nonprofit organizations should know what they’re getting into. Don’t just create a profile and then figure out what to do from there. Work it backward. Before really launching your social-media initiatives, ask yourself:

• What is your business strategy for social media?
• What is the purpose of the community?
• What is the ideal size and makeup?
• What are the benefits to participation? Negatives?
• What is the expected contribution of the different participants? Why? How?

Once you have the answers to those questions and it’s ultimately decided that social media will benefit your organization and help it achieve the mission, you can move on.

2. Leverage multimedia
Don’t use social media in isolation. It should be integrated into the overall multichannel communications strategy of your organization.