How Social Media Can Support Your Volunteer Efforts

How  Social  Media  Can  Support  Your  Volunteer  Efforts

Gwen Woltz, Co-founderWahine MediaSocial media strategy, training & implementation for business

http://wahinemedia.comfacebook.com/wahinemediaTwitter: @wahinemedia @gjwahine @karenweikert808 744-9269

Internet password: 99000062888867

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Planning is key to social media success. Without a road map, how you will you know where you’re going, and why you’re going there?

Be  Strategic

Be  Strategic

Set specific goals

Define your message

What is your capacity?

What are the best platforms?

Who is my audience?

Where is my audience?

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

Set  specific  goals

• I need 10 more volunteers for _______ program

• I need 25 more attendees to my event than last year

• I want to create a greater understanding about ______ program

• Only with specific goals can you measure whether you reached them

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

Define  your  message

• What is your organization’s mission statement?

• What do you want people to remember you by?

• When people think of ______, they think of you!

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

What  is  your  capacity?

• How much time do you have to dedicate to social media?

• With practice and training, 3-4 hours a week can go a long way

• Are there others (volunteers) who can help produce content?

• Often times the richest stories are not told from internal sources

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

What  platforms  should  you  be  on?

• Facebook: best for reaching larger groups of people and posting robust content

• Twitter: best for one-on-one personal relationship building

• Instagram: best tool to share photos and automatically feed to Twitter and Facebook

• Microsites and local networks

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

Who  is  your  audience?

• Starts with your existing network: volunteers, sponsors, donors, event participants

• Your personal and professional network

• Social media has no boundaries, expand your audience to: similar nonprofits, social media influencers, local businesses, people in the physical vicinity (Hawaii)

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

Where  is  your  audience?

• Start your search with Google

• Set up a listening station

• Google Alerts, Twilerts, Social Mention, Twitter Lists, Hashtags, keyword search

• Get to know your audience

• Google Analytics, Facebook Insights

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

Building community takes time and effort, but most importantly it takes a genuine interest in others

Building  community

"The  value  of  social  media  comes  down  to  people,  relationships,  and  the  meaningful  actions  between  them."  

—The  6  Pillars  Of  Social  Commerce:  Understanding  The  Psychology  Of  Engagement  by  Brian  Solis

Building  community

Photo:  h'p://gkr-­‐mcg.library.gatech.edu/handle/10675.2/250

Outreach: Show interest in others first

Engagement: build relationships and keep the ties

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

• Now that you’ve defined who your audience is...

• “Like” other pages on Facebook

• Follow others on Twitter and Instagram

• Invite current contacts

• Twitter lists, paper.li, storify

Outreach

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

• Regularly post relevant and inspirational content

• It doesn’t always have to be YOUR content—the art of curation

• How is it valuable to your community?

• EVERY post is an opportunity to engage—include a call to action

• Photos help your audience VISUALIZE who you are, and how THEY can fit with your organization

Engagement

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

Engagement

• Tell stories

• Volunteers will be your biggest asset to collecting stories

• Make it easy for volunteers to share

• Send follow-up email with survey or questionnaire

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

Engagement

• Producing your own content: how will it help people remember you?

• Pictures say a thousand words

• People want to know the leader of an organization. The CEO should consider contributing to a blog

• Share original content multiple times—can be scheduled

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

Engagement

• Consider Facebook groups for volunteers

• Must be part of the on-boarding process

• Keeps the conversation targeted and relevant

• Can be kept private, or membership upon approval

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

Engagement

• Spend time in your home feed!

• Comment and like other posts

• Share other posts to your wall (curate)

• Re-tweet influencer’s tweets

• Tweet relevant articles

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

Engagement

• The power of hashtags

• Always tweet with a hashtag

• #giveback #volunteer #activism #causes #charitytuesday #csr (corporate social responsibility) #fundraising #nptech #sm4sg #socialgood

• Join relevant conversations—builds a targeted community surrounding similar interest

Photo: kaplitzblog.com

Engagement

• Enewsletters are not outdated!

• Great way to keep your organization top of mind, and to keep volunteers engaged

• Remember your newsletter is NOT about YOU. It’s for your audience, it’s your give back

• Content can already exist: popular blog posts, featured volunteer profile, Facebook post of the week

Events

Photo: http://thejobofwork.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-laughter.html

In person events are one of the most effective opportunities to engage new volunteers

Events

Facebook events

Eventbrite

Submit to local calendars

Create hashtag

Live tweet and post

Follow through with follow-up

Facebook  events

• Create the event several weeks (or months) before.

• Have all who are involved (including volunteers) invite Facebook friends

• Make regular updates on the event—prompt notification

• Always thank your volunteers, sponsors, donors, participants

Eventbrite

• Make it EASY to register, donate, or volunteer—include ALL details

• Remember that 1/3 of your ticket sales will happen in the last week

• Ranks well on Google

• Takes payments easily

Submit  to  local  calendars

• gohawaii.com

• Create your own on Yelp

• Honolulu Magazine

• calendar@honolulumagazine.com

• Honolulu Weekly

• calendar@honoluluweekly.com

• HNLnow.com

Create  hashtag  

• All tweets and/or Instagram photos under same hashtag

• Easy to track

• hashtracking.com

• Make it short and easy to remember

• Use during live-tweeting/posting

Live  tweeting

• If you don’t have one, create Instagram profile to post photos

• Always use hashtag in tweets or Instagram posts

• Pre-schedule tweets to thank volunteers, sponsors and donors

Follow-­‐up

• Thank you posts with highlight photos

• Post photo album

• Tag your friends, have all who are involved (volunteers) tag

• Storify

When  do  you  make  the  ask?

The ask can only be as big as the trust you’ve built

Now  that  I  know  your  name,  can  I  borrow  $100?

Making  the  ask

Photo: refiningashley.blogspot.com

• When you make an above and beyond effort to reach out to a donor or volunteer, the effect will not be ripples, but more like a tsunami

Making  the  ask

Photo: refiningashley.blogspot.com

• Giveaways, contests, donation drives

• Who can tweet the most using your event hashtag? Host a social media scavenger hunt involving local businesses. Hold a trivia contest with prize as donation to a charity of their choice in their name. Have 15 second video contest using your mission statement

• 3rd party app builders: ShortStack, OfferPop, NorthSocial

Tools  and  resources

Photo: http://thejobofwork.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-laughter.html

Tools will not do your job, they will only help you do your job faster

Tools

• Hootsuite

• Schedule tweets

• Listening station dashboard

• Sprout Social

• Nonprofits save 50%

• Keep track of every conversation

• Great at-a-glance analytics

• Twitter lists

• Scheduling in Facebook

Resources

• Beth Kanter

• http://BethKanter.org

• Social Media for Nonprofit Conference

• http://socialmedia4nonprofits.org

National  Geographic

Kiva

The  Story  of  Stuff

Donors  Choose

Keep  in  touch!

Wahine Mediaweb: wahinemedia.comblog: wahinemedia.com/wahineblogfacebook: facebook.com/wahinemediatwitter: @wahinemediaphone: 808 744-9269email: info@wahinemedia.com

Gwen Woltz: @gjwahine Karen Weikert: @karenweikert

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