Social Media

In a tough economy, with limited financial and human resources to work with, how should you allocate your precious time and resources?

For many fundraising professionals, the world of social media is an intimidating place. They know it's the wave of the future, but many are reluctant to dive in. I spoke recently with Terry Barber and Doug Broward, vice president and creative director, respectively, of integrated direct-response fundraising agency Grizzard, about the evolution of social media regarding fundraising.

So you've done your homework, and you're 
convinced that your organization should dabble 
in social networking. You're not alone — according to ThePort Network, Common Knowledge and NTEN, 74.1 percent of nonprofits have a presence on Facebook, and 30.6 percent have social-networking communities on their own sites.

July 30, 2009 — On Wednesday, August 5th at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT, Causes will be hosting a webinar to discuss how nonprofits can better use the Causes application and Facebook, in general.

July 30, 2009 —  tweetmyride is a Twitter-driven global charity campaign, created to raise money for 10 charities around the world in the lead up to Vancouver-based Australian, Gavin Romanis, participating in the international mountain bike race, La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica from November 11-14, 2009  known as one of the toughest on the planet.

The old way individuals thought about community — who they are and how they connect to likeminded people — was geographic. The neighborhood was the community, and people built community to physically be together, whether in their workplaces or churches. But today, people are centered more around electronic communities of interest. Things like online book clubs, professional networks like LinkedIn, and social networks are new ways to get a sense of self and community.

LONDON, July 16, 2009, Forbes.com — "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings," as the saying goes. But investment bank Morgan Stanley has taken the phrase to heart, after it published a report on teenage media consumption--penned by a fifteen year old.

So you have your Facebook page and your YouTube channel, and you’re even on Twitter. Now what? How do you get more people to visit your pages and, more importantly, how do you get those who have visited to keep coming back?  Keeping your pages fresh with photos, videos, articles and links is a key factor in creating and sustaining online traffic.

Interactive agency MindComet has launched CommuniCause, a program that allows the public to vote for the organization that they'd like to receive pro bono social-media consulting services from the agency worth $25,000.

Laconia, NH, July 14, 2009 — Participation in social networks continues to grow at a frenetic pace in 2009. Facebook, at well over 300 million members is on track to triple in size this year, for example, and Twitter is growing more than five times faster than Facebook.