As I expect you know by now, integration is a requirement for winning campaigns … campaigns that meet or exceed your business goals.

Today I’m going to share 5 ways to make your direct mail more social.

This is a form of multi-channel marketing and integration. You’re letting a pool of your best donors – direct mail recipients – know where else they can find you. What I’m suggesting today makes it easier for your supporters to engage with your nonprofit in other channels.

Some of these are rather obvious, and others may not be. Here goes…

1 – Add your social profiles to your direct mail package

You can add “Like us on Facebook” or “Follow Us on Twitter” calls-to-action on outer envelopes, the letters, lift notes, reply forms, surveys, etc. Associations can also add it to any statements or registration forms.

Make it real easy for them to find you. Include your page name. For example my Facebook page is Facebook.com/KarenZappFans and my Twitter handle is @KarenZapp. That’s what I mean by including your organization’s name.

Give them a reason WHY they ought to “LIKE” your page or follow you on Twitter. For example: When you like my Facebook page at KarenZappFans you get:

◊ Exclusive fan-only content including a video critique of a direct mail package, and tips on writing email subject lines.

◊ Easy way to ask me a question. Use the “Contact Me” tab on Facebook to send me a question, or post a comment to one of my FB updates.

◊ Enjoy “Monday Miscellany.” Start your week on a positive note. I’ll share something on the lighter side. Often it relates to the nonprofit industry, and other times it’s generic but still worth sharing.

2 – Make your incentive social

You’ve given them a solid reason to visit your social profiles. Next make the offer itself social.

For example: If your incentive is to watch a fun video (branded, of course), then offer them something else when they share the video with their network. Maybe you give them a cool wallpaper photo for their computer.

3 – Create sharable landing pages

Let’s say someone donated online after reading a compelling story in an email appeal. That email took them to a landing page (probably your donate form with a headline and short paragraph of copy at the top tied to the email) where they converted on your offer.

After they donate, return a thank you page with share buttons on it. This allows them to share your compelling story to their social networks. You may acquire more supporters this way.

4 – Support the direct mail piece on your social profiles

Create a landing page on your website for your direct mail campaign. Rarely will you be able to plop the letter verbatim on the website. You’ll have to make edits so it’s web-friendly.

Then create trackable URLs for your appeal so you know which social profile is driving traffic to your landing page. Post updates in Facebook and Twitter and wherever else you are.

5 – Add QR codes

Whatever you create for people to download onto their smartphone … it must be mobile-friendly. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a landing page, a free report, or a video.

Include a simple statement on what they get when they scan the code. And perhaps offer the URL for a free and reliable bar code scanner app for their phone (not everyone has downloaded one for their smartphone).

I urge you to make your direct mail more social. And if you have any doubts about the value of this then please read my post from Tuesday, Online giving isn’t just for “30-somethings”

More posts related to today’s topic:

How to engage donors and members

How to hyperlink direct mail to your website

Could this be true? Vanity short codes endangered? … Includes nonprofit association use of a QR code

Direct Mail + Email + Mobile + Social = Great Fundraising

Many people use social media to gather online with family and friends. To socialize … share news and photos … and so much more. And during the holiday season the activity increases.

How can your nonprofit be seasonal with its social media? How can you have a bit of social fun, build loyalty, and even build buzz for your year-end campaign?

Create helpful tweets and Facebook updates tied to the season. Depending on your mission . . .

◊ Create a video of fall foliage (even a video with a collection of digital photos). Make it easy for supporters to share with troops overseas (especially those in the desert or tropical locations). It will mean a lot to many members of our Armed Forces. I’ve been deployed; I know. Share it on your YouTube channel and promote in Twitter, Facebook, and of course on your website and with email.

◊ Use social media to promote campaign to send Halloween candy to deployed troops.

◊ Have a Facebook contest for carving pumpkins with members of your association. Winner receives a great discount on the annual conference and is featured on your Facebook page and perhaps even your website home page.

◊ Does your mission have anything to do with children? Share tips for having a fun yet safe time trick-or-treating.  Have a series of tweets and Facebook updates. Ask supporters to share their own tips.

◊ Perhaps create a version of your logo for Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas that you display on Facebook.

◊ Offer holiday advice on healthy eating if your mission is health-related. Use a branded hashtag on Twitter.

◊ Make life a bit easier for those supporters who dislike holiday shopping, or have someone very difficult to shop for. Make it easy for them to give a donation in their family member’s name to your charity as the Christmas gift. Even if you don’t have a holiday shopping catalog (e.g., Heifer International), you can still make this work for your nonprofit.

◊ Be light-hearted and share photos of how employees of your nonprofit decorate the office for Christmas on Facebook.

◊ Make a video for your YouTube channel of employees singing a carol. Need help creating an online video? Get in touch with me and we’ll chat.

◊ Offer local businesses special volunteer opportunities for their employees. Your food bank or shelter can collect complete Thanksgiving or Christmas meals – all the groceries needed for a poor family to cook a meal. You provide the shopping list and the volunteers bring you the groceries.

Build a microsite that’s decorated for the season. That ought to help put people in the mood for giving. Have stories related to your mission and how you help people at the holidays and all year round. You can definitely promote your year-end campaign here. Re-use it each year with just a few updates.

Need more inspiration? BlueGlass has a post, “60 Social Media Marketing Tips for the Holiday Season.” Something there ought to spark more ideas. That’s what gave me many of the ideas I shared with you here.

Get seasonally social. Stand out from the crowd. Give your supporters another memorable experience with your nonprofit through social media.

Related posts:

More ideas tied to the season … Holiday Online Giving Ideas

How nonprofits are using social networks

Online video helps nonprofits - including the small charities

Pumpkin-carving contest … How to get your nonprofit on local TV news

Any day of the week I can glance over tweets from nonprofits – charities and associations – and find examples of how not to write tweets for donors and prospects.

Today I pulled three examples from my collection of “less than ideal tweets” to share. I didn’t research the charities to learn more about what they’re promoting.  But even without taking time to do that it’s possible to write stronger tweets.

1) In case you need a how-to: RT @nsenger 8th graders assembling @CatholicRelief rice bowls http://bit.ly/mfjCFf

That tweet was by @CatholicRelief

Follow that link and you’ll come to a page with a photo and no caption, no explanation, nothing.

The tweet says, “In case you need a how-to…” Hmmm. Where’s the “how-to” information?  What are we supposed to learn from this?

Questions that come to mind include: How will the rice bowls be used?  How did they get the kids involved?  Will they let the kids know how the rice bowls were received, appreciated, and used through follow-up stories and photos?

More donor-centric: On the landing page answer the questions I posed in the previous paragraph. This would go a long way toward encouraging more people to duplicate what these 8th graders are doing.  Rarely is a stand-alone photo enough. Images are great.  They’re even better augmented with informative and passionate copy.  Assuming the landing page is improved, here’s a suggestion on how to rewrite the original tweet …

8th graders assemble @CatholicRelief rice bowls to feed families. See how your school or parish can do the same http://bit.ly/mfjCFf

2) Check us out on facebook at  http://bit.ly/j9xBrj

That tweet was by @kidneyregistry

I’m all for sending people to Facebook. Just tell me WHY I should do it? What neat story will I find?  Why should I spend time doing this and what will I find?

More donor-centric: This one is challenging to rewrite because the link takes us to a generic page.  One suggestion is to focus on a specific story and take them to a page with that story…

Read how a stranger – Judith from Michigan – donated a kidney to save a life, and how she feels after doing it … [insert link which could take people directly to the story on Facebook]

3) Ivory Coast: Displaced families – in pictures…+200,000 people face health ‘catastrophe’ as rainy season approaches. http://bit.ly/kITMk5

That tweet was by @wrcommission (Women’s Refugee Commission)

Here in my blog and other places I’ve often advised that a HUGE number like 200,000 is daunting to donors.  They think, “How can I possibly help that many people? My $10 or $25 won’t begin to help.” So I recommend you focus on a single family.  Donors can understand that.

