Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine Vol 5 No 1

MARK S A SMITH

Deploying Social Media Content without Killing Yourself

What’s worse: No social media presence, social posts that start and stop, or bad social media posts? It’s a trick question. They’re all potentially damaging to your organization’s brand. If a substantial portion of your constituents consume and participate in social media, you’ve got to have a solid presence, one that has a cadence, relevance, and expanding value. Yet how do you post, and tweet, and respond, with all the other tasks that demand your attention? Read on to discover how to make this work for you without killing you or your staff. Start with a Strategy Create a simple document that outlines your social media strategy, what you plan to do and why you plan to do it. One sheet is enough. Use this as a guideline for your team when posting to social media. Include the following questions and consider these likely answers. What is the purpose of our social media strategy? Our social media presence supports our constituents and prospective members with content that aligns with our mission and vision. We routinely remind them of why we are here and what they can expect from us. We choose to be a meaningful part of their social media consumption, balancing the ubiquitous bad news with our relevant good news. Why do we engage in social media? Recognizing that our constituents consume content through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, podcasts, and other social media platforms, we choose

a sincere apology published, and the guilty party fined (or made to clean the toilets). How do we measure success? We measure success through the amount of content that our constituents and non-constituents share with their followers. We recognize that content relevance triggers sharing of our ideas.We will measure growth in the number of followers and the number of people who like, share, and comment. We understand that the growth will start small and accelerate over time as we refine our message and our constituent base grows. You get the picture. Think through the identity you want to present that supports your organization’s brand, and design what you’ll present through social media. Use the Right Media for the Message Take a poll of your constituents to find out what social media platforms they are using. It can be as simple as getting people to raise their hands at the next meeting. It’s highly likely that your future constituents will be present on the same platforms. Using the 80/20 principle, identify the one platform that 80 percent of your constituents use, and start there. As you get more experience, add support for the next most popular platform. Here’s a quick review of the popular social media platforms and what to expect from them. Facebook: The largest community. Use it for community building and connecting with people you know. Good for short posts, simple video updates, and links to more material. Consider using advertising to reach

to be deliberate and intentional about our media presence and the content that we post. Effective social media reminds our constituents why we are here and what they can expect from us. What do we publish? We publish relevant and meaningful content that entertains with new ideas and insights, engages through questions and comments, enlightens through observations and ah-ha! moments, educates with links to additional information, and occasionally offers supportive goods and services for sale. We showcase our best members and our best ideas and stories. We publicly thank those who support us, espouse our vision, and contribute to our mission.We recognize that in these times, a Facebook or Twitter mention is received as more appreciative than other, traditional methods. What is the tone of our social media content? We recognize that our social media presents a public position, one that can be used for us by those who love us, and used against us by those who don’t agree.Therefore, we have a strict positive posting policy. We post ideas that promote our positive position in alignment with our mission. We avoid criticism that can be taken out of context or written attacks that can be unfairly used against us. We will never publish a statement that would undermine, embarrass, or obscure our position. Any official post that violates this position will be immediately retracted,

30 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine