A Minute With Ephraim Gopin, International Fundraising and Social-Media Consultant

Ephraim Gopin has worked in the nonprofit sector for the last decade, in every position and department from CEO, PR, marketing, event organization, fundraising, grant writing and everything in between. He currently works with nonprofits and businesses to help them craft social-media strategies and get out there engaging the masses. He also recently was a session presenter during our third annual FundRaising Success Virtual Conference & Expo. Following are some insights and musings from his session, "A Fresh Look at Social Media."

"So you want to start using social media? Awesome! But before you do anything, you need to build a strategy. I liken it to diving into the deep end of the pool — you'll probably want to take some lessons, start in the shallow end, get the hang of it before diving in. Or a fundraising campaign — you'll create a strategy of who you want to solicit, how you'll present the campaign, set a donation target and much more. Social media is exactly the same."

"If you manage a soup kitchen, you probably know of other soup kitchens in your city operated by other organizations. Go look at their websites — for both design and content. Take a look at which social-media outlets they're utilizing, and see what they're up to. Then use my friend Rabbi Google and find other organizations across your state or province who also operate soup kitchens, and learn from them as well. In the past, a lot of this came under the heading of industrial espionage. Today, it's all online, and all the info you need can be found by legal means."

"How will you help your online community? You have to bring some kind of value, something special which your followers need or want to be a part of. If all you're doing is broadcasting the wonderful work you are doing, they won't follow you. That's not a condemnation of your efforts, but you have to do for them first!"

"The 'why' of social media? But of course: to fundraise! Ummmm … not really! You are joining social media to help create brand awareness, to start conversations with people, to foster a feeling of community, to engage everyone you possibly can, to build trust … Do all those things and then you can begin to turn to your community for assistance. But two words of caution for the CEOs out there and for those of you who will have to get permission from the CEO to start tweeting, blogging and posting status updates: Patience grasshopper! None of this success happens overnight."

"Use Instagram to photograph and post some behind-the-scenes pictures. Give followers a sneak peek of something you're working on or a giveaway at an upcoming event. Intro your followers to the employees at work in the office. Show off supplies you use with constituents. Do you make and sell a product? Show how it's made. Is the boss/fundraising director flying somewhere? Take a pic at the airport, meeting place and more. Let people know what you're up to!"

"Yes, Pinterest is for women — or so the stats say. The overwhelming number of people who use it are women. Guess what, folks? I'm a man, and I love Pinterest! And contrary to what you may have heard, it's not just for posting pictures of food and clothes. Far from it! Here are some examples and ideas for how your nonprofit can use Pinterest. You can run a contest. The famous store Harrods of London did this; they asked people to pin pictures of their dream front window display to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The winner was flown to London for the unveiling of the window. Share pics/images of who donors are helping with their donations — your constituents. The National Wildlife Federation alerts followers of animals that are endangered. Run a food bank? Share favorite recipes from the chef or head cook. If you run an adoption agency, maybe you can post pictures to a board entitled: Items your newborn needs."

"I'm sure you've all heard of [LinkedIn], but are you using it? They have 175 million users- — and it's very underutilized by nonprofit personnel. Or as I call it: Social Media's Ugly Stepsister. Need to do research on a donor or a corporate partner? Look at the person's profile on LinkedIn. Need to connect with someone? Ask to connect, and now it's a one-on-one conversation. Much of social media is showing people you're an expert in a specific field. LinkedIn has groups on every topic imaginable. You can join those groups, like and comment on posts, and possibly post your own blog posts as well. It's all about the engagement. Finally, it excels at lead generation because of its business nature and because it's one-on-one and not a 'group setting' like Facebook or Twitter."