What's Your Social Media Plan?
Flickr Photo: fr@nsI'm not normally an Oprah's Book Club kind of girl, but I happened to be trapped in a Starbucks with no reading materials for 90 minutes one day, so I bought "The Art of Racing in the Rain." (I don't know if it's technically an Oprah's Book Club selection, but it seemed like the kind of book that would be.)
Although everything jaded and cynical in me was annoyed by the sappy homilies, one bit really stuck with me: Your car follows where your eyes lead. I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. Wherever you're looking, that's where you drive.
When it comes to our use of social media as a sector, I have to wonder, where are we looking? Where are we trying to drive? I hear a lot of general answers: we want to raise more money; we want to spread our message further. But I don't hear the specifics needed if we're going to do those things meaningfully. Having a Facebook group and a blog will not, on their own, raise more money for your organization.
That's the crux of the latest module we're tackling at the newly renamed We Are Media project, and we need your help!
In Module 1, we covered the what and why of social media and explored whether incorporating a social media strategy into your nonprofit organization's overall communications plan made sense. In this module, we look at how to think about social media strategically so it supports your organization's mission and reaches your target audience or group of stakeholders and dovetails with your organization's overall communications and marketing plan.
How are you tackling this work at your organization? What resources and ideas are you drawing from as you work towards a real, integrated, social media plan? Join the over 70 folks who have already contributed to the project. Please share with us!
One simple goal may be to keep our followers informed, and to get them involved. If Im at a fast food restaurant and I see a problem that I want to complain about, sometimes the only thing I can do is fill out that little form that MAYBE gets sent to corporate. However if I am an active member in their online community and there was a way to post ideas/complaints easily online, I would be 10 times more likely to voice my opinion in that scenario.
That is not the entire goal, its just one of them, but feedback should be an important element to any non-profit, neigh any business.
Obviously more money etc. are important and like you said a blog and a facebook group cannot do it alone, even if you are involved in every Web 2.0 service that alone wont do it, you, as the non-profit, need to engage in it as well.
Justin