Three Simple but Powerful Social Media for Nonprofits Tips

Note from Beth: The Social Media for Nonprofits Conference is returning to San Francisco on October 11th.  I’ve been honored to be a speaker at the past events held in San Francisco and would be there next except it conflicts with a NYC  Measuring the Networked Nonprofit book tour dates.    If you are in the San Francisco area,  work in the nonprofit sector, and work on social media, you should attend this event.
Guillaume Decugis, CEO, Scoop.it is on the agenda and most likely talking about content curation tools.   I’ve been a curating on scoop.it for over a year and feel it is one of the best platforms for curators.   Guillaume curates content on content curation over at scoop.it, taking a look at the trends and tools from the view point of a professional content curator.  The agenda also include Lesley Mansford from Razoo and Robert Rosenthal from VolunteerMatch – as well as lots of timely topics.

Three Simple but Powerful Social Media for Nonprofits Tips
Guest Blog by Ritu Sharma, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Social Media for Nonprofits
As Social Media for Nonprofits, the country’s only conference series devoted to social media for social good, plans its 10/11 return to San Francisco, we thought it’d be helpful to share three of the simplest, most practical tips some of our 100+ presenters have shared with the 3,500+ nonprofits we’ve educated and empowered to date.
1- Timing is Everything
With email, the guiding rule is that you don’t want to be unread message number 38 of 62 when someone gets back to work from the weekend, so the best time to blast your list is mid morning or mid afternoon Tues/Weds/Thurs.  On the other hand, with social media, your Facebook posts and tweets should be timed to catch people in their downtime. 8:45am when they’re on their way into work, 12:30pm when they’re checking their iPhone eating a burrito, 5:30pm on the bus ride home, and according to research, the single best time to post during the week is 9:30-11pm, after the kids go to sleep.  Of course you should experiment with your own unique base and see what works, plus bear in mind what time zone(s) they’re in and try out weekends.
2- Ask Questions
Simply put, if your tweet or Facebook post ends in a question mark vs. a period, you can expect about five times the amount of likes/comments/shares, retweets, etc.  Why?  Well, social media isn’t about monologue- it’s about dialogue.  So instead of just making a statement, ask a question and invite your audience into a conversation!
3- Become a Content Curator
Imagine going to a cocktail party and winding up chatting with someone who only talks about themselves, their work, and their needs.  Time for an imaginary call or text to provide cover while you excuse yourself, right?  The same is true with social media- as Kay Sprinkel Grace said, “people don’t give to you, they give through you.”  Your audience may care about your organization a bit, but what they really care about is the kids or animals you serve, and the impact you have in the world.  So try and balance your posts by ensuring at least half of them don’t just talk about your needs and updates, but rather about the issue you represent.  Establish yourself as a thought leader and the followers and dollars will follow.
At Social Media for Nonprofits, we like to say we’re not doing our job if our conferences leave our attendees inspired– our job is to inspire themto action.  The real question is, after a one-day event, what can you do differently tomorrow that makes you more effective and more efficient at advancing your cause?  Hopefully these three simple tips are something you can put to work immediately to drive better results online.
We hope you can us in San Francisco on October, 11th  or that you can make it to Austin 10/23, Seattle 11/5, or thereafter in New Delhi, NYC, Silicon Valley, Vancouver,LA, and Chicago.
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to stay tuned and tickets are just $95 for nonprofits with budgets under $500K, including access to the full-day program, breakfast and lunch.  Larger nonprofits can save $20 off the normal $145 and $195 registration fee with the “Beth” discount code, thanks to our great Global Partner, the Foundation Center, as can consultants and for-profits, which normally pay $175. Finally, there are a limited number of scholarships available for small nonprofits not otherwise able to attend, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.
 
Join us and learn proven, powerful social media tips and resources that cut through the clutter of abstract theory and concepts and leave you inspired to action.