So, You've Got a Lot of Facebook Friends. Now What?

Even someone with 1 million followers can fail. What would have helped Mendelson succeed?

Here’s the big secret
He should have gotten people’s email addresses.

At least once a week, give people a reason to sign up to your email list. All social-media activity should lead to people giving you their emails and names with permission to continue the relationship.

Why? People may check Facebook once a week, Twitter or Pinterest once a month, but they check their email every day. Image 2 above, from ExactTarget, shows where people start their days.

Think about where you start your day. Even if people are not on Twitter or Facebook, they have email, and many people check their email as soon as they wake up. You can be there, in their inboxes, reminding them of all the value you bring.

Email is the most powerful social-media tool you have. When you have a large list that you’ve communicated with consistently, you can get your list to support your nonprofit.

And aside from direct mail, donors most often give through email, rather than social media. So getting an email address is the first step to getting a deeper relationship with a potential donor.

The single most important factor that holds you back in fundraising is lack of keeping your donors. A consistent social-media and e-newsletter presence is a way to communicate your value and give free things to your list so supporters will tell their friends about you, and you’ll get more and more people signing up to your list every week.

John Jantsch, author of a book on social media called “The Referral Engine,” says, “Businesses should not use social media until they have email nailed.”

Frankly, I agree — this applies to nonprofits too.