Last week, I had the good fortune to speak with some great organizations doing historic preservation work in the Western United States. By and large, these are small organizations that frequently rely on volunteers and working boards to fill all roles the organization needs to staff. So, after a presentation on marketing and social media, I was not surprised to hear a common question:

"We're a small organization, so we can't do it all. What should we focus on?"

It's a great question because it perfectly summarizes the conundrum of social media.

On the one hand, it's an extremely level playing field: social media tools require very little outlay of cash to use, so even small organizations can have big impacts.

On the other hand, small organizations often lack the thing social media does require, and requires a lot of: time. When you have to prepare the annual budget, oversee the programs, and write the grants, the investment of time required to make social media work seems unrealistic.

Nevertheless, small organizations are using social media well. Beth Kanter and Allison Fine have documented some of the small organizations who used social media exceedingly well during the Case Foundation's America's Giving Challenge. (See Students for a Free Tibet and Darius Goes West.)

In the Students for a Free Tibet case study, Beth highlights that the organization has to make choices. It only enters one social media contest a year. They simply don't have the staff bandwidth for more. I wonder, though, what other choices they're making. Do they have a direct mail or direct e-mail program? Do they have a large scale PR effort? What other marketing and fundraising opportunities are they forgoing to make social media work for them?

Here at NTEN, we're in an interesting position. As a technology organization, we've always relied on electronic communications. We do very few mailings each year, which means that as we've grown, we've been able to prioritize social media, rather than shoehorning it into an already full plate of communications.

What about you, small organizations? Tell us how you fit social media onto your work plate?