Lately a tremendous amount of time
and money has been spent in the realm of social media marketing.
So called experts are telling many in the nonprofit arena that
they need to be visible on all the various platforms like
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace. The dazzling
measures of Hits, Views, Fans, Tweets and Likes abound all which
beg the question few are answering, does this make a tinker's
damn?
Unfortunately nonprofits have
gotten caught up to believe that in the world of finding
donors, if you plug into all the social media outlets this will
be the shining silver bullet answer that saves your from
ultimate demise or at the very least brings you a flood of new
donors.
Recently it was reported that of
the nation's top fifty nonprofits ninety-two percent had at
least one social media presence on their homepage namely
Facebook and ninety percent linked to Twitter and seventy
percent to YouTube.
However, unlike the for profits
corporations such as Dell or Ford nonprofits are not using
social media outlets to create brand awareness. They are instead
hoping to attract new donors and money which is much more
elusive.
Overall the real winners in the
social media frenzy are the outlets themselves which in 2012 are
expected to generate advertising revenue in the mind boggling
neighborhood of $3.90 billion dollars with a large portion of
that money is going directly to Facebook.
Focusing back on nonprofits, it
all boils down to recognizing that people give to people first,
long before the organization is thought about!
The majority of time a gift
officer has during the day should be spent outside the office
and not behind the safety of a desk. Time should be
spent actively friend raise versus only thinking about fund
raising. This is one of the many keys to building a loyal donor
base!
This strategic
mindset requires the organization to recognize that long term
relationships take time to build. The organization needs to
establish as many different "touch points" as possible in
order to achieve success. Those touch points, however, must also
be personal in nature and not some computer generated letter
with a fake signature.
Every donor big or small is an
individual. Everyone wants to be treated as such, so it is hard
to have a one size fits all shoe that works. While no one wants
to hear this, forget the box programs and step by step guides,
you need to create your own plan of action for each person you
want to bring into the fold.
As you know some donors like
the limelight and want to be listed in your annual report or
newsletter and others do not. Likewise, some enjoy personal
visits more than others. Handwritten notes of appreciation
seem to be universally appreciated, in my opinion, because
it shows real evidence that someone took the time out of
their schedule to respond in a more personal manner.
