Benefits of Social Media for NGOs
Twitter is recognized as a powerful outreach tool and, according to a survey by Non Profit Tech for Good, some 79% of non-governmental organizations or non-profits believe that social media is effective for creating social change.
Truthfully, creating social change is the mission of civil society regardless of individual group’s niche mission. Civic activists have organized themselves into a variety of groups that strive to create social change to improve humanity by advancing what it has designated as important such as the environment, education, health, equality and others.
Consequently, savvy NGOs have embraced all forms of social media to raise awareness about their causes, promote issues dear to them, and, most importantly, raise funds to do what they do for another day, week, month, or year.
Once a tool for teenagers, now social media, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and others have moved into the mainstream, where they are playing a significant role in helping NGOs fulfill their missions or launch new projects. It’s free, easy to use, and can be updated without fuss or extra costs.
Furthermore, the non-profits that use social media have discovered that their staffers, audience, donors, municipal officials and other interested stakeholders use social media as well. Actually, there’s a whole universe of users.
Consequently, social media is the fastest, easiest, simplest, most reliable and least expensive way to share your information or appeals with them.
Noteworthy NGOs are not different from successful small businesses. Both need to reach out to an audience or marketplace, they have a clear idea of their mission and target audience, market and readers. Social media can help NGOs in three ways: telling your story in your tweets or posts, raising awareness and soliciting donations, and interacting with donors, other activists, officials, academics and stakeholders.
Whether your NGO is local or global, and whether the need you serve is in your neighborhood or country or around the world, social media can be a powerful tool to deepen relationships with the people in your community who are most interested in your mission – or who should be interested in your mission if they knew about it.
However, reaching out via social media is not as simple as tweeting and forgetting it. You have to develop a comprehensive plan of tweeting or posting with dedication. It would serve you well if you designated a single staffer to handle social media. If you’re not serious about your activity on social media, you won’t be taken seriously. If you tweet once and then again in a couple of weeks, you’ll only attract to your cause your staff members that have been instructed to monitor social media.
You need to designate prospects and influencers and then aim your information at them.
Kiera Wiatrak, an independent social media and digital marketing consultant, observed: “Prospects are your leads – the people who would buy your product or service. Connecting with them is the ultimate goal, but you can’t do it without a network of influencers, who are people, brands, publications and other outlets who have influence in your space. You need them to build your credibility and spread your message to get your prospects excited about what you can offer.
“This dual focus is crucial for an effective social media engagement strategy. Not just your engagement, but your messaging should cater to both these audiences. Think of prospects and influencers as the peanut butter and jelly of your engagement strategy – you can’t have the iconic sandwich without both condiments in place.”
Though her advice pertains to small businesses, it can also benefit civil society.
As you tweet and post, cast your net wide so you catch your targets’ professional interests as well as pastime activity. Are they having e-conversations with other NGOs? If so, what are they talking about? Research how the demographic group that exhibits interest in your mission functions as a consumer and citizen, relates to local or global issues, and uses social media, and then join their conversations in addition to initiating your own.
When you’re just getting started, you should be varying your messaging, your networks, your prospecting techniques and your overall strategy to get your foot in the door everywhere. Then, track your results so you know what’s happening with your tweets and posts, and who’s reading them.
Compared with traditional outreach media, social media may be slow in producing results. You may have to develop a creative touch to tweeting and posting the same information while using different words. Rather than thinking of social media as first-person chat, think of it as a conduit, with the goal being to prepare each prospect to be ready to accept your call-to-action.
Make a library of relevant hashtags and Twitter handles and use them with every tweet. Remember social media’s quid pro quo: If you are befriended, followed and retweeted, then do so to those that favored your outreach.
And don’t forget the call to action. You may want your audience to continue reading your posts, or you may want them to subscribe to your e-newsletters, or you may want them to join your campaign, or, most importantly, you may want them to donate to the cause.
In any case, regularity, frequency and consistency are essential to your social media success. After all, the world is spherical and you want to be sure to reach as many people as possible during their waking hours.
Social media is not a precise science, and social media engagement is even less predictable. There are many consultants and bloggers – like me – offering advice on how to use social media but ultimately you, the user, will determine how best to take advantage of it after you’ve practiced the basics.
But once you’ve jumped into the deep end of the social media pool, don’t abandon your efforts. Pursue them with a passion.
I’d like to invite you to visit my Thought Leadership website:
No comments:
Post a Comment