WeAreMedia Week 2: Got Social Media Strategy Planning Template?

Scartlett Swerdlow wiki participant.

This week we'll be discussing and building Module 2:  Thinking About Social Media Strategically? as part of NTEN's We Are Media: Social Media Starter Kit for Nonprofits project.  Today, we're discussing the questions that might go into a social media strategy plan template.  We want to know what  issues nonprofit organizations discuss as part of their planning processes for social media initiatives.   

Here's a quick summary of some great ideas and content posted by wiki participants.

Realistic Goals:

For the question about realistic goals for a social media strategy,  Elaine Aitken suggested remixing some of the ideas in Ewan McIntosh's post about learning goals for social media in education.  What are the realistic social media goals for a nonprofit?  More specifically how can social media support your organization's mission?

Scarlett Swerdlow who works with the Illinois Arts Alliance as their communications coordinator and was previously the executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, shared this example from her experience.

The Illinois Arts Alliance: One of our communication goals is to "raise recognition of IAA statewide as the 'go to' organization - the leading voice and resource for the arts." One outcome associated with that goal is to "engage and reach a broader, more diverse statewide constituency that takes ownership of the organization."

What are some other examples of realistic goals for a social media strategy?  (Share them here)

Audience

The question of who do you want to reach is one of the first questions on the list.   So, we are really interested in how nonprofits are answering this question.  What methods have they used to analyze their audiences' online social activities?   

Alanna from the Blood and Milk Blog offered these insights.

First of all, this blog post by Jamie Notter is a great argument for how to think about the needs of others: http://www.getmejamienotter.com/getmejamienotter/2008/07/focus-on-others.html.

Secondly, you need to define your audience before you can figure out their needs. There is one easy way to start - most nonprofits already have a newsletter (email, print, or both) and a list of donors. They are your most obvious audience. You could design a very brief survey for them to take (and by brief I mean 5 minutes or less) on what they are looking for from you. You could also use this newsletter list as a starting point to figure out who isn;t on the list. Who are you NOT directly communicating with. This leads into what they need and how you can reach them.

What are the best ways to analyze your audiences online social activities?  (Share them here)

We're in the process of remixing a worksheet from CCTV's wiki. The original worksheet was developed from recommendations from the Spin Project and the "Smart Chart" developed by Spitfire Strategies.  Scarlett Swerdlow has also volunteered to create an example of a completed worksheet based on her organization's situation.  Anyone else?

Comments

[Jamie Notter]

Thanks for the link, Beth!

[Marie Young]

Hi Beth,

I always enjoy your post and wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and links. I was speaking with a group of Gen Y students the other night and we had a discussion about social media and their views on how to strategically position themselves online.

There's some very interesting and exciting conversations taking place everywhere even here in New Zealand.

All the best,
Marie

[Marie Young]

lol not sure why Simons photo appears instead of mine :P (we work together though)