Another significant weakness of this tweet is that the link takes you to a news article (within an online newspaper and not on the nonprofit’s website). Furthermore the article mentions “Save the Children” and not the Women’s Refugee Commission.

More donor-centric: It’s possible that the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) somehow supports Save The Children.  I don’t know.  And I also don’t know what WRC was trying to accomplish by sharing the information from the news article.

Nonetheless a possible new approach would be to summarize the highlights of the news article on a landing page within the WRC website.  Have a specific call to action on the page showing how donations of various amounts could help a family or two stricken by the problem.  Within the summary have a link to the news site and attribute the source.  With that in mind a tweet could read …

Refugee mother and 3 children need shelter from rainy season to avoid serious illness. Your $25 keeps them safe and dry [insert link]

REMEMBER: Your tweets can and almost certainly will be seen by people who do NOT follow you. True prospects.

So as you write donor-centric tweets, bear in mind that prospects don’t know a thing about you, and donors remember a small fraction of the details about your organization. They don’t know as much as you even if you’ve told them about it in the past.

Therefore don’t write tweets assuming a wealth of knowledge.  These tweets will fall flat and leave people wondering, “What in the world are you talking about?”

Social media is a marvelous way to cultivate donors, and to draw in prospects.  But it only works if you write donor-centric copy and not vague or self-centered copy.

Any examples you would like to share? Either nonprofit tweets done right, or those that could be better? Please share in the comments below.

Related posts:

Crank up the Facebook heat … writing more donor-centric updates for Facebook

How “aspiration” benefits your nonprofit … copywriting insights so your message resonates with readers

The home page of ANY website – charity, association, for-profit, etc. – is prime real estate.  What goes where, color schemes, style sheets, primary call-to-action for the page, rotating content, and so on are just a few of the main design considerations.

Sample Social Media Icons

A recent blog post by Nonprofit Tech 2.0 briefly discussed where social media icons ought to be located on a nonprofit’s homepage.  The post stated, “…I am big believer in the power upper right-hand corner of your homepage…”

I’m NOT in complete agreement.

The decision on what goes in the upper right corner is complex and strategic.  And just because five of the larger nonprofits (5 orgs cited in the post) place the icons in the upper right corner still doesn’t make it the best decision for them or for anyone else.

Don’t rush out and re-design your home page based on the Nonprofit Tech 2.0 post.  I generally like what they have to say but this time I believe they’ve over-simplified an issue to the point of being misleading.

Here are some factors to study, analyze and weigh before deciding WHAT GOES IN THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER of your home page:

- What is the primary purpose of YOUR home page? What do you want it to achieve?

- What is the primary call-to-action for YOUR home page?  If visitors did nothing else, what is the ONE action (conversion) you would love them to take? 

 - How many competing calls-to-action exist on your home page?  The more there are the lower your overall conversions will be.

- Do you have an email list?  Is it important to grow your list and gain more subscribers?

 - What is your social media strategy? What social networks are you involved with (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) and how do they help your nonprofit grow?

 - How many buttons, icons, and bright colors are competing for the web visitor’s eye?

That’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes to laying out your home page.  As I said before, it’s a complex design decision. 

Hopefully those six bullets help you clearly see the point I want to make which is …

The upper right corner of the home page ought to be reserved for the primary call-to-action. 

IF that’s getting more people to join your social networking groups, then put the social media icons here. 

But IF it’s getting more newsletter/email subscribers, or getting people to respond to a petition, or another call-to-action . . . then put the social media icons somewhere else. 

Rule of thumb is to reserve the upper right corner of your home page for the most desired conversion.  Don’t play follow the leader when it comes to designing your nonprofit’s website home page.  There’s too much at stake.

Related posts:

The Who, What, Why and How of Nonprofit Website Copy

Make it Easy for Web Visitors

Nonprofit Website Usability in Detail – Part 1

The oppressive above-average heat wave hitting the mid-Atlantic region inspired today’s post.

Crank up the heat.  Become more intense and add more fire to your efforts to write donor-centric (or member-centric) updates on Facebook.

