Carie Lewis, Emerging Media Director at the Humane Society of the United States, says their success in social media can be attributed to their focus on providing customer service through social networks. In the second of two videos posted below, you’ll see how that customer service approach was tested during a very intense couple of days when Hurricane Irene slammed into the east coast and how the emerging media team turned countless negative situations into positives for the organization, all the while saving the lives of animals and family pets.

In the first video, Lewis talks about the overall social media strategy at the Humane Society of the United States and offers tips that can help any organization – large, medium, or small – get started on their own successful strategy.

For more information on social media in philanthropy, visit BWF.com.

The results speak for themselves – $186,000 given by 1,100 different donors during the 36-hour period. Of those 1,100 donors, 380 had never given to FSU before and nearly 90 percent of them had never given online. Chad talks more about how the FSU “Great Give” was conducted in the video below… And about how the successful promotion of the Great Give through digital channels could translate into big savings thanks to no longer having to rely as heavily on traditional, more expensive annual fund tactics like direct mail.

For more information on social media in philanthropy, visit BWF.com.

It’s exciting to hear that nonprofit organizations are starting to think strategically about what they’re doing with new media. It is a tool that can have a substantial impact on their communications and overall fundraising success. So what is a social media strategy? At BWF_social, we work with organizations to develop their own strategies, which generally consist of the following five components…

Goals: What do you hope to accomplish through your use of social media? Is your goal to increase online giving? Or are you more focused on boosting awareness or improving perception?

Resources: Do you have the personnel to manage the daily conservations taking place online? Do you have resources (people and technological) to produce quality written and visual content?

Tactics: What are you going to post? What is the personality of your organization going to be? Social media – especially for nonprofits – is about forming relationships. What does your audience want and how do they want to connect?

Tools: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube? Beyond the “big 3″ what else can your organization leverage to accomplish your goals? Pinterest? Instagram? Google+?

A system of Measurement: Last, but certainly not least, it’s important to know if what you’re doing is working. Whether you go about this via software that measures sentiment, awareness and perception or if you’re more concerned about dollars and cents (i.e. online giving), it’s important to know how to measure the effectiveness of your social media work.

Build it Together

A comprehensive social media strategy works when it’s integrated into every aspect of your communication efforts. If you have multiple staff, volunteers, and/or supporters, it’s important that they are as much a part of building this strategy as possible. After all, they will be the people implementing it on a daily basis.

An integrated approach to a social media strategy also serves as a way to break down silos that often exist in larger organizations. Bringing members from those silos together builds teamwork and helps create a strategy that has immediate buy-in from all corners of your organization. If everyone feels they have an ownership stake in the process, they’re more likely to adhere to the strategy they helped build.

For more information on social media in fundraising, visit BWF.com.

A few innovative, early-adopting nonprofits are already staking their claim on Instagram

Instagram: If you haven’t yet started an Instagram account (unfortunately, it’s currently only available to iPhone users) here’s what you’re missing – an easy-to-use mobile app built on sharing snapshots of life’s fleeting moments. You see something cool, take a picture of it, add a few tags to make it more searchable, and post. Be sure to “like” and comment on other users’ – or Instagrammers’ – photos to earn your way into a community and you’re on your way. As one blogger put it, Instagram is all the good aspects of social networking minus the “punditry” you’ll find in spaces like Twitter, Facebook or blogs.

Pinterest: ”Bookmarking” websites are nothing new, but few bookmarking sites are as visual and engaging as Pinterest. Find something you like online, put a “pin” in it and add it to one of you “boards” on Pinterest. What you end up with are groups of images that link to websites you want to remember. Post as many “pins” to as many “boards” as you like. Connect with other Pinterest users to discover everything from recipes to home decorating ideas to fashion to pictures of puppies.

In both cases, these new and rapidly growing social sites (click here for some recent and stunning numbers on Pinterest) are reflecting a back-to-basics trend in new media. Users are saying “make it pretty and easy to use and we’re in.” While Facebook, YouTube and other leading sites continue to get crowded with noise in the form of constant political rants, games and applications from users you barely know, Pinterest and Instagram take users through a mostly upbeat and calming experience.

Mobile is the Key

With Instagram, “ease of use” means a social network that does everything in just a few easy steps via your mobile phone. As a result, Instagram is one of the few successful social networks that can only be accessed via your mobile device (only via Mac iOS devices, for now) and it works because it’s visually pleasing, simple and, above all else, fun. And enough can’t be said about the importance of “fun.” If you want your social media strategy to work, it has to have value or online surfers will move on to the next thing quicker than you can say “MySpace.” Instagram and Pinterest have figured this out in more ways than one.

For nonprofit organizations

So how do you make these new sites work for your nonprofit organization? The following links will take you to separate posts on each network…

To learn more about Pinterest for nonprofits, click here.

To learn more about Instagram for nonprofits, click here.

As always, learn more about social media in fundraising by vising out site, BWF.com.

