Intro to social media for nonprofits, focusing on benefits to using social media and 4 keys to success. Given at Google Cambridge as part of HandsOnTech Boston workshop series 3/6/13. Presented by David Crowley, Social Capital Inc. President & Founder

1. Social Media 101 for
Nonprofits
March 6, 2013
@ Google Cambridge
HandsOn Tech Boston Training
Presented by @DavidBCrowley, President, Social Capital Inc.
@socialcap #scitrain

2. Free technology trainings – like this one!
Pro bono technology assistance for local nonprofits
www.HandsOnTechBoston.org
@HandsOnTechBOS

3. Social Media 101 for
Nonprofits
March 6, 2013
@ Google Cambridge
HandsOn Tech Boston Training
Presented by David Crowley
#scitrain

4. Opening: Quick sense of
participants’ experience level

5. Agenda
 How social media can
help you achieve goals
 4 keys to success
 Benefits & tips for
Google+, Facebook &
Twitter
 Hands-on practice—
(available until noon!)

6. Follow & engage online!
 Twitter hashtag: #scitrain
 Tweet your questions, ideas & resources!
 Follow @socialcap @davidbcrowley
@handsontechbos
 https://plus.google.com/+SocialCapitalInc/
 http://facebook..com/socialcapital

7. What brings me here…
 Connecting people to community info key to
Social Capital Inc. (SCI) mission.
 Using technology to engage people has been key
to our work.
 Early evidence that social media can strengthen
relationships.
 We’ve had some success…

8. SCI & David on Social Media
 @socialcap 4663 followers; @cookingchat 1439
@davidbcrowley 508
 900+ LinkedIn Connections
 590 “likes” on Facebook (socialcapital) (gain of about 80% in
past year)
 1110 have circled davidbcrowley on Google+ since July launch,
1139 following SCI on G+.
 Over 12,000 unique visitors to our websites every month
 Klout score=63
 Have recruited volunteers & applicants for positions, gotten a
job for an alum, reached new donors, increased web traffic…

9. Why social media
for your work?

10. 1) Learn

12. 2) Raise Brand Awareness

15. 3) Make new friends…
 Find local folks that share interests with your
organization.
 Focus on common interests, not selling!
 Easier to do with Twitter and Google+.

17. 4) Keep the old
(strengthen relationships)

20. 5) Boost web traffic & email list
 Our general web traffic
increased by 60% during Web traffic while tweeting
10 mos of active tweeting. 1200
1000
 Typically put more 800
detailed content on your
600 Series1
400
site, link to it via SM 200
0
 Some do strictly use social 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
media

21. 6) Calls to Action
 Event participation
 Recruit volunteers
 Raise funds
 Connecting with foundations
 Keep in touch with donors
 Supplement your other individual fundraising
 Leverage networks of your supporters
 Targeted, time-limited asks most effective

22. 4 Keys to Social Media Success
1) Set goals
2) Engage & monitor
3) Be a resource
4) Be visual

23. 1) SET GOALS & plan
 Who is your audience for outreach you are
doing?
 What results do you hope to achieve
communicating with your audience?
 What kinds of branding messages & info do you
want to share?
 Your social media channels & messaging should
flow from your answers—how can social media
help you reach this audience?

25. 2) Engage & Monitor
 Jump in! Best way is to learn by doing!
 FOLLOW OTHERS
 Social media is a 2 way street
 Focus on relationship building
 Better to give than receive
 Share your personality; though not every detail!
 Engage people in conversation—ask questions,
comment in such a way that it elicits response
 Respond promptly when someone comments, or @
replies to you on Twitter, etc.

26. Engage Consistently
 Regular participation in social media generates
best results
 Integrate it into what you do—read something
good, share it; working on an interesting project,
talk about it or ask question.
 Engaging at different hours helps reach more
people.

28. Monitoring
 Simply put—pay attention to what is working…
-What do you notice about posts that are getting
shared vs. those that don’t?
-What social media channels are working for you? (and
for what purposes).
-Consider also the time of day.

29. 3) Be a resource
 Share articles
 Job & volunteer
opps.
#workwednesday
 Events
 Create lists
(esp on Twitter)

30. 4 ) Be visual!

32. Focusing on 3 Platforms

33. At this point, we heard a great overview of
Google+. That presentation will be posted
separately.

34. Facebook & Twitter how-to’s wer
done with live demo. We had a
few backup slides in case we
couldn’t get online….those
follow.

35. Facebook Benefits
 900 million users & counting!
 Very easy to use at a basic level
 Based primarily on social ties
 Getting your friends to share with their friends
is powerful
 Especially good way to connect & engage with
young people.
 What would you add?