Naturally I want you to do this across the board on ALL your communications.  But today the focus is on Facebook.

Here are four examples of Facebook status updates from three different nonprofit organizations.  Plus there’s a bonus example at the end from a fourth organization with a different twist on reader-centric copy.

By the way, I just read through the updates and rewrote them based only on what I saw on Facebook. I didn’t research the nonprofit’s website or anything else.  So even if I’ve slightly misinterpreted the gist of the update, the examples on how to write more reader-centric updates are still valid. 

1 – Nonprofit’s update:

Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship – Pace University
Congratulations to Pace Graduates, Class of 2011! Now, show us how you can do well and do GOOD!

A more donor-centric approach would be… “Thanks to Pace I’m …” – Begin with a quote from a graduate talking about what they plan to do; a specific example.

2 – Nonprofit’s update:

Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship – Pace University
What’s not to like about the Wilson Center? Check out our website for more info! www.pace.edu/wilsoncenter

Ouch.  To me this comes across as egotistical.  It’s easy to turn it around by saying. “Blah-blah is what student Mary Smith likes best about the Wilson Center. Here’s why she feels this way …” and link to Mary’s story. 

3 – Nonprofit’s update:

icouldbe.org
Did you know icouldbe partnered with Monster Keep America Working to create workshops for local high schools in Pennsylvania? The students are doing GREAT!

Something like this would be more donor-centric: “High school students in PA rave about the workshops helping prepare them for college or post-graduation careers. All thanks to a partnership donors like you helped make possible through Monster Keep America Working and icouldbe.org.”

4 – Based on the half dozen updates I read today, in general Heifer does a decent job of writing their FB updates.  Here’s one that could be strengthened … Nonprofit’s update:

Heifer International
Listen to our vice president of Heifer’s Asia and South Pacific Programs, Mahendra Lohani, describes his recent visit to Nepal. He emphasizes a new focus on income and enterprise development by larger groups, or cooperatives, made up of women with years of experience and success in smaller self-help groups. [Video by Geoff Oliver Bugbee.]

Instead try something like this: “Women with years of experience and success in smaller self-help groups are the new focus of enterprise development in Nepal. Changes donors have made possible. Heifer vice president … blah-blah … describes the exciting trends he saw during a recent visit to Nepal.”

5 – Here’s the bonus: Don’t PUBLISH your Facebook page until you have content on it. In addition, don’t publish unless you’re prepared to post status updates on a regular basis.  You can create the page … just don’t publish it yet.  Having a page without content (or very out-dated content) is another example of NOT being reader-centric.

And with regard to having content on the page BEFORE publishing, this goes beyond the “info” tab.  Below is a screen shot of a nonprofit that hasn’t done a thing to their page in two months (according to a note I read on FB).  There are ZERO updates on their page as of today.  I also can’t help but wonder if the four “likes” are from staff members since there’s nothing on the page to “like.” 

Don't publish a "blank" page.

In my opinion, “no Facebook page” is better than a dormant page with no updates or without information of value to readers, prospects, donors, volunteers, advocates, etc.  And when you write your updates, put the reader first.  Make your updates donor-centric (or member-centric for associations). Put the intense heat of the spotlight on them and NOT your nonprofit.

Do you have any examples to share?

There’s a correlation between writing an appeal and connecting with people in social networks.  It doesn’t matter whether the appeal is to acquire donors and raise funds, to find more members for your association, or to keep in touch with existing supporters.

This correlation popped into my mind yesterday because I’ve been busy expanding my LinkedIn network.

I’ve been reaching out to people I went to college with, that I’ve worked with over the years, people I see around town in my day-to-day living, and people I met recently at a conference. 

In most cases – college classmates and past co-workers – I haven’t seen these people for 5, 10, or up to about 30 years!  At the other end of the spectrum are folks I do see more often or within the last few weeks.

Regardless of when I last saw them, in ALL cases when I send the email via LinkedIn … I don’t assume they’ll remember me.  Most importantly, I positively do NOT use the default message from LinkedIn requesting that we join each others professional network.

