What one digital native and veteran Facebooker has to say about Nonprofits on Facebook

Meet Tatiana.  She messaged me on Facebook:

My name is Tatiana and I am currently a senior at The University of Tampa working on the final project for one of my classes, COM 425. The project involves getting opinions of the interactive media experts about the impact of online marketing and PR on social media and its users.

I was wondering if you could contribute to my final project by leaving your comment on my blog Social Media and Web Marketing: Let’s Be Friends?. I would greatly appreciate your help!

I get too many of these requests to answer every single one of them ..  because of time pressures (especially when my washing machine is broken) but, she posted an intriguing question from the perspective of a digital native:

My question is, if companies will fully embrace social media as their marketing tool, then what will be left to us, average users, to connect and communicate with each other?

This made me think of the questions we were asking back in 1994 as the web transitioned to a more commercial platform.  I looked over the comments from the others who responded like Adam Broitman, Scott Monty, David Meerman Scott, and Lee Aase.    My comment:

What do you think about the growing presence of nonprofits in these spaces promoting social causes? Do you think that nonprofits and social causes should have a presence on social networking sites - and what do they need to do to be able to talk to folks of your generation?

Her response:

I didn't know that you could support a cause on Facebook, I guess the nonprofits haven't reached me yet. But I do support a cause - Sierra Club - through MSN messenger.

The same benefits and risks of social media marketing apply to both, for-profit and nonprofit
organizations; it gives those organizations an opportunity to get out there and have their voices heard.

For their social media marketing efforts to be effective, these organizations have to develop
strategies that harmonize with the vibe of the social networks and other social media outlets.

What insights have you learned from the digital natives who might be supporting your cause on Facebook or elsewhere?

Comments

[Clara Kuo]

Despite all the hype around social media for marketers, there are a lot of digital natives out there who I hear are already getting tired of all the information overload and high participation levels that are required of them when interacting on the web. And those who aren't on the web just don't feel like they have the time to understand it. In addition there are new web 2.0 start-ups appearing all the time. I hear that there is a lot of web 2.0 fatigue. So communications should be more on the level of connecting as human beings--connecting person to person, rather than organization to consumers, because web 2.0 technology can potentially alienate a mass majority of users.

[Lee Aase]

I think that for marketers, whether non-profit or for-profit, the key is to be more personal vs. just another corporate site. If people can interact with friends on a site, and if you behave like a normal human being instead of a crazed marketer/salesperson, you have the ability to create some new relationships and strengthen others. But social networks aren't "push" media. If all you do is talk but never really listen, you will turn people off...whether digital native or not.

[Ashley Schweitzer]

I think it's great that we're taking advantage of new(ish) tools to enhance our work. Yes, the online tools have the potential to be used as a bludgeon (maybe a foghorn is a better analogy) to reach as many people as possible, but that's not going to be effective. So seek out and connect with people who are already invested in your organization and/or cause and are active users of social networks. But you need to invest the time to develop those relationships.

Online and offline, you still should be genuine, know your audience, and reach out with a message that speaks to them. Being interested and engaged is a two-way street, if you don't care about your audience and their needs -- whether they are volunteers, donors, constituents, the larger community -- why should they care about and support your organization? In the end, it's still about developing and nurturing real relationships -- whether that relationship is online or in the "real world," with your organization or as an individual.

Ashley

PS. There's a post at Net Squared right now about the Attention Economy.
http://www.netsquared.org/blog/britt-bravo/what-attention-economy-and-what-does-it-mean-nonprofits

[Tatiana Tugbaeva]

Beth,
Thank you for featuring my project on your blog. I'm honored.

[Conor]

This prompted a question, which you may know the answer to? What is currently being raised by non-profits on facebook?

Also, what are your thoughts on a social networking site whose primary goal is to support non profits, www.ammado.com ?

[Beth Kanter]

@Conor - The dollar amounts in ratio to the number of users signed up for apps like causes is not impressive (yet). There is no comprehensive study that I know about that looks at all apps and dollars raised. Some of the competitions have spurred some donations
http://giving.casefoundation.org/givingchallenge/numbers#causes

Total Number of Donations
32,886

Total Donations Amount
$571,686

Number of Causes Created
3,936

Average Donation Amount
$17.38

Will check out that other network