Social-Media Best Practices: 12 Tips for Making the Best of Any Social Site, Part 1

[Editor's note: This part 1 of a two-part series on social-media best practices. Check back next week for part 2.]

Do you know how many of your supporters use popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? Twitter has more than 16 million users, and 42.3 percent of the entire American population uses Facebook. YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world. With usage stats like that it’s probably safe to assume that a large portion of your followers use at least one social network, right?

Knowing that a good portion of your supporters already participate on the social Web, and with the continued growth and popularity of social media, it’s very likely your nonprofit organization is focused on figuring out how to best utilize sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But as with anything, it can be challenging to figure out where to start or how to ensure your efforts are going to be effective.

With that in mind, here are 12 tips that will help you succeed no matter what social-networking site you apply them to.

Claim your land
As you get more and more involved in using social media, be sure to claim your land by creating your organization’s Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel, LinkedIn profile, etc. Think about it like when the Internet became popular — you wanted to secure your domain even if you didn’t plan on using it right away so others wouldn’t register it.

Fill out your profile completely
The social Web is essentially a place where relationships are built, maintained and enhanced in a digital space. It’s really no different than real life in that people want to get to know who you are, what you stand for, how you're changing the world and what they can get by connecting with you. So make sure to take advantage of all the profile space you have by adding a picture, putting up information about your organization, providing links back to your website and so on. This way others know you’re a real nonprofit doing real things.