Instead I make it relevant and personal to the individual I’m trying to connect with.  I remind them how we knew each other; add a personal comment relevant to our relationship; and indicate the value I place in connecting with them. 

This is the part that reminded me of writing nonprofit appeals.  How so?

The title of this post is significant to my main point:  As you write your nonprofit fundraising appeals, think of it as writing a “social” appeal.  Make it . . .

- Socially inviting
- Personal to the reader
- Worthwhile for the reader to respond
- Informative – don’t assume they know as much as you do or remember what you said last month
- Friendly and conversational
- An appeal tailored for the person and not a one-size-fits-all letter

That was my approach to my LinkedIn invitations. 

And as I said, I saw an amazing correlation between writing a fundraising appeal and linking up in social networks.  Expand your network of donors and members by making personal connections with individuals.  Write social appeals that give readers what they want so they’re comfortable responding (or connecting) to you; feel like they know you and what you’re trying to accomplish; and how that’s important to them.

Want more copywriting insights?  Here are two posts I selected for you:

Copy that your donors and members like

Tell it like it is

How do you identify your most loyal supporters?

Is it by . . .

- number of donations each year
- number of years they’ve supported you
- average gift size
- life-time value
- whether they donate AND volunteer their time
- the variety of ways the engage with you (e.g., direct mail, email, attend special events, mobile, surveys, social media network, etc.)

These are all possibilities.  Traditionally “loyalty criteria” has centered on donations in some way.  That’s A-OKAY.

Today I want to encourage you to expand your thinking a bit. 

Consider this: Some of your most valuable and loyal donors (supporters) may not be the ones who give the most.

Within the social media world, for example, your most valuable supporters are likely to be those with the most influence.  [Note: The “most influence” doesn’t directly correlate with the “most followers.”] 

I’m referring to donors and supporters who spread the word about your nonprofit to their own network.  And they’re so respected by their network that people respond to their recommendations with enthusiasm. 

A few influencers can bring you many more donors which leads to more donations.   This is a form of grassroots fundraising!

What I’m saying is that although the influencer may only qualify as a low-dollar donor; their true value may be in bringing you several more donors from their network.  The “one” becomes “many.”  And the new donors they bring will likely be a mix of low, mid and possibly also major donors. 

That’s the value of an influencer.  This loyalty is worth a great deal. 

How do you make this happen for your nonprofit?

Five tips for working with influencers:

1 – Don’t try to “get” or “acquire” influencers to brag about you.  Instead “inspire” them to choose on their own to spread the word about your cause or special project.

2 – Create “valuable” content.  Produce compelling content they will value and naturally want to share.

3 – Infuse your content with emotion.  If you want an influencer to spread the word, they need an emotional connection.  Your content – in whatever media you use – has to make an emotional connection.  Inspire these people to become an evangelist for your cause.  Motivate them to genuinely desire to be an advocate on your behalf.  Stir up passion.

4 – Make it easy to share your content.  Easy to copy and paste into blogs; to share on Facebook; good headline and lead for Twitter; easy to send via email; and so forth.  EASY FOR THEM.

5 – Reward and recognize the good folks talking favorably about you and sharing your content.

Loyal supporters are valuable to your nonprofit.  Loyalty as measured by their donations … and also loyalty measured by their influence.  With social media and other digital capabilities, be sure to recognize and leverage all types of loyal supporters to your nonprofit.

Yes, yet another study on what boomers and seniors are doing online was released.  Specifically it addresses how they’re using social media. 

The primary finding is that “…social networking use among those ages 50 and older nearly doubled over the past year.”  They’re getting into the groove with networking sites. This is from a study by the Pew Research Center (“Older Adults and Social Media).

In fact among those ages 50-64 that are online, nearly half (47%) use social networking sites (an 88% increase).  And for those users over the age of 65, one in four (26%) are socializing online (a 100% increase over the previous year).

Significance to Nonprofits

Seniors (over the age of 65) comprise the vast majority of donors for the vast majority of charities.   

