Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing has defined a new era of online marketing.
One of the hottest topics of the moment, social media marketing refers to the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. It is a powerful strategy that is proven to supply inbound links to your website, attention and massive amounts of traffic. There is really no other low-cost promotional method out there that can easily provide your company website with increased page views from new visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again.
Social media marketing for non-profits can raise brand awareness, getting the message out to potential donors, volunteers, and other non-profits that might be interested in collaboration. It can also raise awareness in the global, national, or regional arenas, as to the specific mission of the non-profit’s cause. The people you interact with are your donors and supporters of tomorrow. Not learning to use social media channels will hurt you in the long run.
The ROI for social media marketing is not an easy thing to determine. It’s not easy to measure, argue, and prove. However, the ROI in direct mail marketing is in fact easy to determine and will always be an important element in an acquisition campaign. By utilizing social media efficiently you are able to expand your reach, interact with your potentials, and in turn this will have a positive effect on your direct mail campaigns.
Below are 12 Tips for Social Media Marketing provided by Joanne Fritz from the About.com Guide:
1. Pick the right social networks.
Don’t just pick sites based on the size of the network. Other communities may be smaller but more effective for your organization. It may pay to start small, with one to three social networks, rather than trying to take the entire virtual world by storm all at once.
2. Find an ‘expert’ to help you.
Look around your organization or community for someone who has experience with social networking. It might be a young staffer, an intern, a volunteer. Get that person involved so you won’t be starting from ‘scratch.’
3. Extend your reach.
Select a social network and then use a ‘scattershot’ approach. That is, don’t just set up a profile. Create a group as well and attract more supporters that way. On Facebook, for instance, you can be a group and/or an event. Just make sure you understand the rules of the site. For a fee, some social sites will allow you to become an official sponsor of a group or community. This might be worth experimenting with. Many large companies, such as Victoria’s Secret and Apple, sponsor groups.
4. Prepare to lose control.
There is no way you can vet every word of every person who wants to be your friend or join your social networking group. If you or your lawyers are not comfortable with that fact, social networking probably is not for you. You can set up an approval process for ‘comments’ that people post but if you go this route, make sure the approval process is reasonable and fast.
5. Know who is already pretending to be you.
There may be MySpace or Facebook groups for your organization that you did not set up such as unofficial profiles created by enthusiastic supporters. If you find such a profile, reach out to that person. He or she may be a committed supporter who might be willing to promote your content.
6. Make a good first impression.
Try to ‘wow’ your ‘friends’ right off the bat. Make your profile look good. Control what your organization will look like on other people’s friend lists–pick a great picture and title that will get noticed.
7. Post your edgiest, most viral content.
Social networks are at their best when people are passing content around and they will only pass yours around if it is creative. Come up with jazzy profile names, use video or Flash animation. If it does not make you think ‘Cool!’ then it is probably not viral and you need to go back to the drawing board. You might do better with a campaign or a specific gimmick rather than just a generic page plugging your nonprofit. Look around, see what others are doing.
8. Find out which of your supporters are already on social networks.
Survey your members and find out who has MySpace profiles, Facebook accounts, or belong to other social networks. Send them an e-mail inviting them to become your friend or to join your group.
9. Communicate with your social network friends on a regular basis.
Update your pages with new content. Use MySpace ‘bulletins’ and Facebook ‘notes’ on other users’ profiles to get the word out on important issues and drive people to your page. Don’t be ‘static.’ Be dynamic.
10. Devote staff time to making your social networking effort a success.
Assign a staff person to accept friend requests, post comments on other people’s pages, and invite others to become friends. That is what social networking is all about.
11. Activate your social network supporters.
Eventually you will want to start turning your ‘friends’ into activists, donors, and volunteers. Make sure your social networking pages always feature lots of opportunities to get involved. Also include donation opportunities on your social networking pages. Even if you do not raise much in the short run, it helps to set expectations for the future.
Be specific when you do ask your friends to do something for your organization. And always let people know what happened at an event or with a campaign even if they did not participate. They might get involved the next time.
12. Think of social networking as an investment in the future.
The mostly young people you will dealing with are your donors and supporters of tomorrow. Get into the game now and learn how to use social media or you might be left behind for good.
