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Creative Support for Your Social Networking Community with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Posted by:
Walter Roark on
September 22, 2009 at
9:16PM AFT
 The growth of social media on the internet is nothing short of staggering. Consider the number of registered members now interacting in the most popular  networking communities, as of summer 2009: Facebook = 300 million. Twitter = 44.5 million. LinkedIn = 43 million.
Nonprofits and associations are recognizing the enormous power of these
numbers in terms of their own branded communities. By discovering new
and creative ways to link with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn,
nonprofits and associations are significantly reinforcing their causes,
actions and missions.
Connecting with supporters in these popular web destinations is proving
to be a cost-effective and productive way of promoting the original
goals of a proprietary online community. Here are a few of the ways
organizations are leveraging the growing traffic of “big tent” online
destinations:
 -As
a simple start, community administrators can be sure links to “big
tent” social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are
prominently positioned so that members can easily navigate from the
organization’s branded online community to Facebook and Twitter, then
back again. The AddThis module makes it easy.
For example, let's say you and some of your friends belonged to a
social networking community sponsored by the humane society. You decide
to create an online group called, "Adopt-a-Pet." With one click, you
can link your new group to Facebook and start asking others to join the
cause.
-It’s becoming increasingly important for nonprofits and associations
to maintain an active presence on heavily-trafficked networks. It’s a
very effective way to build relationships and reliably attract new
members to branded communities
-Posting links about important actions, events announcements, newly
created groups or current networking and knowledge-sharing
opportunities effectively boosts awareness about an organization and
generates support
-Another constructive tactic is to create specific causes in Facebook,
develop a following and interaction there, then link back consistently
to a private label community. This strategy greatly enhances cause
perception and support
-Engagement with followers of nonprofits and associations is also being
heightened on Twitter and LinkedIn, where an organization’s persona can
be subtly shaped by an individual staff member who posts regularly.
Developing a genuine, personal connection with supporters and potential
supporters can help spread the word about your mission.
-With a socially-enabled community, of course, there are additional
creative strategies you can leverage. Interacting with your Facebook
account, your organization might set up RSS feeds on your Facebook home
page linked to key content in your branded community. Key spokesperson
bloggers, for instance. Advocates for "Adopt-a-Pet," in this case,
would appear in both communities simultaneously. This approach would
automatically and continuously freshen your Facebook content.
 -Though
Twitter has a 140-word limit on tweets, you could keep communication
active with your followers by automatically posting highlights from
your community RSS feeds with Twitterfeed. Introductions to blog
entries are the perfect length in this scenario to pique the attention
of all those who already have an interest in the subject. Your
followers,  passionate
about all things to do with gardening, for example, would doubtlessly
click through to see what, exactly, is being talked about in your
organization's white label community.
This is just a peek
at how nonprofits and associations are creatively supporting their
social networking communities by engaging with the most dynamic social
interactions on the web. If you would like to learn more about social
media solutions for nonprofits and associations, please click here.
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