Social Media for Nonprofits: Getting Your Hands Dirty

In one of my earlier posts, I discussed social media strategy. Nonprofits, corporations, professionals, students - no matter who you are, you need to have a goal for your interactions on social media and a path to reach them. As a nonprofit, your goal could be to increase awareness, grow local event attendance or create issue advocates. Take that and create a strategy (maybe with a solid trunk and branches?), and you're ready to start getting your hands dirty.

It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty of social media tactics. In my next couple of posts, we'll talk best practices, ideas for campaigns and some case studies. There are a lot of great resources to help with specific tools and technology questions. Following are posts that serve as a great jumping-off point for nonprofits new to social media, or anyone who has a few questions:

From this blog:

• Technology Terms Translated (Need to explain "Twitter" to your boss? This is a good place to start!)
• Trunk and Branches: Social Media Strategy (It's important to start with a solid foundation and a strategy that coincides with your brand and mission.)

From the web:

• 4 Ways Social Media is Changing the Non-Profit World (Beth Kanter, writing for Mashable)
• Social Media for Nonprofits: 26 Great Slideshare Presentations (These presentations, collected by Rebecca Leaman, cover a wide variety of topics, tips and case studies)
• Messages, Stories, and Conversations: Creating a Strategy for your organization and your supporters (Great post from Amy Sample Ward that can apply to overarching strategy or individual messages)
• Market or Promote Your Cause on Social Media? Yes, You Can! (Kivi Leroux Miller)
• Are You Ready to Take the Social Media Leap? (LevelTen, registration required for download)

Next post, we'll talk online video - in a video! If you have any additional resources you'd like to share for nonprofits who are new to social media, let me know in the comments!