Connection Café: 10 Benefits of Social Media

	10 Benefits of Social Media
	Posted by Cheryl Black at Dec 02, 2011 08:18 AM CST Categories: Nonprofit Trends, NPtech, Social Media

A couple jobs ago I was working in a mid-sized nonprofit and trying to sell the communications director and executive team on the idea of launching a Facebook page. As a recent college grad at that time, I knew people and organizations were connecting on social media but that our organization should be there was really more of a gut feeling. I couldn't very well articulate the benefits of social media for an organization and the idea (temporarily) died.

Fast forward four years and use of social media in business is much more widely adopted. Sometimes though it's still tricky to describe the benefits to a non-enthusiast decision maker. We're happy to get you started though with these ten benefits of social media for nonprofit organizations.

Learn what your supporters are saying and sharing about your organization.
Drive traffic to your various web properties—website, blog, Facebook, etc.
Improve results on search engine result pages with keyword rich content.
Drive visitors to online donation pages.
Enable supporters to distribute messages about your organization through their social web presence.
Empower your most passionate and influential supporters to promote your organization.
Enable grassroots movements in real-time and rapidly respond to unforeseen events.
Humanize your organization by not limiting communications to traditional methods or messages.
Acquire new contacts and build your email housefile.
Increase trust and loyalty from your supporters by allowing them to share their voice through feedback forums.

Social Guide If the executive you are trying to communicate with prefers the printed word, these tips are also available in our Going Social guide. And even if you don't need printed materials, the guide is worth checking out for ideas on strategy, tactics and measuring the ROI of social media.