Volunteers & Social Media: Boost Communication and Build Community

Volunteers & Social Media: Boost Communication & Build

Community

VAN Conference June 2012

NPower Northwest

• Vision

A thriving community with high performing nonprofits.

• Mission

To strengthen the nonprofit sector by catalyzing innovation and driving adoption of technology solutions.

Website: www.npowernw.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/npowernw

Twitter: @npowernw

Introductions

Elissa Thomas, Stephen Eggers, Abby Nafziger HandsOn Tech AmeriCorp VISTA Serving at NPower Northwest vistastaff@npowernw.org

Road Map

Social Media

• Some numbers and a brief overview

• Choosing a focus

6 Tips for Better Engagement

• Facebook

• Twitter

3 Steps to Measure ROE

Q & A

Social Media: Some numbers

2012 Nonprofit Social Networking Report

% of Nonprofits using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Myspace

Download the full report

Facebook and Twitter Frequency of Use

Source: Pew Research Center

% of users who use the site at least once a day 52%

% of users who use the site at least once a week 84%

% of users who use the site at least once a day

% of users who use the site at least once a week 48%

33%

Social Media: A brief overview

Expectations Management

“Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on your own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.” Denise Waitly

Photo by KayVee.INC

Re-Define Success

It's about the Quality, not the Quantity

100 fans who aren't engaged

10 fans who take action

Vs

Build Relationships

Remember “Social” comes before “Media” for a reason • Don’t connect only when you need

something • Be deliberate about creating relationships • Respond when others reach out

Social Media Reflects Mission

Offline goals

should =

Online goals

Social Media: Choosing a Focus

Possible Focuses

• Storytelling • Information Hub • Community Building

All 3 are important parts of a complete social media strategy, figure out your percentage

Storytelling Nonprofit Case Study

• Personalized • Strong focus on

creating good content (pictures, blog posts, videos, etc)

• Day-in-the-life

Other Orgs to Watch: • Operation Homefront • Big Cat Rescue

Information Nonprofit Hub Case Studies

Other Orgs to Watch: • GLAAD • Grist

• Trusted source for info about specific topics

• Connected to similar orgs

Community Building Case Study

Watch the full video here

Other Orgs to Watch: • 350.org • Goodwill Industries

• Emphasis on call to action

• Focused on building relationships with individuals

6 Tactics for Facebook and Twitter:

Boost Communication and Build Community

6 Tactics for better engagement

1. Make it easy to help 2. Ask questions and elicit response 3. Acknowledge, Acknowledge, Acknowledge 4. Be responsive 5. Be human 6. Make or Share Interesting Content

1. Make it easy to help

• Post volunteer openings • Encourage sharing

2. Ask questions / Elicit feedback

3. Acknowledge, Acknowledge, etc

3. Acknowledge, Acknowledge, etc

• Thank individuals

• Get creative

3. Acknowledge, Acknowledge, etc

• Show impact • Connect back to

volunteers

4. Be Responsive

• Customer Service matters

• People love recognition

4. Be Responsive

• Build relationships • But don't be

spammy

5. Be Human

• Don’t be afraid to admit mistakes

• Or show your goofy side

6. Share interesting content

Content Creator

Where Seattle Tilth Saw it

Stats on Seattle Tilth’s specific post

6. Make Interesting Content

• Tap into current trends

• Make connections back to your mission

3 Steps to Measure Return on

Engagement

1. Choose the forms of measurement

• Participation (Comments, Shares, Likes)

• Authority (Links from others, Website traffic from other sources)

• Influence (Requests to re-post / guest post)

• Sentiment (General tone of user-generated content)

2. Get some tools

• Google Analytics

• HootSuite (Twitter)

• SocialBro (Twitter)

• Facebook Insights

3. Make SMART goals

S - Specific M - Measurable A - Aligned R - Realistic T - Timely Bad Example - My nonprofit will get better at social media Better Example - In 6 months, my nonprofit will gain 2 new volunteer after school tutors through Facebook.

Questions?

Is that it?!

photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasticrevolver/164351244/

Thank You

Abby Nafziger, Elissa Thomas and Stephen Eggers

AmeriCorps VISTAs

vistastaff@npowernw.org

NPower Northwest

Website: www.npowernw.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/npowernw

Twitter: @npowernw