Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg participates in the Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALS Foundation’s enormously successful fundraiser. Photo credit: Girls Channel
Like corporate America, many nonprofit organizations have embraced social media as a new way to connect with their constituencies. Yet few nonprofits are realizing the full spectrum of opportunities social media presents, especially in engaging the organization’s advocates.
Millennials are changing the definition of philanthropy, writes Derrick Feldmann, president of Achieve, a creative research agency. Traditionally, philanthropy has been defined as donations of money and time. Whether from individuals or corporations, gifts of money or time generate good feelings, great PR and tax deductions.
The Millennial Impact, a study of how people in their 20s support causes, shows that millennials also recognize the importance donating their “voice,” defined as time spent advocating for an issue, and leveraging their network to support a cause.
“Some may scoff at network[ing] as a shallow form of philanthropy, but for many cause advocates it’s the only way they can help a cause,” Feldmann writes. “Considering 75 percent of Millennials say they share content on social media, network[ing] carries incredible influence and potential if you’re able to recognize it.”
Nonprofit Social Media Practices
Despite the rising importance of social media, nonprofits in general may not be keeping up with corporate America, research shows. According to a 2014 study by the Case Foundation and Social Media for Nonprofits, many nonprofits may not be employing current recommended best practices.
Most nonprofits (88%) said email and their websites are their most important communications tools, even though most are on Facebook. That’s probably because most see donations as their priority and don’t see social media as directly supporting contributions.
Lack of staff is an issue. About half the survey respondents had one or fewer staffers overseeing social media. A previous Social Media Benchmark Study, found that most nonprofits allocated a quarter of a full-time staff member.
Most nonprofits (74%) use social networks as a megaphone, announcing events and activities and sharing organization-centric information. Only 53% follow the best practice of posting issue-centric content to establish thought leadership in their area.
A Measurement Shortcoming
Measurement is another shortcoming. Over 43% of nonprofits base success on numbers of likes and followers, even while most of the corporate world has shifted away from those metrics, writes Elyse Greenberg of the Case Foundation. Nonprofits should also move away from those metrics, she argues.
Engagement, defined as comments and shares, is far more valuable, than numbers such as total followers. Engagement gauges the health of your relationship with your audience. For instance, a drop in retweets or a plunging Facebook engagement rate can serve as a warning sign. Tracking and analyzing engagement metrics helps spot opportunities to build momentum around popular posts. Facebook Insights, popular among nonprofits, is a step in the right direction, she notes.
However, organizations shouldn’t stop at merely measuring engagement. Many could benefit from a social media monitoring service that monitors and measures engagement across platforms and includes many more metrics to gauge social media effectiveness. Most importantly, the services can track trends in engagement and favorability over time – and can identify the frequency of posting by specific advocates (or critics). The services can also track competing nonprofits to measure share of voice and influence. For national not-for-profit organizations, such tracking of organization brands and issues in social media posts can provide key insights about consumer sentiment and help in making strategic decisions about services, positioning and marketing.
Bottom Line: The growing prevalence of social media posting and millennials’ views of philanthropy highlights the importance of social media best practices for nonprofits. By cultivating online audiences and encouraging social media advocates to share their posts, nonprofits can spread their messages and ultimately attract more advocates. As most all nonprofits recognize, fundraising is a long-term proposition. Opening and cultivating relationships with millennials based on issues affecting the organization is an effective way to build lasting relationships that may culminate in major gifts in the future.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