36. Facebook basics
 Create a “page” to promote an organization.
 You must have an individual account to create an
organizational page.
 The “groups” feature can be a way to foster
sharing among a group of program participants
(can be private).
 Don’t set up your organization as an individual
profile! (against terms of service)
 Setting up a page…following slides/demo

37. Leveraging Facebook
 #1 Post photos and videos! Most shared
content.
 Create photo albums for your big events
 Post to albums in a few batches over time
 Tag those photos
 You can’t tag friends if you don’t have any
 Have several page admins that can leverage their
own friend relationshps
 Your page should like other pages

38. Getting Seen on Facebook
 How people see your content
 people who like your page
 people interact w your page
 “Edgerank” is algorithm that determines who sees
your page in the new newsfeed. Prioritizes (in order)
1) Shares
2) Comments
3) Likes
 Insights provides easy to follow stats on your
page

39. More Facebook tips
 1 or 2 Facebook page posts per day is
considered good practice…vary the times.
 Limit the number of business related posts to
your personal wall
 @ followed by user name or group is a quick
way to get their attention or give them props
 Facebook status can be updated from
Tweetdeck, smartphones & other apps

41. Let’s take a closer look at some
Twitter basics…

42. What is Twitter?
 a social networking and microblogging service,
enabling its users to send and read messages
called tweets.
 Tweets are text-based posts of up to
140 characters displayed on the user's profile page.
Tweets are publicly visible by default.
 Users may subscribe to other users' tweets – this is
known as following and subscribers are known
as followers or tweeps
Source: Wikipedia 4/25/11

43. Getting started w Twitter
 Associate the account with an email address.
 Choose a short username or “handle” [you will have an
existing account for your SCI Tweets]
 A handle that is easy to remember makes it more likely
people will “retweet” you.
 Your handle uses up some of the 140 characters when
retweeted
 The profile helps people can quickly see where you are,
what you are Tweeting about. (help them decide to
follow or not). We will be providing templates soon. (see
next slide)

44. Twitter Basics
 Your Tweets:
 Type into the “What’s New” box upper left
 140 characters or less—125 is better to leave room for
“retweeting”
 Can be viewed by anyone on the Internet (unless you protect
your Tweets-not recommended for biz)
 Most likely to be seen by your followers
 Also may be found by people searching for relevant terms “HACC”
 5-10 Tweets a day is common for active users
 Timing Tweets with Tweetdeck or Hootsuite is a good idea

46. Twitter Basics
 Timeline
 Stream of Tweets from Tweeps you follow
 Fast moving stream if you follow a lot of people
 Expectations to respond or have read a Tweet only
comes in if they @ mention you

49. Twitter basics
Mentions
 When someone references you in their tweet, with your handle,
this is called a mention. It will show in your “mention” stream
on Twitter.com.
 You generally should chime in promptly when someone mentions you.
 A mention starting w your handle, e.g. “@socialcap you have
great AmeriCorps members”, is considered an “@ reply” or
message.
 This is a way of directing a tweet toward someone in particular, but
anyone on the web could see it (though it will only show in the
Twitter.com stream of people who are following both you & the person
you are interacting with.
 So if you want reference someone in a way that maximizes people who
see it, you should start with something other than their handle. E.g.
“Looking for the latest Dorchester news? Follow @mydorchester”

51. Twitter basics
 Retweets “RTs”
 Shows you are sharing someone else’s content
 Sharing good content from others (and providing
content people want to share) lies at the heart of
Twitter.
 RTing with comments even better-you’re adding
more value.

52. Retweeting with comments
Sharing in your own words, with “via”

53. #hashtags
 Part of workshop in which David extols the
virtues of hashtags, explains and shows how
they work, and discusses examples of why they
are important.
 Today’s hashtag is #seCHNA (not cap sensitive)

54. More Twitter Tips
 Engage, don’t just push out marketing info
 Be responsive to those who RT & mention you
 To “talk” directly to someone
 Publicly: start your Tweet w their handle
 e.g. @HACC Great meeting tonight!
 Privately: use the Direct Message “DM” function
 Strive for at least 80% non-selling messages.
 Lists become helpful when you’re following
hundreds or more.
 Use a tool like TweetDeck or HootSuite

56. My Top Twitter Tips
 Determine the topics you are going to focus on.
 TWEET! Engage, tweet. Tweet some more.
 Tweet throughout your day—find a good article, tweet it. At a
meeting, tweet it.
 Follow generously, use lists & search feeds to keep closer eye on
key people/topics.
 Clean up your following accounts. I recommend manageflitter.com
 Use hashtags (but don’t overdue it, 1 or 2 per tweet is good).
 Include a link in most tweets.
 Reciprocate.
 Schedule your tweets, spread timing out (but know when you get
most action)…post your most important ones 5-10 times
throughout the week.

58. Resources (gen social media)
 Bookmarks for Facebook articles/resources:
http://bit.ly/Jyyl2S
 Bookmarks for Twitter articles/resources:
http://bit.ly/nnlA5w
 Longer list of bookmarks for all social media:
http://bit.ly/ogEGRa
 The Nonprofit Facebook Guy
http://www.johnhaydon.com/
 Beth Kanter, co-author of The Networked Nonprofit
http://www.bethkanter.org/