social media

Are you using social media in your organisation? Many not for profit organisations ignore social media and this may be due to not quite understanding how to use it as well as believing it is not suitable for a not for profit organisation.  Any organisation from small to large commercial organisations, small at home businesses as well as charities, community based and not for profit organisations should be using social media.

Importantly though, it is not just as simple as setting up a Facebook account and off you go.  You need to take time to plan, develop and implement a strategy.

As part of your planning there are some important issues to address as this will assist with the development of your social media strategy.  The most important issue is to first decide exactly what you want to achieve from your strategy?  While there are numerous issues to consider the following points can help you with your planning.  For example, some reasons why you should consider using social media to:

  • Develop an active way to engage directly with supporters
  • Raise awareness of specific issues or causes related to your organisation
  • Promote activities or events and increase the level of participation
  • Obtain feedback and input on issues impacting on the organisation
  • Increase the level of donations and financial support
  • Strengthen partnerships and networks with other related organisations

Depending on your organisation there may be many other reasons but the above issues will assist you to understand how you can use social media.

The next step is to develop the actual strategy which is covered in Part 2.