think about social media
When social media first emerged, I was in a communications role at a rapidly growing nonprofit. My sister was in college, and she introduced me to the concept of Facebook and encouraged me to join so I could see her pictures. As I began connecting to people and posting photos and updates, marketing teams around the world began considering whether social media was a worthwhile thing to pursue. Would it last? Would it matter? Could it move the needle on our objectives? What was the point?
I was working in college access at the time and our organizational objectives mostly focused on fundraising, participation, and staffing goals. We had a lot of conversations about whether social media was a distraction, how to participate as an organization versus as an individual, and how to manage access and controls. We wondered whether it would help us achieve any of our goals, and how we would know if it did.
This was twenty years ago. We were focused on (mailed) fundraising campaigns, (printed) monthly newsletters, and (ongoing) website maintenance. We produced and presented a comprehensive program to participants with printed worksheets and handouts. We created a glossy annual report full of photos and donor lists. We had a strong culture of using the logo as often as possible (in print and digital, on shirts and nametags), developing recognizable brand colors, specifying font, and working from templates. Today I would call this a very tightly managed brand identity, but at the time it was just the way we did our jobs. Social media was interesting, but we could only allocate so much time to an entirely new type of marketing.
My clients now understand that a logo is key and a website is essential, but they are equally convinced that social media – in its many forms, on its many platforms, with the changing rules and the mysterious algorithms – is equally important. It’s easier than ever to manage templates and brand colors, but there are so many more places for them to live. A website should promote the work and attract new visitors, presentations and reports should be visually pleasing and cleverly assembled, and there’s a constant call for newer and better content. Marketing teams are faced with ever higher expectations for consistency and creativity.
Building and maintaining a presence on social media – growing and nurturing an audience or encouraging engagement – requires an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources. If this effort leads to results – if more people learn about you and in turn you see increased participation in some way, or a boost in job applications or a burst of sales or donations, fantastic. But the juice should be worth the squeeze, as they say.
There are many ways to think about and use social media, and we should always be asking why we are using it and whether it is worth the effort. Increasing your followers or accumulating lots of likes or comments can be exciting, but how do these outcomes tie back to your objectives? What stories are you telling? What actions are you encouraging? What partnerships are you building? What lessons are you sharing? When social media points people back to your website – what do they find there? When your visibility increases and opportunities appear, do you have consistency across your materials so that everything connects smoothly and appears as one brand, made stronger by repeated views?
Every marketing team has a limited amount of time and resources with which to tackle their goals. Building a strong foundation of brand and messaging, shared widely within your organization and beyond, will set you up for success. Populate your website, share your results, and reach out to your stakeholders and partners. Consider social media as just one tool for reaching your objectives.