Social Media Archive

Five Creative (and Smart) Uses of Social Media Icons on Nonprofit Homepages

May 19, 2011
While writing Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits, I visited over 500 nonprofit homepages looking primarily for links to their social networking communities. A rough guesstimate would be that less than 30% of those homepages included links or icons to their Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, YouTube Channel, etc., and of those, many placed them along...

Five Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Your Nonprofit’s Website

April 7, 2011
Integrating your nonprofit’s Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 campaigns is essential for success in online communications and fundraising. Rather that keeping them separate, once they are merged to compliment one another, your nonprofit’s ROI begins to grow exponentially. To begin, here are five ways to integrate social media into your nonprofit’s website: 1)  Add social networking icons to your...

Five Must-Have Skills for Nonprofit Social Media Managers

March 24, 2011
Your nonprofit’s social media campaigns are only as good as the social media manager running them. Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are not miracle-producers. They are simply tools that can result in high ROI for your nonprofit, but only if the person sharing Status Updates, Twittering, and Checking-in on behalf of your nonprofit has the right skills, experience and training...

Five Ways to Promote Your Text-to-Give Campaigns on Social Media

February 28, 2011
Many nonprofits are experimenting with text-to-give fundraising, but thus far results have been mixed. Nonprofits that have the resources or connections to tap into media, celebrity or large e-mail lists have done well, but many others are simply breaking even (or not). One reason may be that the online promotions of text-to-give campaigns have been mostly limited to text-only...

The Most Common (Yet Completely Obvious) Mistake Made by Nonprofits on Social Media

February 17, 2011
Nonprofits have been utilizing social media for five years now (beginning with Myspace and YouTube in 2006), and while most at this point have invested the time and resources into designing a solid, visually distinct, social media-compatible avatar, many nonprofits still make the very common (yet completely obvious) mistake of using a cropped logo as their avatar in their...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: National Wildlife Federation

February 1, 2011
Organization: National Wildlife Federation Organization Size: 400 employees Name: Danielle Brigida Title: Digital Marketing Manager Website: www.nwf.org Blog: www.wildlifepromise.org Facebook: facebook.com/nationalwildlife Twitter: twitter.com/nwf YouTube: youtube.com/nationalwildlife 1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and when? Back in 2006 when I joined the organization we had a MySpace page with 25 friends. They passed it off...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: WITNESS

January 18, 2011
Organization: WITNESS Organization Size: 29 staff members Name: Marianna Moneymaker Title: Online Outreach and Production Website: www.witness.org Blog: blog.witness.org Facebook: facebook.com/witness Twitter: twitter.com/witnessorg YouTube: youtube.com/witness Flickr: flickr.com/humanrights Mission: WITNESS uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. 1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and when? In February 2006,...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: The Humane Society of the United States

December 28, 2010
Organization: The Humane Society of the United States Organization Size: 11 million supporters, 500+ staff Name: Carie Lewis Title: Director of Emerging Media Website: HumaneSociety.org Blog: hsus.typepad.com Facebook: facebook.com/humanesociety Twitter: @HumaneSociety, @cariegrls YouTube: youtube.com/hsus LinkedIn: humane-society, carielewis   1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and when? MySpace, back when it was cool. That...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: Taproot Foundation

December 20, 2010
Organization: Taproot Foundation Organization Size: 40 Employees Name (s): Dupé Ajayi and Megan McDonald Title (s): Manager, External Affairs and Associate, Social Media & Recruitment Website: www.taprootfoundation.org Blog: taprootfoundation.org/blog Facebook: facebook.com/taprootfoundation Twitter: twitter.com/taprootfound YouTube: youtube.com/thetaprootfoundation LinkedIn: taproot-foundation Jumo: http://bit.ly/gfpe6R 1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and when? Megan: MySpace was probably our first...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: The Nature Conservancy

December 13, 2010
Organization: The Nature Conservancy Organization Size: +1 million members, +3800 staff Name: Amy Ganderson Title: Associate Director, Digital Marketing Website: www.nature.org Mobile: m.nature.org Blog: blog.nature.org Facebook: facebook.com/thenatureconservancy Twitter: twitter.com/nature_org YouTube: youtube.com/natureconservancy Flickr: flickr.com/groups/thenatureconservancy 1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and when? My guess would be either MySpace, YouTube, or Facebook Causes. I know...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: Women for Women International

December 5, 2010
Organization: Women for Women International Organization Size: Approximately 70 DC/stateside employees; more than 100 field staff employees in eight countries in Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East Name: Lauren Shopp ||  lshopp@womenforwomen.org Title: Multimedia/Online Coordinator Website: www.womenforwomen.org Facebook: facebook.com/womenforwomen Twitter: twitter.com/womenforwomen YouTube: youtube.com/womenforwomenintl Blog: wfwnotesfromthefield.wordpress.com 1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and...

[Book Interview] Nonprofit Example of Social Media Excellence: Big Cat Rescue

November 29, 2010
Organization: Big Cat Rescue Organization Size: 125 exotic cats, 9 paid staff, 107 volunteers, 80,000 supporters Name: Carol Baskin Title: CEO Website: BigCatRescue.org Blog: BigCatRescue.org/Blog Facebook: facebook.com/BigCatRescue Twitter: twitter.com/BigCatRescue YouTube: youtube.com/BigCatRescue Posterous: BigCatRescue.posterous.com 1. What was the very first social media tool your organization utilized, and when? Care2.com Aug 14, 2000: my.care2.com/savethecats 2. What social media tools are you...