Dustin K MacDonald

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Economic and Community Development
    • Notary in Sigourney Iowa
  • Nonprofit Management
    • Counselling and Service Delivery
    • Suicide Prevention / Crisis Intervention
  • Politics and Governance
  • Math and Statistics
Menu

Introduction to Social Media for Non-Profits

Posted on April 10, 2017September 12, 2019 by Dustin

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Other Social Networks
  • Hootsuite
  • References

Introduction

Social media has become an important part of outreach for nonprofits as well as customer/client/donor relation management for nonprofits and for-profit organizations. Social media provides agencies with a way to connect with their clients in a real-time way to provide updates, address complaints, and continue to engage stakeholders. (Young, 2017)

Before exploring social media for your nonprofit it is important to determine what you hope to achieve with your social media presence. For instance, some organizations post primarily organizational related information (such as links to their crisis line number and events), while others post pictures and motivational statements that go beyond official crisis line communications into general wellness.

Bernritter, Verlegh, & Smit (2016) discovered that brand warmth, and a desire to publicly affiliate with positive organizations made users more likely to “like” nonprofits on social media, rather than competence. This means that nonprofits have an opportunity to build a strong brand online.

Wyllie et. al. (2016) showed how social network analysis (SNA) can be used to identify new stakeholders and potential by donors by looking at who engages with your organization and who those people are connected to; this can provide avenues for expanding fundraising efforts; additionally, when posts go “viral” (experiencing wide distribution) they may be seen by potential future donors and supporters.

Finally, Goldkin (2015) identified multiple advantages to nonprofits who use social media including fundraising, advocacy and policy changes, and the ability to directly engage clients or service users.

Facebook

Facebook is the most common social network in the Western Hemisphere according to Vincos (2017); it allows users to “like” and comment on posts. Facebook Insights allows you to see the engagement that each post received, including likes, comments and shares.

The biggest advantage of Facebook is that it allows you to communicate deeply with your clients and potential donors, who may share your posts. Unlike Twitter, there is no 140 character limit so you can tell your story without feeling constrained or limited, including images or videos.

Huang, Lin & Saxton (2016) describe the social media marketing of HIV/AIDS nonprofits, in order to examine what strategies worked well. They explained one-way informational messages and calls-to-action or event messages generated less user interaction than two-way dialogues.

Twitter

Twitter, despite its fame, actually has fewer users than other social networks. At 300 million users, it pales in comparison to Facebook’s 1.59 billion, and even Instagram’s 400 million (Adweek, 2016) Twitter’s advantage is that nearly 3 in 4 of their users are outside of the US. For nonprofits that serve international audiences Twitter can help you match these donors and clients.

Twitter contains a 140 character limit, requiring message to be short and sweet.

Other Social Networks

There are a variety of other social networks that can be used for nonprofits to communicate with their clients. The exact networks chosen will depend on your audience. For instance, Instagram requires photos and videos, versus Facebook’s use of text, videos or photos – however Instagram’s engagement by user is higher than Facebook’s. (Nwazor, 2016)

Networks for nonprofits to consider include:

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Hootsuite

Hootsuite describes their goal as “managing all of your social media marketing efforts from a single dashboard. With Hootsuite’s platform, you get the tools to manage all your social profiles and automatically find and schedule effective social content.” (Hootsuite, n.d.)

Hootsuite allows you a dashboard in which you can see and make posts on all of your social media profiles at once; this makes it much easier for you to maintain regular posts on all your profiles in much less time, and to send a consistent message to your donors or clients.

