OD180 Nonprofit Management Letter #49

June 2010
Two Experiments in Social Media

Dear Friends,

Over the last two months I shared with you some advice for new executive directors, received in response to questions I posed on LinkedIn and Twitter. This month I share my thoughts on this experiment itself, along with another I recently conducted on Facebook.

Despite the ascendancy of social media in the collective consciousness of our culture, many faith communities and nonprofit organizations are making only the most meager of investments in them. I am reminded of this every time I look at a nonprofit's website and discover virtually no interactivity - sometimes not even an easy way to donate. To anticipate my own conclusion, let me pose this rhetorical question: In which world is your organization operating - the one unfolding or the one folding up?

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. Write to me anytime at davidnorgard@OD180.com. You can also connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter - all at OD180.

Peace,
David

The Five Foundation-Stones of Organization-Building

Courage of Commitment... Creativity in Approach... Generosity of Spirit...
Honesty in Communication... Steadfastness of Purpose

OD180's Three Specialties

Board Training & Development
Organizational Assessment & Strategic Planning
Development Assessment & Planning

Two Experiments in Social Media

Experiment #1: Soliciting Financial and Moral Support

The Question
The first experiment took place on that behemoth of all social media, Facebook. A colleague had invited his contacts on Facebook to mark his 50th birthday with a gift of $50 to an advocacy organization to which he is committed. Wanting to honor his day in some fashion, I followed his suggestion and made my donation of $50 through the organization's Facebook/Causes page.

I had no birthday coming up at the time but I wondered: Apart from the special hook of a friend's birthday, would people give to a cause with which they are familiar and that is recommended by someone known to them but with no other solicitation than a simple Facebook post? My hypothesis was no.

The Process
To arrive at an answer, I decided to conduct my own personal "campaign" for support of the advocacy organization to which I had just donated in honor of my colleague. (We share an allegiance to this particular cause.) Going through the list of my Facebook friends, I identified about 100 individuals who were likely to be familiar with the organization. Then, using the standard technique made available by Facebook, I asked them to "join my cause." ...And that is all I did.

The Result
Of the 100 individuals contacted, 40 responded by taking action. All forty "joined the cause" on Facebook, providing the organization with a number of new friends whose future support can now be cultivated. Of the 40, 10 donated. And what was the financial cost of this little campaign to the organization? $0.00

Experiment #2: Soliciting Information and Insight

The Question
The second experiment took place on the popular professional network LinkedIn. A new E.D. had asked me for any general advice I might have for her as she moved into her new role. Now I am not lacking in advice but it occurred to me that there might be other opinions and perspectives that could be of value to her beside mine. So I decided to find out: Would connections on LinkedIn offer substantive and germane comments in response to a serious, open-ended inquiry? Again, my hypothesis was no. I suspected that most if not all the comments would be thinly veiled advertisements for paid counsel.

The Process
I posed this question on LinkedIn: What advice would you give to a first-time E.D. who has significant prior management experience in the for-profit sector? My LinkedIn account is linked to my Twitter account so it appeared to my followers there simultaneously.

The Results
Dozens of responses were received. (Some of you reading this were among the respondents.) There were so many, in fact, and of such substance that they filled two of these monthly Management Letters. I did receive some solicitations for paid consulting but these were the exception.

Conclusions

In working with groups on strategic planning and development planning, external communications are always part of the discussion. In these discussions, I will sometimes hear from leaders that many of their constituents belong to a demographic that just doesn't engage socially online that much. (Think Betty White on Saturday Night Live.) I don't doubt their assessment; I presume they know their constituencies. But the comment really misses the point. To sustain a viable a constituency, let alone grow one, you need to communicate in ways that will engage current and future generations of potential supporters... and social media are how millions of people first engage in new interests these days. To be missing from that landscape is to limit your organization's potential significantly.