Heather Mansfield

Based on more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit communications and 15,000+ hours spent utilizing social and mobile media, "Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits," by Heather Mansfield, is packed with more than 100 best practices covering Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 nonprofit communications and fundraising. From building your e-newsletter list to finding your “Twitter voice” to launching a mobile website and texting campaign on a small budget, this guide presents a step-by-step strategic plan for launching and maintaining successful social-media and mobile-marketing campaigns.

1. Reserve a YouTube.com URL to match your Web site. It’s important that your organization’s YouTube URL match your Web site’s URL in case you ever promote your YouTube channel in print materials or in your e-mail signatures. For example, Big Cat Rescue: www.bigcatrescue.org www.youtube.com/bigcatrescue Even if you don’t plan on using YouTube immediately, sign up and grab that URL before someone else does! PLEASE NOTE: When signing up for your YouTube account, your “username” becomes your YouTube URL! So, in this example, Big Cat Rescue has the username “bigcatrescue.” 2. Use your organization’s logo as your channel’s profile picture. Odds are that

We love that Heather Mansfield of DIOSA Communications not only has created a MySpace page called Nonprofit Organizations but also that she’s staying on top of it, keeping it current and offering lots of great advice for nonprofit organizations looking to maintain a presence in the social-networking stratosphere. Guess you could say she’s practicing what she preaches … and that’s a good thing. Earlier this week, Heather posted a blog asking her MySpace “friends” for advice they’d like to share with other organizations about their MySpace experiences. Here, you can read Heather’s original blog and comments that had come in by the next day

“It has to be said … that age plays a huge role in successful social networking. Trust the younger people in your organization, and give them the green light to move forward. They are passionate about these sites. They know how to work them, and it’s important that you empower them and give them the resources they need.” — Heather Mansfield, owner of Los Angeles-based Web marketing firm DIOSA Communications and keeper of the Nonprofit Organizations MySpace site, in her story, “Makin’ It on MySpace,” in the July issue of FundRaising Success.

In 2001, I launched a small, Web-based nonprofit organization called eActivist.org. Like most other small nonprofits, we were strapped for cash. At the time, “Donate Now” buttons were the latest and greatest in nonprofit fundraising, and I had the highest of hopes and expectations for this new and cutting-edge technology.

Heather Mansfield, owner of Los Angeles-based Web marketing firm DIOSA|Communications and keeper of the Nonprofit Organizations MySpace site, offers the following best practices for creating a presence for your nonprofit organization on MySpace. Visit http://diosacommunications.blogspot.com for a more detailed explanation of each of these points, as well as tips for using Facebook, YouTube, Change.org and other social-networking sites to engage with donors and other supporters. Design 1. Center your Friends and Comments sections. 2. Link to your organization’s Web site. 3. Use your organization’s logo for your default MySpace profile image. 4. Don’t use an acronym for your MySpace profile name. 5. Don’t “Add”