Boomers also ought to be a target market that charities are reaching out to.  This group is worthy of much attention and cultivating so they too become a major segment of your donor pool . . . so they’re already supporting you in one way or another before they reach age 65.

And if these two groups are using more social media then this is where you can find them.  Go where the people are.

1 - Start now to expand your donor profile to include the “young donors age 45-55.”  Reach out to them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube to name a few.  Have a presence on these networks and seek out those who fit your target donor profile.

2 – If most of your donors are over 65, keep your website design simple.  Minimize the raz-a-ma-taz, flash, etc. This drags site loading to a death crawl.

This is always good advice but the Pew research found that “seniors over 65 are among those least likely to have high-speed Internet access at home — less than one-third of them have broadband.”

Make it easy for web visitors to enlarge font size

Also have a way for web visitors to increase the size of the font.  Make this prominent and EASY to find.  The graphic to the left illustrates what I mean.

3 – Email is a great way to communicate with seniors and boomers.  60% of boomer Internet users send or receive email; and this is true for 55% of seniors.

4 – Consider online ads (i.e., Google Display ads) to reach those who visit other types of websites. For example: A very large segment of web users also get their news online (42% boomers, 34% seniors), do banking online (22% boomers, 19% seniors), and fewer use online classifieds (6% boomers, 5% seniors).

Why boomers & seniors use social media

Knowledge of your target audience is priceless.  Knowing why boomers and seniors are using social media will help you tailor your communications so they resonate with the readers.

According to Pew research, the three primary reasons are these:

1 – Connections with friends and colleagues from their past can “…provide a powerful support network when people near retirement or embark on a new career.” 

Takeaway: If you’re on the staff of a membership association, how might you use this knowledge to attract more members?  How might you tap into the experience and knowledge of these people to educate and train more of your younger members?

2 – “Older adults are more likely to be living with a chronic disease.  Those living with these diseases are more likely to reach out for support online.”  Blogging and online health forums or listservs are popular with some people coping with a serious illness.

Takeaway: How might this knowledge help your health or disease research charity grow?  Can they find you and the help they need on social sites?  Are you giving them the web communication channels they want?

3 – “Social media bridges generational gaps . . . these social spaces pool together users from very different parts of people’s lives and provide the opportunity to share skills across generational divides.”

Takeaway: Similar to #2, health charities can also reach out to younger age groups who may have parents or grandparents suffering from a chronic disease.  They may well want to support a charity that’s helping a family member.   And there are many types of nonprofits that can use this generational diversity to their advantage.

Proceed with a Plan

But I don’t want you to blindly dive head first into the deep water.  You might drown.  What I mean is that without a nonprofit social media plan you could easily use precious resources inefficiently.

Therefore, first have a plan on how you’ll integrate social media into your fundraising and marketing strategy, and know what you want it to do for your nonprofit.

With your plan in place . . . here’s one idea on how to leverage your time and the content you create: Add a blog to your static website. No one needs to know it’s a blog (have your web designer create a header that matches the rest of your site). 

But it’s a super easy and fast way to add content – to keep your website fresh.  And if it’s not “obvious” that it’s a blog then you won’t feel burdened to update it every other day or so. 

The advantage is that each time you add a success story from the field to your website (i.e., the blog), you can have it automatically update your Facebook page. 

More detailed results from the study

• One in five (20%) online adults ages 50-64 say they use social networking sites on a typical day, up from 10% one year ago.

• Among adults ages 65 and older, 13% log on to social networking sites on a typical day, compared with just 4% who did so in 2009.

• One in ten Internet users ages 50 and older now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves or see updates about others.

As the study says, they’re using these sites to connect with old friends, keep in touch with family (especially those far away including nieces, nephews, and grandkids), building networks for finding jobs and furthering their careers, and to keep current on events.

Boomers and seniors are groovin’ online.  More and more are expanding their online use every day.  Go where the people are.  Integrate your fundraising and marketing plans to include social media.  But do this wisely.  Do this with a plan.

You can grow your subscribers and followers by integrating email and social media.  They feed off each other and the result is more people reading your content.

How might you integrate email and social media?

