Nonprofits Use Social Media More Than Businesses and Education

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research published a report titled US Charities’ Adoption of Social Media Study. This is the third year they have published a study about nonprofits using social media. They received responses from 76 organizations.

Here are some of the findings of the report:

• In 2009, nonprofits used Social Networking (96%) and Twitter (90%) the most. Social Networking went up from 32% in 2007 and 79% in 2008.
• In 2009, 65% of nonprofits used blogs which went up from 34% in 2007 and 57% in 2008.
• In 2009, 93% of nonprofits used Facebook, compared with Higher Education at 84% and Inc. 500 at 61%.
• In 2009, 90% of nonprofits used Twitter, compared with Higher Education at 59% and Inc. 500 at 52%.
• In 2009, the adoption of blogging for nonprofits was 65%, compared to 51% for Higher Education, 45% for Inc. 500, and 22% for Fortune 500.

7 Ways to Improve Nonprofit Websites

This is a topic I have written about before on my blog. Earlier entries I have written are Website Pet Peeves and Content Ideas for Non-profit Websites.

I just read a blog entry at Marketing for Nonprofits about nonprofit websites and I started thinking about this topic again.  Listed below are some ways to improve nonprofit websites.


1. Easy to Find Content

What content do you want people to know about on your site? Make sure website visitors can find this information quickly! Examples include how to donate, how to volunteer, how to sign up on e-mail lists, events, and campaigns.

2. News Items

Make sure you keep press releases and other news sections current! There are many organizations that have not kept their news sections updated in years - it's hard to believe that these organizations have not had any news in over a year or longer

3. Contact Information

There are many organizations that do not list their contact information or it is hard to find on their website. Readers want to know where your organization is located! If your organization does not want to put down complete contact information, at least put down the city and state or country if you are not located in the United States.

4. Page Titles

There are many websites that do not have the organization's name in the title. These websites have titles like Home Page or Home. That's not very descriptive! Be sure to include your organization's name in the titles of your pages! Also, if you are updating a newsletter or something else with a date on it, be sure to remember to change the date on the page. I have seen lots of newsletters on websites (and e-newsletters) where the title says April 2010 when it is really for May 2010.

5. Design

Content Management Systems are the way to go now for nonprofits. However, there are still nonprofits who are updating websites manually and these sites do not always have the best design and usability. Make sure all webpages on the site have the same color and navigation scheme. Make sure visitors are able to tell what text or image is a link. Make sure the information is not cluttered and there is not too much white space.

6. Social Media

Does your organization have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr or another related site? Be sure to include the links to these sites on your organization website! It can be listed on the homepage or it can be listed on a separate page for Social Media. Be sure it is easy to find on the site! Also remember to include your website address on these other sites. Alot of people learn about your organization through these websites.

7. Blogs

Does your organization have a blog? Make sure the link is easy to find on the website! Be sure the name of the organization and link to website is on the blog. As a nonprofit blog reader, I have seen many blogs that do not tell me what organization it is or a link to their web address. Remember that some people learn about your organization from your blog!

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