Yesterday, I gave a keynote address at the NeighborWorks Social Media Symposium on Best Practices in Social Media. The conference was great—good people, good thinking, good times in the world of community development.
Below are some highlights from my presentation: 10 best practices that nonprofits should follow in social media. You may notice a bit of promotion around LeadersForCommunities.org — a social networking site for emerging and established leaders in the community development field. Disclosure: we developed this site a few months ago. Check out the full set of slides on SlideShare or view them in the player here.
- Take a deep breath, and let go. You’re not in control anymore.
- Stop, look, and listen. Tie your goals to what people need, and meet your audiences where they are.
- Build your strategy around reality. Select the tools based on their purpose, your audience, and what you can manage in terms of staff time and costs.
- Remember what you learned in kindergarten: be nice, share, and say thank you.
- Emphasize the social in social media. Use pictures and videos to share stories. Schedule calls, meetups, and events to connect online communities.
- Get personal. Pick the right staff, and let them be themselves.
- Be flexible. Your community will move around; the tools are going to change.
- Don’t forget your website & integration. Bring all your online communications together and repurpose content.
- Change how you define success. It’s about content rather than numbers; relationship-building rather than “marketing”.
- Pause and evaluate. Keep listening, and give yourself time to build community, trust, and conversation.
Any other best practices you’d add to this list? Share in the comments.
Tags: best practices, neighborworks america, nptech, social media, social networking, staff
Farra – great list! I would add two things:
1. Use Google Analytics and Bit.Ly to measure web analytics and clicks.
2. Remove the CAPTCHAS on your blog!
Great additions John! I always thought CAPTCHAs were ok because 1) they are used so much most ppl used to them by now and 2) they help prevent against spammers who use comments to peddle crap/porn/ringtones/etc. Do you really think CAPTCHA disaudes people?
Farra – WordPress, by default is great at killing spam (configured in your “discussion” settings).
I would imagine that after 2-3 attempts at getting the Captcha right, most potential commenters just give up. A best practice in social media is to remove as many obstacles as possible for people to “join the conversation”.
John–great points. We’ll discuss
Immensely helpful to me and my organization. Thanks for a great tool that I can use to help others see the world the way I see it
Thanks Vikki. So glad to hear it is useful to you. Happy to hear it might help the powers-that-be ‘get it’!
Great presentation in Chicago. We\\\’re ready to go for it in Montana.
Carrie–Sign me up for the Blue Sky state. Glad you enjoyed the presentation. Let me know if you have any questions as you review it here.