References

Adweek. (2016) “Here’s How Many People Are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Other Big Social Networks”. Retrieved on April 2, 2017 from http://www.adweek.com/digital/heres-how-many-people-are-on-facebook-instagram-twitter-other-big-social-networks/

Bernritter, S. F., Verlegh, P. W., & Smit, E. G. (2016). Why Nonprofits Are Easier to Endorse on Social Media: The Roles of Warmth and Brand Symbolism. Journal Of Interactive Marketing, 3327-42. doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2015.10.002

Goldkind, L. (2015). Social Media and Social Service: Are Nonprofits Plugged In to the Digital Age?. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(4), 380-396. doi:10.1080/23303131.2015.1053585

Hootsuite. (n.d.) “Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard – Hootsuite.com” Retrieved on April 2, 2017 from https://hootsuite.com/

Huang, Y., Lin, Y., & Saxton, G. D. (2016). Give Me a Like: How HIV/AIDS Nonprofit Organizations Can Engage Their Audience on Facebook. AIDS Education & Prevention, 28(6), 539-556. doi:10.1521/aeap.2016.28.6.539

Nwazor, T. (2016) “Faceoff: Instagram versus Facebook, For Business.” Entrepreneur. Retrieved on April 2, 2017 from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280833

Vincos. (2017) “World Map of Social Networks” Retrieved on April 2, 2017 from http://vincos.it/world-map-of-social-networks/

Wyllie, J., Lucas, B., Carlson, J., Kitchens, B., Kozary, B., & Zaki, M. (2016). An Examination of Not-For-Profit Stakeholder Networks for Relationship Management: A Small-Scale Analysis on Social Media. Plos ONE, 11(10), 1-20. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0163914

Young, J. A. (2017). Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs: The Adoption and Utilization of Social Media in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 41(1), 44-57. doi:10.1080/23303131.2016.1192574

Cite this article as: MacDonald, D.K., (2017), "Introduction to Social Media for Non-Profits," retrieved on April 17, 2021 from http://dustinkmacdonald.com/introduction-social-media-non-profits/.

1 thought on “Introduction to Social Media for Non-Profits”

  1. Pingback: Mobile Giving for Your Crisis Line - Dustin K MacDonald

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Policy

See here for our privacy policy. This site uses affiliate links and Adsense ads to provide targeted advertising.

Tags

analytical technique assessment city council communication community development counselling crisis chat crisis intervention economic development empathy evaluation forecasting fundraising governance humint inpatient intelligence intelligence analysis keokuk county language learning legal local government management peer support personal development politics professional development protective factors psychosocial risk factors safety planning sexual violence sigourney social media statistics suicide suicide assessment suicide myths suicide risk assessment technology terrorism training violence violence risk assessment youth

Recommended Posts

  • Conducting Psychosocial Assessments
  • DCIB Model of Suicide Risk Assessment
  • ABC Model of Crisis Intervention
  • My Friend is Suicidal - What do I do?

Recent Posts

  • Jarad Klein ignores the science on COVID-19
  • Certificate for the Study of Capitalism
  • Review of UpLevel Data Science 2020
  • Quantic Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • 2020 Election Results, Keokuk County Iowa

Archives

  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (4)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (4)
  • February 2020 (7)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (2)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (4)
  • November 2018 (3)
  • October 2018 (3)
  • September 2018 (19)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (2)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (39)
  • May 2017 (3)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (5)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (5)
  • September 2016 (4)
  • August 2016 (5)
  • July 2016 (5)
  • June 2016 (5)
  • May 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (2)
  • March 2016 (2)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (4)
  • December 2015 (2)
  • November 2015 (2)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (3)
  • March 2015 (8)
  • February 2015 (12)
  • January 2015 (28)

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Recent Comments

  • Dustin on Quantic Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • Dustin on Certificate for the Study of Capitalism
  • Tricia Fox on Quantic Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • Steve Foerster on Certificate for the Study of Capitalism
  • Dustin on Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA)

Tags

analytical technique assessment city council communication community development counselling crisis chat crisis intervention economic development empathy evaluation forecasting fundraising governance humint inpatient intelligence intelligence analysis keokuk county language learning legal local government management peer support personal development politics professional development protective factors psychosocial risk factors safety planning sexual violence sigourney social media statistics suicide suicide assessment suicide myths suicide risk assessment technology terrorism training violence violence risk assessment youth
© 2021 Dustin K MacDonald | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme