How to Succeed in Social Media
3. See and hear! Start acknowledging what potential supporters are saying. Post friendly comments on their blogs with constructive thoughts and useful information, openly identifying who you and your organization are. Bloggers love those kind of comments. They like having an audience! Do the same on online communities, MySpace pages, etc. Give online communities useful tools and interesting content from your organization. Be generous.
4. Choose! At this stage, you’ll have a better sense of whether there’s a need for you to blog or participate more formally in a social network. Be strategic about concentrating your efforts in a few high-yield areas.
5. Be easy to find! Part of social networking is going out and connecting with people. Also make sure your organization’s Web site and social-network pages are easy to find so people can connect to you. Be sure your Web site can be easily located via search engines. If you decide to have a social-networking page, give it an obvious name. Don’t be so clever you don’t show up in search.
6. Ask! Once you have relationships with supporters on social media, give them different ways to help you — not just by giving money, but by telling their stories, spreading the word and expressing their opinions about your issue in their own words. Turn the conversation into collaboration for social change. Give up control. You never had it anyway. FS
