The Connection Between Websites and Social Media

Even though I was not able to attend the Nonprofit Technology Conference this year, I was able to attend one session virtually through Causecast. The session was "The Art of Aligning Social Media Strategy With Communications Strategy".

Here are two things I learned from this session:

1) The purpose of social media is to drive traffic to websites.
2) Websites come before using social media. "Eat your vegetables (website) before you eat dessert. Social media is dessert."

I have been thinking about these things and how websites and social media relate to each other.

Here are some tips for nonprofits:

Analyzing Visitors, Fans, and Followers

• Check your website analytics and see what your top pages are on your website. This is what your visitors are interested in. Make sure this content is posted on social media.
• What type of content are your fans on Facebook commenting on, asking about, or liking? What are people retweeting or talking about on twitter? Are you putting enough content about these topics on your website?

Content to Share on Social Media

• Press Releases
• Campaign Pages
• Fundraiser Pages
• Event Pages
• Volunteer/Job Opportunities
• New Additions to Website
  

I look forward to attending NTC in DC next year!

Two Ways to Improve Facebook Pages

1. Content

Update your content on your facebook page regularly. It does not have to be daily, but at least once a week to keep content fresh.

2. Promote Your Facebook Page

Do people know that you have a facebook page? Are you looking for more fans? Remember to let people know by including information about your page on your website, e-mails, and anything printed or on the web.

Survey on Using Social Media to Meet Nonprofit Goals

Idealware just published a report titled Using Social Media to Meet Nonprofit Goals: The Results of a Survey. This is based on a survey that Idealware conducted in November 2009 about how nonprofits use social media. They received responses from 459 nonprofit staff members about their use of Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, video sharing, photo sharing, and blogs.

Here are some of the findings of the report:

• The social media channel that was used the most was Facebook and more than half of them update their content on there regularly
• Nonprofits are using social media the most to reach new potential supporters and to enhance relations with existing audience
• The respondents felt that social media was not effective for raising money

How Nonprofits Can Search Blogs and Twitter to Find Supporters

There are many ways nonprofits can find supporters on the internet. Two of these ways include searching blogs and Twitter. This is a great way to see who is writing and talking about your organization and a particular topic related to your organization.

What to search for:

• Your organization's name
  
• Topics related to your organization's issue
• Campaign your organization is having
• An event for your organization

Where to search:

• Technorati
  
• Google Blog Search
• BlogPulse
• Twitter Search

How to Connect With Supporters:

• Write comments on their blog entries
• Send a tweet or direct message to thank the person who tweeted about your organization
  
• Follow the person on Twitter (and if they are not following you yet, they can learn you are on twitter and hopefully follow you back)
• Retweet their messages
  
• Link to their blog post in your tweet

Case Studies About Social Media

I enjoy reading about social media and how different places use it. I was very excited to find case studies at Ignite's Blog.

They have two lists of case studies-

1. 26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail
   
2. Non Profit Social Media Marketing Examples