There is a member round up over at the NTEN blog that points to a blog post where TechSoup discusses a new report that suggests the appeal -- and therefore organizational usefulness -- of social media networks may be declining. I agree that it means organizations need to think strategically about how they use social media, but I'm not sure I agree with social networks are becoming "old" technology in a hurry. (hat tip to Leyla Farah for the pointer)
First, it's okay to just say no to social networking, particularly if there are more pressing organizational needs. With that said, you may find yourself ready to jump in. But don't just jump off the cliff. As Jeremiah Owyang who summarized the challenges mentioned in a comment, "Please note, that each of these challenges can and will be overcome, plans and strategies just need to be laid out."
Maybe we don't yet have the best practices for GTD on social networking, but some people have learned some secrets to effective networking. Alex De Carvalho suggested in the comments that "From my experience, another challenge is people tend to expect immediate results after starting to use a social network. They tend to underestimate the personal and corporate learning curve to using social media; results generally take months, not weeks. As in so many things, the challenge is how to manage expectations and measure results."
I pushed Alex to unpack his thoughts about managing expectations, and while he doesn't work in the nonprofit sector, I thought his insights were valuable and wanted to pull these up from the comments in the last thread:
-Discussing and setting objectives at the outset, and not just quantitative objectives. Figure out what is measurable and be sure to include the systems to track progress. If systems to track qualitative results are not in place, then keep a journal and also be sure to share positive and negative feedback from customers with the organization.
-Customer (Client) Service is Key: When you reach out to people, you're breaking down the membrane that exists between your customers and your organization. This means that people will give feedback about what's working and more importantly, what's not. Be sure to have a system in place to deal with these problems and requests. Customer service is key, and social media changes the feedback loop by multiplying customers' access to the organization.
-Determine goals first and break them out into short-, medium- and long-term. Don't get into social media if you're not planning to stick with it over the long-term.
-Learn how to listen and spend a long time listening. So much of advertising, marketing and PR has been about broadcasting crafted messages to consumers (and then managing feedback though outsourced centers thousands of miles away!). Social Media is about conversations and relationships. Someone said "Information is a noun; to inform is a verb". To inform is a social activity: people pay attention to those they trust. If you don't listen to people, they will not trust you.
-Hire people who are familiar with and have been using social media; they're most likely to understand online culture and behaviors and to be competent in the technologies (for instance, blogging). Most importantly, they're already up on the learning curve and can train the rest of the organization.
-Hire people who are part of the community. They understand the product, the company, the industry and are respected by their community. They're change agents for the company and evangelists with their peers. Understand that they're in between a rock and a hard place, because they're bridging the gap between the company's priorities and the community's interests. Trust these people and address their concerns. Set expectations with them, but don't treat them as buffers or they'll burn out because of company inaction.
-Give your community managers the tools to measure the micro stuff, down to the individual level. Top executives love to see macro figures and set new types of equations. Community managers need day-to-day operational data about the activity of individual customers. Who left a comment where? Who is friending others? Who's activity is going up or down? It's only by seeing this type of activity at the individual level that community managers can act to get in touch with these individuals, learn what's working and not recognize valuable community members. Macro figures won't give you that.
-Finally, review and revise the objectives with time and learn what to measure and not. As you go up the experience curve in social media, what you thought was important is not, and vice-versa.
This is a really rich comment Alex, thank you. There's enough here for a blog post on each one of these points to translate it to nonprofits. The first point about measurement, Paul Hyland is working on this right now and just blogged some thoughts here.
What are your suggestions for translating some of these points for nonprofits?
I agree, Beth, and I don't think there's a social media "bubble" that's getting ready to burst and let everyone down.
And even though I'm seeing this warning of "decline" in multiple places, I think that for organizations who are following your advice and the points that Alex makes here, the potential for effective community engagement and advocacy is substantial.
It all goes back to the points you and many social media evangelists make: there isn't one silver bullet that is going to make all your fund raising and campaigning dreams come true. It's about thinking strategically about your goals, your audience, and your resources, and putting in the time to make your plan work.
And, most importantly, the power of social media is the conversation it allows, not a blow-horn for broadcasting. And we all know that conversations take time and require patience - are dynamic and more personal.
IMHO, I still believe that this type of media suits nonprofits' purposes well, because our causes are personal (as opposed to commercial), and often our campaigns are really just about making our causes more personal to more people.
Posted by: Annaliese | February 13, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Is it me? or predictions tend to be false at the end?
Besides that, I think social networks are great places for non-profits to interact with their supporters. Delegation is also crucial, supporters can be very useful in finding new ones to join the line.
Of course expectations should be reasonable, in most cases scores of supporters will not join on a monthly basis.
So my tip is to use social networks before they will be too crowded.
Posted by: Michael Ben-Nes | February 13, 2008 at 12:19 PM
@michael yes, and in the beginning it takes a while to get people to become aware, find you and friend you. There is a point where the networked effect kicks in and that takes an investment. Sort of like putting quarters into a slot machine - hmm .. maybe not the right metaphor.
@annaliese do you think personal invites more conversation?
Posted by: Beth Kanter | February 13, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Great post Beth...and I agree with Annaliese's point that far too often non-profits are looking for that "silver bullet" or the one size fits all Social Media Program (SMP)to enhance or even replace existing strategies. Understandable when you think about all the pressures on the charity to remain cutting edge and competitive but trying to keep up with the Jones just because you think you should may not be the right course of action.
Social Media is still being assessed as to its ability to meet the specific needs of organizations within the public, private and charitable sectors - the key in my mind is to ensure you as an organization are prepared for an SMP, have the infrastructure to support it and finally the mechanics to assess its value from an organizational point of view. Having top-down support throughout the organization to make the strategic decisions that will help to attract, engage and retain your target audience (through traditional or social networking means) will be key to success here.
Postings like yours here help to encourage discussion and sharing of case studies will I think go a long way in demonstrating the value of SMP as a tool for the charitable sector.
Posted by: Andy Donovan | February 14, 2008 at 09:49 AM
@beth you're right, there's a type of tipping point where more stuff starts to happen. I think it has to do with establishing your identity, building your presence and behaving consistently. With time, people start to discover, recognize, friend and trust you. As you join more groups and contribute and give, then people start paying more attention to you ... and then, stuff begins to happen! And you can help others more effectively as well, from that point on.
@annaliese I agree that making it more personal invites more engagement from others. This is daunting at first, particularly as you learn to manage your identity online. You're bound to keep pushing at your own limits and also learn from (hopefully only occasional) mistakes.
@michael Do you think there's a first mover advantage to using social networks? I would say that people are always ready to welcome and support newcomers to their clubs and communities, and over time, these new members can earn credibility, trust and authority within the community.
Another point on managing expectations above, is to keep your community managers in the internal communications loop. It's important they know what's happening and what the organization's plans are, so they can make informed decisions as they interact with their respective communities.
@beth I don't currently work in the nonprofit sector, but would love to help out an NGO someday ;)
Posted by: Alex | February 14, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I think the point about measurement/evaluation is vital as long as we don't get hung up on stats etc. I have been trying to work with clients (Gov and Charities in the UK) on taking a broader qualitative look at how the discourse has shifted around their issue or brand or whatever. If those dipping their toes into the Live Web see sucess in terms of eyeballs rather than changing ideas, conversations and content relationships, they may well be put off.
Posted by: Paul Caplan | February 15, 2008 at 09:07 AM
Paul, thanks for your insightful comment. I just followed the link to your site and discovered your free e-book. Great stuff! I'm going to blog about it now.
Posted by: Beth Kanter | February 15, 2008 at 10:43 AM