Kivi Leroux Miller, Guest Post: Tips for giving social media projects to interns

Submitted by Kivi Leroux Miller, publisher of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com

If you moan to 10 of your nonprofit colleagues about how you don’t have time to get your nonprofit on Facebook and other social media sites, I’d guess seven of them will tell you to get an intern to do it for you. (The other three? Two will just nod sympathetically and the other one will have no idea what you are talking about.)

If you are thinking about giving a social media project to an intern or a new employee who is a recent college grad, keep these four tips in mind. They’ll not only make your intern’s experience much better, but your organization will benefit too.

1. Make it a team effort, led by the intern. Social media is . . . well, social. And that’s why it holds so much promise for nonprofits. You can connect with friends of friends of friends you might never otherwise reach. But the organization needs to be at the center of this network, not some intern who is leaving in three months. The intern can lead the way and set everything up, but permanent staff, long-time volunteers and board members must be a part of it too.  The team approach also gives your intern valuable project and team management experience, so she isn’t just sitting alone in front of a computer.

2. Be clear about why you are doing it. “Getting on YouTube” is not a marketing goal. Who are you trying to reach and with what message? What do you want these new friends you’ll make to do? Why is getting on Facebook or YouTube the right tactic? Know the answers to these questions ahead of time so that your intern and the team can create a presence online that complements your existing communications work.

3. Make training a part of the assignment — and you get schooled. For your social media project to succeed, the senior management of your organization needs to understand it. Even if you as the executive director or development director don’t login everyday, you still need to understand the culture and vocabulary of the site, what people actually do there, and how your organization is being represented. Give your intern at least fifteen minutes every two weeks to show you and other senior managers what they are doing online and to give you some quick lessons on how you can do it yourself.

4. Open your mind. If the only way you can see your nonprofit getting on to social media sites is by asking a younger person to do it for you, there’s a good chance that you don’t fully understand what it’s all about and just why “everybody’s doing it” in the first place.

For example, you may not be entirely comfortable with the idea that other people (those friends of friends you covet) may be talking about your organization and your issues in their own words, ignoring your talking points and failing to keep all the facts straight.

This is where you have to remember that social media is not just about pushing information out, but also about conversations about that information and collaboration that grows out of those conversations. Relax and go with it. Gently correct when it’s really important to do so. Thank your new friends for caring. You may be pleasantly surprised at the new ideas and insights you discover.

Want more? Check out our February webinars on online marketing basics, blogging for nonprofits, and creating online evangelists.

This article was originally posted on Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com at http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2009/01/27/tips-for-giving-social-media-projects-to-interns/ by Kivi Leroux Miller:

Kivi is president of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com, where she teaches a weekly webinar series for do-it-yourself nonprofit marketers.

Comments

[Elizabeth]

Kivi, thanks for the post. I gave a presentation today to a client and these were exactly some of the topics covered. It must have been a good day for social media projects and such :) Your last paragraph nailed social media on the head! It's not all about pushing information (or selling your product!), it's about building relationships and adding value. Great post!

[Jamie Favreau]

I have to agree.

I interned for a non profit and I seemed to get connected to the head honchos in the main office in NY. This didn't seem to work well with my boss who wasn't that connected. Through Twitter, Facebook and Linked IN I made sure I was connected with the people who made descisions in NY. This turned out to be good and bad. Good because I got the chapter on Mission Fish after I left and bad because my boss who wasn't really educated on the matter did not understand what I was doing.

I can see why it should be a team effort and maybe they should bring someone in to educate them on the tools and how to use them. It would be a one shot deal but they could learn a lot from this experience then they can pass the updates onto the intern. But if there isn't anything concise going on then you get a constant name change which is why when I left I made sure I put it under the Communications Director's name when I left the facebook account so it wouldn't change every 3 months.

A lot of the stuff I started is still being used by the Chapter. I am glad that even though for the most part it was a clashing of ideas I am glad they are doing what I taught them.

I started them using Delicious so they could log their stories which are printed there. That way you don't have to look for them when they create a media book.

[Deborah Zanke]

Great post. I've linked interns for specific social media projects with nonprofit clients a couple of times with great results. However, it really is important to be clear about expectations and goals otherwise projects can go off the rails pretty quickly.

The other thing to keep in mind is that just because an intern is young does not mean he/she is a social media expert or even social media savvy. Using social media for personal use and putting it to use as part of a communications strategy are different things.

[Angus Parker]

I would add a word of caution. It seems like a lot of non-profits are simply handing their SM implementation to interns without first conceiving a strategy. Also if social media is as important as we all think it is, why would you hand it over to interns who presumably don't know your organization and its programs very well, and don't have any personal relationships with your community or its influencers (your target audience).

[Beth Kanter]

Angus:

That is a good point. I remember back about ten years - with Web 1.0, some of the early web pages from nonprofits were created by interns - because they organization didn't have someone who understood it and it was an easy hand off.

I think working in inter-generational teams, especially when there is a need to get comfortable with understanding how the technology works and the intern can get some guidance is a good balance.

[Angus Parker]

Beth: Yes, I agree a combination of the softer skills / institutional knowledge (presumably from longer tenure program staff) with the technical skills / time to spare of an intern.