- deliver blog posts via email

- share email newsletters on Twitter

- insert links to blog posts within emails and newsletters

- In a manner of speaking, Facebook does a simplistic form of integration for you.  Facebook requires an email address to log-on, and their emails notify you of updates, friend requests and comments.  

Again, by driving your social media followers and fans to email lists – and vice versa – you can build your subscriber base (and yes, follower/fan lists also grows).  This also gives subscribers the choice of reading your content in their preferred channel.  It’s good service (cultivation and building relationships) to give them a choice whenever possible.

Will you really see growth in your lists/databases? 

A recent survey by AWeber of email marketers found that . . .

33% reported an increase in their email subscriber base after integrating social media and email marketing.

30% reported an increase in friends/fans/followers after integrating social media and email marketing.

20% reported an increase in loyalty after integrating social media and email marketing.
 

Not all the marketers track their numbers.  If they did I firmly believe the numbers would be higher. 

There’s more.  A study by the Nielsen Company indicates that “…social media use makes people consume email more, not less…particularly for the highest social media users.”

Bottom Line:   It pays to integrate email and social media.  It will yield more subscribers and followers.  But don’t stop there.  Nonprofits today must have a complete mix of offline and online channels in order to survive.  And they must also do it well in order to thrive with their fundraising and marketing.

Would you produce a direct mail campaign on a whim?  Would you just “try it” to see what happens?  Or would you plan it carefully as part of an overall fundraising and marketing strategy?

I believe your answer is that you would plan it carefully as part of an overall strategy.

So why do so many nonprofits and for-profit companies venture into social media without a strategy?  This is the on-target question raised by Steve Richards in Econsultancy’s Digital Marketing Blog post, “Why you need a social media strategy, not a Facebook strategy.”

Richards’ point is that almost no one would experiment like this offline.  So why be so haphazard with social media?  To quote Richards,

“The paradox is that most of these same companies would not undertake offline marketing activities on a whim, but carefully plan their campaigns to the smallest detail. They are scrupulous about targeting their direct response campaigns, and every word of a print advertisement is carefully chosen.”

Even other online channels such as email and pay-per-click are done with care and a thought-out strategy.  This is in contrast to social media which is often viewed as “an add-on that we get to whenever we have a few extra minutes.” 

Yikes.  That’s risky.

To paraphrase Richards and to put this in context of the nonprofit sector:  “And when I say social media activities, I mean a structured, organised set of activities, which bring your social media strategy to life. It’s not about being on Facebook, or having a Twitter account, or creating a YouTube channel. Social media isn’t a set of platforms; it’s an attitude towards engaging with prospects, donors, and members in an open, honest way, and it has to be properly co-ordinated . . . “

Technology and new tools are great. I mean that. We simply need to be careful not to be dazzled by the shiny new toy.  We need to be careful not to start playing with the new toy without first reading the instructions and understanding how it works.  Or rather, without first understanding how social media fits in with your overall fundraising and marketing strategy, goals, and objectives. Including, what you specifically want to achieve with social media that contributes to your overall strategy.

Here are some points to consider as you develop your social media strategy:

- Who are you targeting?

- Where’s the best place(s) to find them? Which social media platforms are most relevant for your audience?

- Perhaps you’re also trying to expand your audience into a broader cross section of people.  That’s fine. But again, have a plan and choose social media platforms that match your target.

- What types of messages will resonate with your audience and inspire them to respond?

- Social media is a great way to drive traffic to your website. What will you have them do when they get there?

- Social media is also a way to monitor what’s being said about your nonprofit.

- How can social media build upon and compliment everything else you’re doing?  How can these platforms reinforce your other channels?

- Will you use social media to raise awareness, raise funds, cultivate donors and members, share news, market events, praise donors and volunteers, acquire more supporters, etc.?

- What are you striving for through social media?  And what is the sequence of steps you must guide them (i.e., donors, prospects, advocates, members, etc.) through to reach your goal?

Bottom line: Without a social media strategy how will you ever know if you accomplished your goal?  How will you know if your efforts have been worthwhile?