Do you like that handbag you see on Amazon? Put a “Pin” in it and add it to your “Fashion” Board. Would that curio look good in your dining room? Pin it and add it to your “Home Decorating” Board for future reference. Do you often come across gift ideas for Mom, but then forget in the months leading up to her birthday? Make a “Presents for Mom” Board and Pin a bunch of gift ideas there throughout the course of the year.

As you can imagine, the potential for online retailers in Pinterest is enormous, but what about the nonprofit world? There are ample opportunities for NGOs on Pinterest, as well. The following are three tips your nonprofit organization might consider if you’d like to be an early adopter on this rapidly-growing social network…

• Boards with gift options: The Food Bank for New York City is enjoying a tremendous amount of success after revamping its online food bank (more on that in this Chronicle of Philanthropy Article). One main reason why? The NY Food Bank made its online food bank feel more like online shopping, making certain products available for purchase (click here for an example). World Vision offers another fine example of turning small gifts into products online. In both cases, the organizations could have Pinterest Boards that list these products. Supporters with Pinterest accounts could add Pins to those “products” and save them for giving at a later date or recommending to their friends and followers.
• Create Boards that show pictures of the impact the org makes: Pinterest is a social network. Which means it’s not just about blatantly asking for money …it’s about sharing content that matters to your followers and supporters. Create a Board that shows the impact your organization makes in the world through photos. Another Board could recognize your biggest donors. Also, be sure to find and follow your supporters and “like” and “mention” their Pinterest activity, much in the same way you’d manage a well-run Twitter account.
• Create Boards that show what your staff is into: Again, Pinterest is a social site. Share the personality of your organization by allowing your staff, board members or volunteers to create Boards around their interests.

Have you seen any examples of nonprofit orgs with well-run Pinterest accounts? If so, let us know! And as always, check out BWF.com for more info on social media and philanthropy.

1. Social Media Increases Alumni Engagement More than 400%: How would you like to see a 400 percent increase in your online giving? Watch this video interview with the team at Arizona’s Thunderbird School of Global Management to learn how they did just that.
2. Social Media and How it Drives Fundraising and Philanthropy: The professors behind the online fundraising tool Give2Gether just released the results of research that provides 16 reasons why people give. Of those 16, at least 13 can be directly influenced by a smart social media strategy.
3. 5 Instagram Tips for Nonprofits:Instagram is one of the world’s fastest-growing social networks. This posts takes a look at how nonprofits could and should use it to connect with their supporters.
4. Finding Prospects with Twitter: Sometimes the best ideas are the most simple. And they can come from interns. Check out this idea for identifying Twitter users who might have an affinity for your organization.
5. Social Media for Healthcare Fundraising – A Q and A with Children’s Minnesota: Jesse Stremcha, an e-Philanthropy Strategist with Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota (@ChildrensMN), has been leading a comprehensive social-media-for-fundraising strategy for more than three years. Which means, he has a lot of tips, data and best practices to share. This post is a Q and A I sent to Jesse and the answers he returned.

This blog is first and foremost about serving as a resource for the fundraising community. So please, if there’s something you’d like to see covered, comments you have about the posts, a guest post you’d like to submit, or anything else, let us know! Either drop us a line in the comment section below or reach out to me, Justin, by clicking here.

Develop an institution-wide social media strategy: If your organization doesn’t already have a strategy to guide your internal and/or external social media activity, this should be your top communications priority in the new year. Whether it’s the way you approach annual giving, how you work with volunteers, how you steward major gift donors, or any part of the fundraising process, we all know that having a strategic plan increases an organization’s effectiveness. Social media is no different.

What are the goals your organization wants to accomplish via social media? What resources do you need to achieve those goals? What are the tactics you’ll use and how will everyone in your organization know how to support those tactics on a daily basis? How will you measure the success of your strategy on New Year’s 2013? Develop a strategy that answers those questions and put it into play. You will likely see increased awareness and improved perception of your mission, not to mention a bump in overall giving. Don’t believe me? Have a look at this study that shows using social media improves fundraising by as much as 40 percent.

Dedicate daily staff time to connecting with your constituents: Relationships take a commitment of time. That’s true of face-to-face interactions and interactions online. Blasting a news item out to your constituents a couple of times a day does not constitute a relationship. Ongoing conversations combined with providing each other valuable information and entertainment does. To achieve that, you need people online – tweeting, Facebooking, LinkedIning, blogging, YouTubing and more, several hours a day, at least a few times per week.

Start a blog: This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to write a post every day or week. Do you have someone on staff who loves to write? Maybe they maintain their own personal blog? Give them incentive to maintain a blog for your organization by providing them with a new laptop or video camera. For a small investment, you can turn a current staff member, faculty member, doctor, researcher, volunteer, student, etc. into a blogging superstar who will help bring a new base of supporters in to your organization.

For more news and information about how social media can impact philanthropy, visit BWF.com.

