Social media and nonprofits: don't try to go it alone

Nonprofits are often all about collaboration. Fundraisers, mailing, events, we're great at working together as a team when we're on deadline. When we're immersed in long-term projects, however, we often get so focused and immersed that teamwork is the last thing on our minds. I came in late to the #blogchat discussion on Twitter on Sunday night, but still had a really interesting discussion with some other nonprofiteers about who does social media for their organization.

If you're doing social media for a nonprofit, you're probably in the marketing or membership department (no offense to education, volunteers or accounting, them's just the facts). In addition to running Twitter, Facebook, a blog, Flickr and YouTube, odds are you're also taking care of reports, administration and plenty of other department-related tasks.

First, breathe.

You are not an island. You're more like a penninsula.

Second, don't be afraid to ask your coworkers for help. Sure, some may think that Twitter is just for talking about what you had for breakfast or that Facebook is for college kids. But here are some tips to get even the most technologically-afraid coworker contributing:

• Start with blogging. Odds are good that someone else in your organization is writing grants, reports or guides. Give them the advice to write in smaller paragraphs, and ask that they send their post to you via email before posting it. Comb through it, add some links, include a photo, and (voila!) you've got a new voice and perspective on your blog.
• Offer an incentive. This may otherwise be referred to as bribery, but it works. I've offered to bake cookies for anyone that posts on the blog - not exactly honest, but it gets people in the game.
• Show concrete results. If you can show that you've gotten event RSVPs on Facebook, donations on Twitter or a great contact through LinkedIn, you've got their attention. Nonprofits are usually open to outside the box thinking, as long as you can show it's worth the time. Need some more reasons? I've got plenty.

Nonprofits have a lot to gain by building a presence on social media. Conversation, awareness, resources - they're all pretty much there for the taking. Working slowly but surely, you can get your coworkers involved and really build a stellar online presence. Questions? Contact me. I've got the bribery thing down.

(And yes, this is my first post in awhile. Pot calling kettle, I've been too busy. I'm back now, though, I promise!)