Social Networks - Useful or not?
Submitted by Andy Arnold on Thu, 24/09/2009 - 11:42
I work for an Infrastructure organisation, and I've been talking with some people who attended a Social Media workshop yesterday. The workshop was organised for development workers and other interested parties from organisations within our consortium. I wasn't involved personally in the workshop, however the feedback I've heard seems to be fairly negative; the people attending the workshop picked up some tips for their personal use of Facebook or Twitter, but can't (or won't?) see that it could (or ever would) apply to their work with frontline organisations.
- So is the use of social networks such as Facebook or Twitter likely to make a difference to the way that you communicate with other organisations?
- And if organisations don't use social networks are they deliberately closing off a potentially valuable channel of communication with either their clients, service users or other organisations?
I'd be very interested to hear about your experiences with using social networking in a workplace environment.
I volunteer with a charity on their website which has not previously had the resources to develop their online presence. An internal survey of staff and volunteers indicated that only a third felt that facebook or twitter was something we ought to pursue as a means of online marketing.
The big question in my mind, is if you do have limited resources for a website, is social networking something that can make a significant impact on your work? I'd be interested in stats around how social networking had positively affected other organisations - either in event take-up, membership figures, or similar.
This is a question i think that is being asked in organisations from across the spectrum at the minute.
I am currently writing a new blog post which will offer in detail my thoughts on the value of particpating in social media in frontline and infra orgs - look out for it next week!
In the meantime the key 5 things i think social media offers organisations is:
1) It’s free market intelligence
Listen to the conversations. What are people saying about your cause or brand? What do they like - are they positive about you? Using social media you can get real-time, instant feedback about your brand, organisation or campaign.
2) Engage with your supporters and improve your customer service
Not only can you listen to the conversation, you can actively get involved.
If you see ‘negative’ feedback you can respond to the person and resolve the problem or add clarity to where there may be confusion.
You can also build genuine relationships with your supporters - connecting with people who are passionate about your campaign, who in turn can help you to spread your message
3) Raise your profile and increase your reach
The most powerful piece of marketing has traditionally been ‘Word of mouth marketing’ - the messages you or your organisation don’t control. If a supporter or member recommends you or your service to a friend – this is more powerful and more relevant than any expensive marketing campaign you can run. This is social media in action except its not just a ‘one-to one’ recommendation or referral. It can be ‘one to many’ or ‘many to many.’
4) Collaborate with your colleagues and develop your knowledge
Learn and share with others who are doing the same job as you – people are on social networks to help, share and discuss. Join up with fellow minded people who share the same passions as you, and no longer be the ‘one communication person’ at your small organisation.
A quick search on Twitter and you will see infrastructure orgs @acevo @navca @whywomen @ncvo (of course) @homelesslink - just to name a few!
5) It levels the playing field between large and small organisations
Social media has levelled the playing field between large multinational charities and small local ones. Now your ‘niche’ cause can get the awareness once only afforded to the large charities from running expensive marketing or PR campaigns. You can raise awareness of your campaign using all the free tools and platforms that are available (such as Facebook and Twitter) – building up your network, connecting with new prospects and getting your voice heard. Social media is MADE for small charities and organisations!
What do you think? Have you got some positive stories or experience of how you have used social media to connect with your supporters, members or customers?
I really don't think any charity can ignore the impact that social networking sites can have on their business. As part of the Children's Act 2006 and the Extended Information Duty, we as a Families Information Service are tasked to extend our reach to young people which is a completely new market for us.
I went on a fantastic conference where an organisation called Media Snackers were running a workshop on the use of social networking sites to engage with youth. Whilst it was largely aimed at Youth Workers it was inspiring and equally appropriate to us. We now have a member of staff updating Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis and we've used Youtube to promote one of our services through a promotional dvd we had developed for a conference.
In Sheffield we have experienced a massive growth of single issue online communities, resulting in a growth of 'amateur experts' blurring the line between the real experts and well intentioned individuals. Local forums where parents are offering advice to other parents on issues such as childcare and disability are particularly worrying for us as this is our bread and butter and some of the advice is inappropriate and in some cases dangerous.
We have spent some time investigating where these conversations are happening and actively check and engage with them to reinforce such issues as the importance of safeguarding children and choosing registered care. You might want to check out what single issue online communities that relate to your area of work are up to. It doesn't have to cost a fortune, our staff routinely check these as part of their stint on the reception desk and it pays dividends.
One unanticipated benefit was that we discovered a lot of posts were recommending us to parents and giving some very positive feedback on our service.
As a charity with a very small budget for advertising and pr the use of social networking sites offers us the opportunity for 'cost negative' viral marketing that is proving to be of real benefit.
If you want to find out more check out www.mediasnackers.com
Absolutely 100% effective, I've been using Social Networking/Marketing since the late 1990's with The Hysterectomy Association and have been working with it in other guises as well for the last few years too. I'd agree with everything that has already been said, the difficulty is that the most important part is to determine what the strategy should be, as it is very easy to simply throw mud at walls in the hope that some will stick.
One of the areas I'm particularly interested in is Personal Brand building and this is because Social Networking is perfect for this type of activity, so I'd say it's essential for senior members of charity teams to be using their own profiles to highlight not only THEIR skills, but also the work that they do with the organisation. You can find out more about this type of activity at: http://bit.ly/1uO6Et
If you're interested in research around this area, the Arts Council England has commissioned a report on the online presence of arts organisations regularly funded by ACE.
Admittedly, more looking at the arts - but interesting reading for voluntary sector people nonetheless!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17371185/MTM-Snapshot
Following up from my comments above please see my recent blog post on the value of social media to organisations.
Cheers
Claire Rollinson
We're twittering, I think it's useful as most of our followers are either journalists or politicians, who are a target group for us.
Social networking is an affordable and easy way to increase traffic to your website. It will bring you more of the traffic you want the kind that stays for a while and is interested in what you're selling.
Internet marketing is essential to the success of web sites. You can have a professional looking website but what good can it do if internet users are not able to find it when they need your products and services? That is where an internet marketing campaign comes into play.
If your utilizing social networks to promote your hobby/special interest site then you probably don't need to overthink your overall social media campaign. On the other hand, if your in this to make money, then your social networking profile and efforts need to reflect this in a balanced way. Add a fair amount of info, photos, videos and content to your profiles so that you do not give off the vibe that your simply on the social site to promote yourself or your site.