Before you dismiss this as crazy, have a look at this recent Chronicle of Philanthropy article. At the bottom of the article is a slideshow showing what some early adopting nonprofits have done with the new features on Twitter. The new layout gives nonprofits more control over the appearance of their Twitter pages, including the ability to lock in a “promoted” tweet that can include a video or slideshow. Unlike the Twitter of old, that tweet and the media with it will stay in a prominent position on a nonprofit’s Twitter homepage.

Of course, the overall functionality is far more limited than what you have with a traditional website, but there is value to being a trailblazer and experimenting with different methods of getting your message out. Let’s say you are starting a nonprofit and looking for a way to make a splash to raise awareness. Maybe creating buzz by ditching the old-school website in favor of a Twitter-based approach is just what you need to get off the ground. It worked wonders for Boone Oakley – an advertising agency that ditched its website and went with a YouTube-only approach a few years ago. 2.2 million people have viewed Boone Oakley’s YouTube-only “website.” It’s unlikely a traditional website would have garnered even half as many hits. Can your organization capitalize on a similar dare-to-be-different approach with Twitter?

For more news and information on social media in philanthropy, visit bwf.com.

Q: Second Harvest Heartland recently turned in the third-highest fundraising total during Give to the Max Day ($256,000) – how much of a role did social media play in achieving those results?

A: Truthfully, I always retract a bit when asked to correlate social media efforts to fundraising results. I think most people understand that we can’t directly attribute a tweet to a dollar raised—but that doesn’t mean the value of social is lost on campaigns like Give to the Max Day (GTMD). For us, Twitter and Facebook are mini communities of supporters—most of whom have made a donation, volunteered or interacted with us in some way besides just through the web. When we ask those communities what they want/need from us—and why they chose to become a fan or follower in the first place—they usually tell us they want to show their support in a public way, and stay up to date with what we’re working on and how they can help. As we’ve learned over the past three years of incredible results on GTMD—it’s a fun, easy and exciting way for people to help.  Facebook and Twitter are great ways to remind or alert people who’ve already demonstrated their support of our work in other ways—and sometimes, a way for them to share with us their personal experiences and motivations.

Q: How often did you reach out to your supporters in advance of GTMD and during the event? Is there a danger of asking too often? How do you avoid crossing that fine line?

A: Our primary promotional efforts included:

• Promotional inserts with QR code for our GiveMN page with thank you letters (about 8,000 total sent)
• 2-3 emails (depending on audience) to pre-promote
• A sign-up option to receive a reminder email the morning of the event
• Personal phone calls to a set of special individual donors
• Social media promotion, primarily through our blog, Facebook  and Twitter

We know our donors really appreciate matching gifts—i.e., the opportunity to double their impact. Many of our supporters have come to expect GTMD as the time of year when we’re most likely able to offer matching funds—and some even plan their gifts accordingly. With that said, we encourage our donors to give in the way that is most meaningful for them. We are just one of so many deserving charities to which people designate their hard-earned dollars, and we’re honored to be the recipient of such generosity.

Q: What channels and networks did you use to reach out and ask for support? (Email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc)

A: At the risk of redundancy, our primary channels were mail/print, email, Facebook, Twitter and our blog. We did use an unlisted YouTube video to promote a specific reward for gifts of $100 or more. That can be seen here.

Q: What content were you sharing via online channels to encourage giving on GTMD? (Video, photos, links to a web site or blog)

A: In addition to the video mentioned above, we shared stories of motivation from some of our individual donors who provided matching funds, and spread comments that donors shared right on our GiveMN page. Overall, it seems people like to be a part of something “bigger than themselves” and seeing and hearing others’ stories really resonates.

Q: What impact do one-day events like Give to the Max Day have on overall giving? Does the awareness increase giving to your org? Is it detrimental to other areas of giving?

A: Give to the Max Day drives a significant percentage of our overall online giving—this year and last, the amount raised on Give to the Max Day was equivalent to about 20% of what we raise online through other channels. It’s a huge part of our year-end fundraising and also a great avenue to help raise awareness about the issue of hunger.  We haven’t experienced the “cannibalization” of dollars contributed to other programs—people just really seem to want to step up and help out.

Q: What’s the most important piece of advice you would offer an organization that is considering doing its own one-day fundraising drive?

A: I think Give to the Max Day differs significantly from any other general one-day drive, as proven by the results of other states (Vermont, for example) that have tried the same type of event and haven’t experienced the same level of success.

If considering getting involved in Give to the Max Day—just do it. Get creative. Leverage the power of the generosity of Minnesotans to raise visibility and funds for your organization. And whatever you do, find matching funds. People love to know their donations will be doubled, and you’ll get a greater impact that way too.

For more news and information on social media in philanthropy, visit BWF.com.

Video is becoming close to a necessity for nonprofit communications. If we’re advising our clients to incorporate video in their communication plans, it stands to reason we do the same for our firm. So please, have a look at the BWF Video Network and let us know what you think! We are always looking for new content to feature and would love to hear your ideas.