Ten Social Media Tips for Non-Profits

1. The recent success of Text 2 Give for Haiti is not a case study that is replicable. Not on scale, response, impact (nor do you want your organization to resemble Haiti pre-earthquake). Align any T2G program to your organization AND have realistic goals (think direct mail response rates...).

2. There is no silver bullet. There is no one channel or tool that will allow you to stop doing the work you do every day. Yes social media can make you more efficient, but it will not let you coast. Can you ditch your direct mail, your fax machine, your volunteers, your board and have engaging events, fund raising, programs that are successful?

3. The board doesn't know everything. Any and all directives from the board to engage in social media need to have concrete outcomes aligned with some business strategy. Such as increase donors by xx number, boost volunteer engagement by xx%. (To measure you need before and after numbers.)

4. YouTube (or insert any social media tool here) can be a great tool. YouTube can also destroy your brand. How? Think of using an irreverent video of an event and sending to a top donor or foundation as part of an ask - does the whole story get told? YouTube - or any tool - can help the cause. BUT, you need to be measured in your approach and your experimentation.

5. Try different things. Often. For example, my dentist recently told me that the $7.99 grocery store toothbrush wasn't cutting it and I needed a $119 Braun. So I changed the way I used the $7.99 toothbrush and kept the change. This week they commented that they could tell I'd stepped up to the $119 unit. Use social media in different ways and see what results.

6. Social media planning is like classic media planning. You have a message, you have a target audience, you have a budget, you have goals. So do the same thing here, substituting time for budget.

7. Plan to waste time. Not sure an explanation is needed, yet... As the social media world evolves, adaptation of channels and tools does too. See what you can learn and adopt. Realize your results will be different. Especially since execution will differ.

8. Social media needs to be part of the overall communications mix for your organization. It is not a stand-alone strategy, it cannot serve as stand-alone tactics (i.e. we will have a FB page). You need a plan to (a) create, (b) integrate, (c) execute, and (d) measure.

9. Brand management is more important than ever. Now you've unleashed internal people, external people and anyone out there can write, comment, post on your organization. Great? Right? Maybe. You need to balance the democratization with good oversight. (It is OK to relinquish control AND monitor. It's uncomfortable at first, but so is riding a bike.)

10. Social media expertise is a myth. This stuff changes every day. There is not enough data to prove true impact. So that means you are in charge and with a little research (see #6 and #7), you can shape your organization's direction(s). There are people out there who can help but no one who can hand you a solution (see #2).

Good luck.

Please share any good/bad experiences with social media.